Once again meal delivery has come to the rescue right in the nick of time! I first heard about Plated earlier this summer and was able to meet the team in person when I attended Northside's NExT Conference (you can read about my experience here).
Anyway, fast-forward to last month, and I was invited to participate in their blogger outreach program, and the meal delivery coincided with my recent trip to Columbus. It required a bit of logistics to work out as the meals only come on certain days and Mr. Lovebird had to make sure he could receive it at work, but when I returned from my trip I was glad to see my fridge drawer stocked wtih my fresh Plated ingredients.
Here are the two Plated meals I selected and prepared (sorry no picture of the box presentation as Mr. Lovebird is still learning the blogging value of such things - he's just now understanding the concept of blogger grace!):
Asian Beef Kebabs with Coconut-Edamame Rice
Shrimp and Grits with Tomato-Bacon Gravy
This was our favorite of the two meals so much so that we went out and bought all the ingredients so we could make it again on our own! |
Here's what I liked:
- High quality/good taste - ingredients were top notch (check out that fancy imported tomato can above!), and while I was skeptical of such few ingredients included in the recipes, every ingredient was well chosen and made the dishes pop - hello fresh rosemary!
- Downloadable recipes listed on the website-
- Little waste - with recyclable packaging and just enough ingredients I didn't have to worry about anything spoiling or having tons of trash left over
Here's what I'd improve:
- Show more nutrition info on the recipe card besides just the calories
- Larger portions - the portions on the cards looked bigger than what the ingredients made; also, this could be because the dishes were so good I craved more when my portion was done!
Want to try Plated? Here are the details:
- Geography: eastern seaboard Boston to DC and Chicago (see more details here)
- Schedule: you can place a la carte/no commitment orders or subscribe to a monthly membership when new menus are released on Tuesdays and are live for about a week on a first come-first serve
- Cost: a la carte plates are $15 each for 4 plates; monthly membership plates are $10 each for 4 plates (at 6 plates cost decreases to $14 and $10, respectively)
Thank you Plated for making my return from my trip easier and tasty!