diff --git a/meson.options b/meson.options
index 12d03017..7e59a5ac 100644
--- a/meson.options
+++ b/meson.options
@@ -10,3 +10,11 @@ option(
   value: 'default',
   description: 'The build profile for Fractal. One of "default", "beta", "development" or "hack".'
 )
+option(
+  'sandboxed',
+  type : 'boolean',
+  value : false,
+  description: 'Whether the build happens in a sandbox.' +
+               'When that is the case, cargo will not be able to download the dependencies during' +
+               'the build so they are assumed to be in meson.project_source_root()/cargo'
+)
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index f9a266e2..c589d51a 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -39,7 +39,12 @@ else
   message('Building in release mode')
 endif
 
-cargo_env = [ 'CARGO_HOME=' + meson.project_build_root() / 'cargo-home' ]
+if get_option('sandboxed')
+  # This is the path used by flatpak-cargo-generator in flatpak-builder-tools
+  cargo_env = [ 'CARGO_HOME=' + meson.project_source_root() / 'cargo' ]
+else
+  cargo_env = [ 'CARGO_HOME=' + meson.project_build_root() / 'cargo-home' ]
+endif
 
 custom_target(
   'cargo-build',