Trying Sakara Subscription - Meal Delivery

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I've been on a No Buy for so long, not buying any beauty products at all, but I've developed another area of overspending. I love ordering Door Dash delivery! I love it so much, but it's way too expensive. My favorites are big breakfasts, and Red Lobster! I love fried seafood. I don't like cooking, and when I go to the grocery store, I'll buy lots of junk foods, like chips, ice cream, and then I will have a big bill and still not enough to eat for the week. I also love getting fast food, but it seems like the price has gone way up on it.

The diet I am trying right now is from YouTube, copied from the video Dear Food Diary from HRH Collection (January 4, 2018). This YouTuber sticks to a diet of Lean Cuisine meals, salads, and low cal snacks to control weight. I don't care about my weight (though I am overweight) - I want (need) to control food spending without doing a lot of planning and cooking. I got the following food haul from Target last night:

Lean Cuisine Chicken Parmesan $2.69
Lean Cuisine Turkey Dinner - 3 at $2.69 each
Lean Cuisine Lasagna $2.29
Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs $2.29
Lean Cuisine Pizza - 2 at $2.69 each
Lean Cuisine Enchilada Suiza $2.29
$23.01 for nine dinners, less than I would pay for one Door Dash dinner.

Also purchased -
Ranch dressing $2.19
Salad greens $3.29
Fiber One brownies $3.19
Outshine Frozen Lemon Bars $3.99
100 Calorie Orville Smart Pop $3.59

Total $39.26 for everything! For me, that is good.

Pros so far: It was so simple to shop for this grocery haul, and I feel pleased with the value for money. I don't feel guilt that I spent too much. I just began the diet last night, and I had the lasagna dinner. It was nice and hot and comforting.

Cons so far: I usually will go out with my brother and get fast food or takeout, or I will order Door Dash for us. I always pay for him and me. He looked disappointed when I told him I was not doing that last night. I felt bad about that, and wanted to go for Taco Bell, but I can't really afford to eat out this week. The lasagna was good, but I did not like the taste of the sauce so much, and it gave me a bit of heartburn.

I want this to work so, so badly. I need it to work. I need to be spending $2.29 per meal, not $20.00 per meal. The thing about this vlogger, Alex, is that she makes eating Lean Cuisines for dinner look like fun. One thing she does is treat herself to a really nice German drink with her Lean Cuisine, called Gerolsteiner Sparkling Apple Mineral Water. This drink was very appealing to me, so I ordered some from a specialty shop called Parthenon Foods - it is $3.99 apart from shipping. I haven't received it yet, cannot wait to try it.

Hope this works as I just cannot keep up my overeating. I am not progressing on my debt - I am just going further into debt. Just for food. At least with my beauty spending there was something to show for it! This may not be the most exemplary diet, but I like it because it's simple and easy. It has to be healthier than what I was eating before, fast food every night.
 
Diet experiment update:

Friday

Breakfast - Fiber One Bar - I had the chocolate chip brownie variety. Breakfast was both good and bad. I liked the taste of the bar. The chocolate drizzle was good, but something about it was hard to get down, like Nutrisystem or Lara Bars - something too rich - I think it is the whey protein. I feel the bar gave me energy though.

Lunch - I ordered Door Dash for lunch because I wanted a salad for my diet. Usually I will not ever order Door Dash for lunch on a work day, because my lunch break is only 30 minutes, plus I have to eat at 11 am so I can cover for everybody else's lunch. I'm a customer service rep and it's so busy all day with no time to eat. I think that's why I overeat on nights and weekends so much. Anyway it felt really decadent to look forward to a delivery for my lunch break. I got a BLT salad from Wawa. I thought the spring mix, fried chicken, asiago cheese, and croutons were good. The salad was way too big for my lunch break though, and I felt guilty on what I spent.

Dinner - I had the Lean Cuisine turkey dinner with stuffing and apples, and I absolutely loved it! It was so good, I was scraping every last bit from the dish! I also had a frozen lemon bar and popcorn, and was happy.

Saturday

I felt really good when I woke up.

Breakfast - Okay, I ordered Door Dash - it's just a tradition to get it when I work on Saturdays, and I get it for my father too, and I didn't want to let him down. I had an egg, chocolate chip pancake, and bacon, extra bacon. I'm mad for bacon and eggs at the moment. I felt guilty about the money, but I made Dad happy.

