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Plated Subscription Review + Free Box Coupon – March 2015

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseJul 25, 2016 | 9 comments

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Box

Plated delivers a weekly box of pre-portioned fresh and seasonal ingredients, everything you need to cook their chef-designed recipes at home in your own kitchen. Each week, they offer a different menu and you can select which dishes you’d like to receive, how many plates of each dish you’d like to make, and when you’d like to receive your delivery.

Three of the dishes offered on every menu are vegetarian. Plated also regularly rotates in vegan and dairy-free options. They’re committed to using sustainably sourced seafood, seasonally fresh produce, and meat raised without antibiotics or added hormones. 

Plated also makes it easy to pick recipes that best suit your culinary skill level and lifestyle. Each recipe is tagged with a difficulty level and clearly lists calorie content and prep time.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Inside

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

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Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Contents

The Subscription Box: Plated

The Cost: Recipes begin at $12 per plate. 2 recipes (4 plates)= $48 per week (+ $6 shipping). 3 recipes (6 plates)= $72 per week (with free shipping). 4 recipes (8 total plates)= $96 per week (with free shipping).

The Products: All of the pre-portioned fresh and seasonal ingredients you need to make chef-designed recipes at home in your own kitchen.

Ships to: 95% of the US. (Currently, Plated does not ship to Hawaii and Alaska, and there are also a few cities in Texas, including San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Midland, where they don’t yet ship.)

Check out all of our Plated Reviews!

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Menu

Each week, Plated offers a different menu with 7 dishes to choose from. I opted for a Tuesday delivery (03/17) and selected Sicilian Cod, Shepherd’s Pie, and Chicken with Gnocchi. When my box shipped, I received an email letting me know that I would need to have the following “pantry items” on hand: black pepper, kosher salt, olive oil, and water. The email also clearly listed the difficulty level, cooking time, and calorie information of my selected dishes. 

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Packed 1

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Packed 2

When I unpacked the box, I was immediately impressed by the care with which my items had been wrapped, separated, and packaged. Ingredients were bundled by recipe, and each individual item was in its own container.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Sealed Meat

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Sealed Meat 2

The meats were all vacuum-sealed and packed at the bottom of the box, safely away from the produce and surrounded by cool packs. Unfortunately, my cod had started to leak slightly. But, because everything was so well packed, there was no damage caused to the other ingredients.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Spice

Even the spices were measured and separated.

Meal #1- Sicilian-Style Cod with Parsley Garlic Potatoes

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Cod Card 1

Each meal comes with a card that provides information about the dish.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Cod Card

On the reverse, Plated provides detailed cooking instructions, recipe tips, and a list of what you’ll need to make the dish.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Prepped Code Ingredients

As per Plated’s recommendation, I prepped my ingredients before I started cooking. (Note that they even provide pre-measured wine for cooking!)

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Roasting Pie

I prepped the potatoes for roasting and then moved on to the Sicilian sauce.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Sicilian Sauce

The cooking instructions for this recipe were very clear and easy to follow. The only problem I had was with the potatoes. The recipe said to roast the potatoes at 425 for 20 minutes, during which time it instructed me to make the sauce and cook the fish. Unfortunately, my potatoes were not ready after 20 minutes, so my prepared fish had to sit while the potatoes finished roasting. This wasn’t a big deal (the fish was still warm when I plated everything), but I think it would have been better to cook the fish after the potatoes were done. Since the cod only cooked for about 6 minutes, it would have been easy to hold the potatoes.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Plated Code

Despite my issue with the recipe, I was extremely impressed by this meal. The Sicilian sauce was delicious and so flavorful, and the cod was excellent. Now that I have the recipe, I will definitely make this dish again with store-bought ingredients.

Meal #2- Shepherd’s Pie with Ground Beef and Vegetables

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Pie Card

The next day, I made the Shepherd’s Pie. Again, I began by prepping my ingredients.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Pie Ingredients

After everything was cleaned and chopped, I made the mashed potatoes. I deviated slightly from the recipe at this point. Plated called for the potatoes to be peeled, but I prefer chunky, rustic mashed potatoes so I left the skin on.

