Home Cooked Meals with Plated

A while back, I wrote a post about Blue Apron, a meal plan service that sends fresh, pre-portioned ingredients right to your doorstep. While I was not a huge fan of the service, I did want to give a review of a meal plan service that I loved called Plated for anyone interested in cooking at home in this manner.

Pros

Many of the positives of Plated were similar to Blue Apron, with some added bonuses:

Food right to your doorstep – Like Blue Apron, Plated is all about convenience and part of that comes from the fact that a refrigerated box is delivered right to your door every week with the number of meals you select packed neatly inside. The refrigerated box keeps food fresh all day until midnight of your delivery date. Delivery is also free (if you order more than 2 meals) – added bonus!

Quality food – All of the food that Plated sends comes from vendors or partners committed to quality ingredients. All meat is raised responsibly with no antibiotics; seafood is sustainably sourced; and produce is always fresh. This means that everything is in season and you get a chance to cook with items that you might not see in your local supermarket or think to buy.

Step-by-step guides – Each meal provided comes with a recipe and a simple step-by-step guide with pictures. Each step is clearly explained to make cooking that much easier. Having the guides is handy if you would ever like to recreate a meal.

Pre-portioned ingredients – Everything that arrives in your box is measured out to the exact amount needed for the recipe. This means no leftovers or wasted food!

Option to skip weeks and plan ahead – Plated's meals come pre-scheduled but always with the option to skip. If you are browsing the meals for an upcoming week and don’t find anything appealing, just skip it in your account. Because you can see the upcoming recipes, you can also plan out which ones you would like to be included in your upcoming box.

Good for individuals or couples – Plated offers meal plans for 2 dinners a week, 3 dinners a week, or 4 dinners a week (all for 2 people). This gives you the option of how often you would like to cook at home. With a serving size of 2 people, it is perfect for couples. Even individuals could use the leftovers for lunch – win win!

Excellent recipes – The recipes Plated gave me were all delicious. I even ended up using my recipe cards to make the meals again after buying my own ingredients because I thought they were so good! That never happened with Blue Apron.

Recipes based on preferences – Plated does a good job of having options for vegetarians, meat lovers, seafood lovers, and even has dessert recipes for those with a sweet tooth (not even an option with Blue Apron). In addition, each week's menu of nine recipes (way more than Blue Apron's six) is different and diverse, so you never feel like you are making the same thing twice.

Cons

The few negatives for Plated are similar to some of the ones I found for Blue Apron:

Time consuming – Like Blue Apron, much of the time cooking seemed to be taken up with prep work. Many of the ingredients needed to be chopped up, and if you are not an expert chef, chopping an ingredient sufficiently can take some time. Luckily for me, I had my boyfriend to help me cut the time in half, but if you are cooking alone I can imagine that the prep work might take up too much time to be truly convenient. I did feel that Plated used less ingredients that needed to be prepped in this way, and the time did seem to pass faster making their recipes.

Scheduling – As I metioned in the Pros, Plated automatically enrolls you for the same delivery day each week. While this can be convenient for folks looking to cook with the service each week, skipping has to be done at least 6 days in advance of your delivery or you are automatically charged. However, with a new mobile app, it is now easier and more convenient to skip your meal in time (unlike with Blue Apron).

Packaging – While it is nice to have all of the ingredients pre-portioned and each in its own individual box or bag, it seems like an excessive use of plastic. If they had a way of minimizing just how many bags they sent, it would not only help my conscience but the environment. However, on their website, Plated does breakdown how to recycle or reuse all of the packaging – which does make me feel better.

Cost – While I got the chance to try this service at a discounted rate, I am not sure if I would spend the $72 for three weekly meals each week. Each Plated meal is $12, which is less than what most people spend for a meal at a restaurant when you really think about it. They do have the option of only 2 meals for $48, which is cheaper than the price for Blue Apron.

Final Verdict

I really enjoyed using Plated to make meals at home that I normally would never think to cook. The three meals I tried were all delicious and I ended up making all of them more than once on my own. Having the beautifully designed and easy-to-follow recipe cards made cooking what sounded complicated at first, in fact really easy. I would highly recommend checking them out if you are interested in trying a meal plan service!

Try Plated for yourself!

Plated

Available in most US cities