Plated Review

Plated is a food service that overnights the exact fresh ingredients to make the dishes you selected from that week's menu.  It costs $10 per month to be a member.  Each week the menu changes, and will feature a number of different dishes in different styles.  You have until Sunday night to pick your plates for the week.  You can choose to skip any week(s) you want.  There is a minimum of 4 plates (4 servings) per week if you do choose to order, with a minimum of 2 plates (2 servings) per recipe.  There is no cap on how many plates you can order.  Deliveries are on Tuesdays by FedEx PeriShip and they pack everything so that it will stay fresh until late Tuesday night so you don't have to worry about it being delivered while you are at work.

I found a great deal online for a trial for Plated, and picked out two plates of two different meals.  They sent me an email letting me know I would need olive oil, salt, pepper, and an egg for that week's preparation.  All other ingredients, including spices, fresh herbs, and meats, came in the package.

I was still home when this was delivered at 9:30 am.  I put everything away, and then re-boxed all the ice packs to see if it was still cold when I got home at 10:00 that night.   It was.

First look.

Recipes and info on top of the make-shift cooler.

All of the recipes included had step-by-step instructions with lots of pictures.

Fresh herbs and veggies on top.

Everything looked really fresh and came in the exact portions that were needed for each recipe.  Everything was labeled with what meal it was for, and there were larger bags for each recipe with the less fragile components of each dish.

Meat and fish on the bottom, surrounded by ice packs

I don't have a counter, so pictures on the stove will have to do.  This is all the stuff, but nothing is unwrapped yet.

The steak tacos were my favorite of the two dishes, but both were amazing!

Spices and soy sauce packets for the beef tacos

Like I said, everything I needed was pre-portioned out, and the garlic cloves were even peeled.  That was the most prep that was done, though.  I still got to do the tough stuff like squeeze limes and grate jicama ;)

More Taco Ingredients

Look at that cute bottle of sesame oil! I was tempted to save the bottle for salad dressings for lunch... but I forgot and threw it in the recycle bin.

Ingredients for the jicama slaw (minus the cilantro)

I loved this slaw, but we found out my boyfriend does not like "that Jamaica thing" at all.  He ate his second helping of tacos without the slaw on top.  Just steak and beans.  

Asian Soy Steak Tacos with Jicama Slaw and Black Beans

The final product! This was awesome, and I will definitely be using that marinade recipe again.  It was so simple (soy sauce, lime juice, chopped garlic) but tasted amazing.

The other dish was a little fancier, and was also my first ever attempt at cooking fish any way other than baking it.  My family didn't eat fish or seafood when I was growing up, so I never got comfortable cooking it!  This is what makes Plated such a great service: if you aren't a great cook, or don't know how to cook something, their easy directions will provide all the instruction you need to perfect it!  Everything is really well written and the timing of each step in order is spot-on.  If you think that you can't cook, you can, and you should try Plated as a first step.

Ingredients for the haddock, minus the fish, fresh parsley, and the ears of corn.

Finished product: Potato-Crusted Haddock with Corn-Watermelon Salad and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

This was really good! I should have worn gloves while cleaning the jalapeños, though, because I just about burned my fingers off.  Oops.  This meal was worth it, though.  I saved both recipe cards and will be making these dishes in the future.

They sent two pieces of delicious fudge as an extra.  It was really good.

They also included two pieces of fudge to help promote a no-bake cookbook.  I wish I still had the info card to tell you exactly what book, but it also accidentally got recycled.  

If you are a Plated member (and pay the $10 per month) each plate per week will cost you $12.  That amount is reduced to $10 per plate if you order 6 or more.  If you aren't a member, you can still order, but each plate will cost $15, or $14 if you order 6 or more.

I am a poor grad student and can't afford to do this every night of the week, but every now and then it would be a great idea!  It saves me the trouble of shopping for ingredients (I hate the grocery store with a passion) and figuring out what to make for dinner.  I do like to cook, and don't mind that part at all, so Plated just takes all the bad things out and lets me do what I enjoy!  

If you want to try Plated, you can get two plates FREE by using my referral link.  I will also get two free plates, so it's a win-win!

The service in this review was paid for with my own money.  No compensation was received for this post and all opinions are my own.  This post also contains a referral link: if you sign up for Plated using it, you and I will both get two free plates.