Lunch - Watermelon and salad mix with ranch from fridge.

Dinner - Lean Cuisine Five Cheese Pizza - did not like - crust was way chewy and hard to eat. At least I did not order Door Dash, which I usually would on Saturday night!
 
Haha, I was very bad today! I woke up and felt stressed. I had a lot to do at church. My room was a mess. I'm sad about tomorrow being Monday. I ordered iHop - eggs, bacon, hash browns, and Swedish pancakes. I got everything done for church, and after church, because it is my brother's birthday, I offered to order him anything he wanted from Door Dash. He asked for Sonnys BBQ ribs and chicken, so I got the same dinner for myself as well. Chicken, ribs, beans, cole slaw, garlic toast. The ribs were wonderful, charred and fatty. After the meal I felt wonderful and had a nap. I don't care about the calories, but I spent an awful lot of money. I could get that beautiful Sakara meal plan on the weekends for what I am spending. I was up most of the night last night researching food, trying to figure it all out. I wish I liked the Nutrisystem food, maybe will try Wonderslim. I did try Sakara once, it is very costly, but so is what I am doing now, and it's really great, and they send you beauty samples sometimes.
 
I would like to write about the subscription service Sakara. Sakara is a meal delivery program that sends customers prepared, high quality plant-based meals. (After I wrote this, I heard the co-founder Whitney say in a podcast that they do not want to be called plant-based because they are more than that. Sorry Whitney). Everything is exquisitely done. It's notorious for being expensive. I wanted to get it anyway, because I feel like I am spending an insane amount having meals delivered from Door Dash. I just cannot stop ordering. I try to buy groceries, but my bill is always big and I always end up feeling hungry anyway. There never seems to be enough food for me. And even going to someplace like Taco Bell seems to be getting more and more expensive.

My goal in trying Sakara: I do weigh almost 200 pounds (last time I checked), but that's not my primary reason for purchasing Sakara. I just want to break my bad habit of eating takeout food. I love it, and would rather be overweight than give up my eating, but I don't want to be broke. The whole issue of food, thinking about food, is frustrating to me. I hate cooking and preparing and cleaning up meals. I used to pursue beauty subscriptions so I would just have wonderful products sent to me in the mail without having to make choices and face temptation, and to me Sakara is like the Birchbox or Glossybox of food!

I tried Sakara before a few years ago. I just tried one box. I did like it. I recall being at my office having exquisite teas and salads. I just wanted to try Sakara so, so badly. But I did not continue, feeling the cost was too high.

Signing up: Sakara has several different plans, depending on what area of the US you are in. I saw that they now have a weekend plan in my area, and it is the least expensive option: $169. This provides six meals for the weekend: Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and Sunday breakfast and lunch. That's $28.16 per meal, I know, but I spend that much on pizza, ice cream, takeout, and I feel so guilty; at least with Sakara I feel I'll be getting some health and beauty benefits for the money.

I really would like this to work. Anyway, it will be fun to write about. I will write about the food I get, and what results I see. I really believe that purchasing this food will make me beautiful and happy, the same way I believe in high end beauty products. The service has a glamorous image (beautiful founders, packaging, clientele) so it makes me feel glamorous to take part in it.

*I promise I'm not an affiliate! I don't like selling. I do enough of it at work. I am reporting personal experience and happily paid full price for my Sakara. Also, not giving health advice. I'm the last person you want want dietary advice from, haha.

Has anyone else tried Sakara, or are you interested in it? Do you like food subscription plans?
 
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Update: This diet was okay. The Gerolsteiner Apple Water was so good! The Lean Cuisines and Fiber Ones were okay, but I think I was too hungry from the diet and then spent a fortune ordering iHop and Sonny's BBQ on the weekend. I'm going to quit this and try some other plans.

PS: not giving diet advice - you would not want advice from me, lol. Actually, I'm interested in spending and finance more than diet. I used to have out of control beauty spending. I have controlled it through work I did on this forum, and now have transferred my overspending to food. Controlling food spending seems even harder than controlling beauty spending. 😧
 
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I've been on a No Buy for so long, not buying any beauty products at all, but I've developed another area of overspending. I love ordering Door Dash delivery! I love it so much, but it's way too expensive. My favorites are big breakfasts, and Red Lobster! I love fried seafood. I don't like cooking, and when I go to the grocery store, I'll buy lots of junk foods, like chips, ice cream, and then I will have a big bill and still not enough to eat for the week. I also love getting fast food, but it seems like the price has gone way up on it.

The diet I am trying right now is from YouTube, copied from the video Dear Food Diary from HRH Collection (January 4, 2018). This YouTuber sticks to a diet of Lean Cuisine meals, salads, and low cal snacks to control weight. I don't care about my weight (though I am overweight) - I want (need) to control food spending without doing a lot of planning and cooking. I got the following food haul from Target last night:

Lean Cuisine Chicken Parmesan $2.69
Lean Cuisine Turkey Dinner - 3 at $2.69 each
Lean Cuisine Lasagna $2.29
Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs $2.29
Lean Cuisine Pizza - 2 at $2.69 each
Lean Cuisine Enchilada Suiza $2.29
$23.01 for nine dinners, less than I would pay for one Door Dash dinner.

Also purchased -
Ranch dressing $2.19
Salad greens $3.29
Fiber One brownies $3.19
Outshine Frozen Lemon Bars $3.99
100 Calorie Orville Smart Pop $3.59

Total $39.26 for everything! For me, that is good.

Pros so far: It was so simple to shop for this grocery haul, and I feel pleased with the value for money. I don't feel guilt that I spent too much. I just began the diet last night, and I had the lasagna dinner. It was nice and hot and comforting.

Cons so far: I usually will go out with my brother and get fast food or takeout, or I will order Door Dash for us. I always pay for him and me. He looked disappointed when I told him I was not doing that last night. I felt bad about that, and wanted to go for Taco Bell, but I can't really afford to eat out this week. The lasagna was good, but I did not like the taste of the sauce so much, and it gave me a bit of heartburn.

I want this to work so, so badly. I need it to work. I need to be spending $2.29 per meal, not $20.00 per meal. The thing about this vlogger, Alex, is that she makes eating Lean Cuisines for dinner look like fun. One thing she does is treat herself to a really nice German drink with her Lean Cuisine, called Gerolsteiner Sparkling Apple Mineral Water. This drink was very appealing to me, so I ordered some from a specialty shop called Parthenon Foods - it is $3.99 apart from shipping. I haven't received it yet, cannot wait to try it.

Hope this works as I just cannot keep up my overeating. I am not progressing on my debt - I am just going further into debt. Just for food. At least with my beauty spending there was something to show for it! This may not be the most exemplary diet, but I like it because it's simple and easy. It has to be healthier than what I was eating before, fast food every night.


Oh my god! I was just looking for this!
 
I'm trying out a food subscription called Hungryroot. Hungryroot is a nice service. It has a quiz, very much like Ipsy's quiz, to compile your food needs and preferences. It's fun to take the quiz. You can select different priced plans, depending on how much food you want or need. The system comes up with a meal plan for you with ingredients and recipes for three dinners, plus lots of snack and breakfast items. I like the fact that they have lots of convenient snacks. They also have recipes that don't require cooking - recipes for sandwiches and salads as well as wraps and tacos. I was upset because I didn't like the recommendations they gave me, but you can edit those and shop with your credits. It's fun to shop on the site. Everything is very healthy. After I edited my selection, another quiz came up asking me if I want certain items sent always, sometimes, or never. Just like Ipsy! I suppose the more you shop on the site, the more it gets to know you, and it will plan all your meals and select all your groceries if you want.

These are the selections I made. They reveal that I want to help my family members (elderly father who does not bother to eat right, and brother who will only eat fast food), and that I hate to cook. I just have to try to help them!

Recipe one - Turkey burgers - for my father - comes with buns, 2 burgers, and tomato sauce
Recipe two - Buns, dressing, and smoked salmon to make open faced sandwiches - comes with buns, guac, and salmon
Recipe three - Salad, with microwavable herbed potatoes - comes with salad mix, potatoes, tofu, and dressing

Additional groceries
Bircher Muesli
4 pack Siggi's yogurt
Thai coconut vegetable curry
Two tins Freshe Provence Nicoise Tuna - very interested in this. These are little tins of tuna with vegetables, potatoes, and olives for French Salade Nicoise! It would be great if they taste good. I've always wanted to try Salade Nicoise!
Parm Crisps
Sea Salt Microwave Popcorn
little hummus and chips pack
dark chocolate covered almonds
almond butter
2 loaves sprouted seven grain bread
Turmeric cane water elixir
brown rice veggie ramen - a nice ramen, not a cheap one!
2 sous-vide egg bites from Les Trois Petits Cochons!

This is my weekly plan - I got the big plan as I am so hungry and greedy - $149.91 -that is high. If my family members don't want to eat the Hungryroot food, I could get the small Hungryroot for $69 a week - I would not feel guilty with that. I'll try to feed them, and if they don't like it, then I can be selfish. Also, after I placed my order, Hungryroot sent me an email with a little list of things I need to get set up for cooking - this service is great for people who don't cook, but want to change.

Edited: I changed my plan. The cutoff was today at noon EST. It's fun to play and change the plan. I actually cut down and got the smallest plan ($59 plus $6.99 delivery fee, I believe). I found you don't have to get dinner recipes - you can delete them and get all snacks with your credits. This is what I got for $59 of their credits:

Everything I chose was organized for me into a meal plan:

Breakfasts

  • Bircher Muesli
  • Mini Nutty Pumpkin Bread
  • 4 Pack Siggi's Low-fat Vanilla Yogurt

Snacks - for lunch

  • Thai Coconut Vegetable Curry - Hungryroot brand
  • Freshe - Provence Nicoise Tuna
  • Superfood Almond Butter - Hungryroot brand

Grocery items

  • Cold Smoked Sliced Salmon - Hungyroot brand
  • Sprouted Seven Grain Bread - Angelic Bakehouse
  • Avocado Crema - Hungryroot brand
  • Turmeric Cane Water Elixir - Bhoomi
I'm excited for all of this. The delivery will arrive on Tuesday.
 
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Finally, today is the day! FedEx will bring my Sakara box, and I'll have my first Sakara weekend!

I am just SO excited! I plan to make the most of it. It makes life feel special and exciting.

My Sakara box arrived at about 1 pm. At 4 pm, I had my dinner --

IMG_0559[1].JPGIMG_0560[1].JPG

This was the Truffle Kale Salad with Wild Mushroom Toast. That yellow sauce is truffle salad dressing. It had a delicious lemon taste. The meal was very good. I devoured it. I was in a hurry, because I had to go to church. I don't eat salads as much as I used to, and when I do, I eat all the toppings and leave the bulk of greens. This salad, typical of Sakara, had a big bowl of greens under all those beautiful purple things. It was hard to finish them all, but I did. They want us to eat a lot of greens for hydration. I think it helped. After church my brother wanted to go to Panera and I did not feel like getting food! I did get a cookie and a hibiscus tea, but that's all I got. As soon as I ate this dinner, I felt better. [Sorry for plastic fork - mine, not from Sakara!]
 
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I love You, Sakara.

You'll notice I am writing this at 5:00 in the morning on a Saturday. I have been up since 2:15 taking a long and difficult and stressful exam for a job I want. I got it done, and I passed! I am very happy, as I had failed this exam before. When I got up at 2:15, I began eating my Sakara breakfast while taking the exam. Below is the Sacha Inchi Pumpkin Scone with Apple Butter. I finished the strawberries and apple butter, but I only was able to eat a bit of the scone, because it was so dense and rich. I think it had dates inside. The Sacha Inchi is a seed that is supposed to help brain function. I felt full from a few bites, but I passed my exam! I think I am not used to eating these kinds of whole foods. I am still longing for my bacon and eggs. I have long day of work scheduled, and I have to take two more super hard exams, one due tomorrow, and one due Wednesday.

IMG_0561[1].JPG

This turned into a four part breakfast! From 5 am to 6:30 am, I took a nice nap. Then I just had to have my normal bacon and eggs, so I did. I love bacon so much. Then I had a bit more of the scone. I must say, the scone made me full and energized all day, for 7 and a half hours of 60 back to back customer service calls. On my lunch break, I finished the rest of the scone. It really kept me going. Now it's 6:30 pm, and I just finished what was supposed to be my lunch, the Full Heart Brassica Bowl. It was hard to eat all of it, but I finished it all and had my detox tea. It made me have a super productive night, and I cleaned and did laundry and worked on my exam. I was focused and felt happy all day. I still can't finish my dinner though, too much food, and I want Lay's potato chips and a Hershey bar with almonds.
 
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IMG_0563[1].JPG

Here is a photo of my beautiful Heart Opening Oatmeal with Mango Rose Puree. I was not able to eat my dinner last night. I just felt so full, though still craving my regular food. Today is starting out to be like yesterday. I woke up at 4:30 am and was upset because I had slept late.

I studied for two hours while I ate the top part of my oatmeal.

There were some delicious diced strawberries. But I could not finish the oatmeal - it was so dense and filling. I took a little bit of the Mango Puree and it was so rich I could not even eat it. Now I am stressed about church today and my exams. One exam is due today and it would mean so much to me to pass it. So much. I am so happy I got my rough draft done last night! I want to finish four hours of work on it today at least and if I can be focused and have a lot of energy like yesterday, I won't be mad that I spent $169 on Sakara.

I want bacon and eggs, even though I feel full from eating the top part of the oatmeal. Also when I go to church I always eat out with my brother after and I don't even have money for it today, which makes me upset. I wonder if there's a credit card I can use. I will charge food because there's just not enough money to get everything I crave to eat so badly.
 
I finished every bit of the Sakara food I was sent, except I did not finish all of the last meal, and I did not take the supplements (I have a really bad phobia of taking pills). I ended up finishing the oatmeal in phases. At noon, I had the baby watercress salad. It had amazing, delicious pomegranate seeds. After church, I took my brother to get lunch with my last money. He asked for Subway. I wanted some chips so badly. I am missing all the salt I usually eat. I came home and finished my vegan shepherd's pie. I enjoyed the cauliflower mash with its creamy texture, and the peas. I liked it, but it made me crave the saltiness that the meat would usually give this dish. After that, I worked on my exam from 3 to 5 pm, and had good focus. I was immersed in my work, and got my exam turned in. Then I had eggplant Florentine. This had an amazing ricotta cheese made from nuts, I believe. It tasted so good and creamy. I don't really like ricotta cheese (too rich), but I loved the vegan version! I could not finish the heaping amount of spinach and broccoli! Then I worked for two hours on my other exam!

Summary of the Sakara weekend results:

  1. It did not completely eliminate cravings for the food I normally eat. I still thought about and craved my favorite meals and snacks. I wanted bacon, chips, Panda Express, and drank endless Cokes (I could not help it). There was one instance of me going to a restaurant with a family member and not getting a dinner as I was full and did not want anything. There was another instance of me ordering a takeout meal even though I had eaten a Sakara meal. The rest of the weekend, I simply did not have the money to get extra food. I might have charged it, but I cut all my credit cards up so I cannot use them for takeout! Also, I did not keep extra food money for the weekend because I knew I would be on Sakara; I paid bills ahead with the money instead.
  2. Did not change my appearance, make me less bloated, clear up my skin, or make me more like a supermodel, lol.
  3. Did not give me a tummy ache from increased fiber, or any ill effects. Many of the veggies are cooked and mashed, so they are easy to digest. They do give you a big raw salad each day, which is important for the plan.
  4. The meals were all really fun to eat, delicious, but huge and dense and hard to finish. I felt like I was stuffing and overeating.
  5. The best payoff: I had really good focus and was able to work really hard all weekend. I got through a super intense workday, finished two exams, worked on a third exam. That meant the world to me! It was priceless.
This week I am trying the Prolon diet. But after that I am doing the Sakara RE: Program. I'll be getting three weekends of their food, plus a free beauty set! I signed up for the beauty set, especially as it has really nice holistic dental care products in it. I have really bad dental problems. I will be back to write about it for the next three weekends.

Would you like to know more?

Great YouTube review of Sakara from a client who lost 100 pounds and subscribed over many months:

Courtney Thurston - Sakara Life Meal Delivery Unboxing + Clean Boutique Item Reviews - Aug 4, 2020
Sakara Life / Sakara Love Month OMD Signature Meal Delivery unboxing - Aug 12, 2020

Interview on YouTube with the Sakara founders - they have interesting stories to tell.

the fullest podcast: Sakara Founders, Feb 26, 2018
 
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