While the potatoes boiled, I browned the beef, sautéed the vegetables, and made the gravy.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Pie Base

Once the mashed potatoes were ready, I spread them on top of the beef mixture and then placed the shepherd’s pie under the broiler to brown the mashed potatoes. Once it was ready, I finished the dish with a sprinkle of chopped chives.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Baked Pie

The shepherd’s pie turned out beautifully! Plated recommended serving it family style, so I placed it in the middle of the table so we could serve ourselves.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Plated Pie

This meal was another knockout. I ended up making it on a cold, rainy afternoon, and it was a perfect dish for dreary weather. I’ve never had a shepherd’s pie made with parsnip before, and I thought it was a delicious addition.

Meal #3- Braised Chicken with Gnocchi and Artichokes

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Chicken Card

I made the chicken and gnocchi last. Of the three recipes I selected, this was the only “easy” recipe. There was less prep involved (chopping etc.) and minimal hands-on time. Prepping my ingredients only involved mincing an onion and roughly chopping some dill.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Chicken Prep

Once my ingredients were ready, I set to work. The steps for this recipe were very straightforward, and the info card even explained what “braising” is. From start to finish, the dish probably took me about 50 minutes to prepare (with only about 25 minutes of active cooking time).

Plated Subscription Box Review + Free Box Coupon - Mar 2015 Plated Chicken

The chicken was incredible. After braising, it was very tender, and the sauce was rich and creamy. This dish was restaurant quality and probably my favorite.

Verdict: I was really blown away by my first box from Plated. The meat and produce Plated sent was very fresh and high quality, and the recipes were phenomenal. As someone who cooks regularly (and enjoys coming up with new recipes), I wasn’t sure if Plated would be for me. I was a little worried that it would feel like cooking with training wheels, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. On the contrary, I liked the ease of cooking with pre-portioned ingredients and the Plated recipes. The portion sizes were generous (my husband was a little concerned about that), and I think the value is good too. I would compare the quality of the meat and produce to that of Whole Foods, and I think I would spend at least the same or more there for the same number of meals. While I might receive less of each ingredient from Plated, I can appreciate that it might help cut down on food waste. If you haven’t tried Plated before, I would definitely recommend it! 

Have you tried Plated? What did you think?

Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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9 comments

Kay

What a fantastic review, I just love your food pictures.

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Tara

i really wish they would cater to people with food allergies (mine is gluten) because i would LOVE to try something like this.

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Liz Cadman

They do offer some meals each week that have no added gluten. Depending on your allergies that may work for you!

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Max Newman

My wife and I really like plated! We get three meals a week. So far everything that has arrived has been fresh and in good shape. I have not experienced any issues with bad produce.

It is not budget food, it is quality food that has expanded my cooking horizons.

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Tamara

I have to say, we were not super impressed with Plated. Our first box arrived with a moldy onion (!) and the greens were wilted and rather brown. They do not appear to actually send quality ingredients. He was also disappointed to find that they aren’t really sending recipes, so much as assembly instructions. He was looking forward to learning some new recipes, but didn’t feel that he was really learning much new.
This is our third week with them, and it hasn’t been much better. At least we haven’t received any more moldy produce. We’ll probably cancel after this week.

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Little Miss Boxy

I love Plated. We are vegetarians and they’re the best for variety as well as options to customize. I’ve seen people say it is overpriced but I actually made a shopping list based on one of my meals from them and the total (and only a few items were significantly bigger than what I was sent) for one meal was higher than the full box of two and dessert. We tend to get two meals twice a month and it’s actually reduced our grocery bill and helped us eat better. I have enjoyed everything immensely.

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Becka

My husband and I LOVE Plated! We order about 4 meals from them (or occasionally Hello Fresh, which we also really like) per week. We are two super busy people who LOVE cooking nice meals, and this makes home cooking on a regular basis possible for because the shopping and portioning are out of the way.

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Trish

I also really like Plated! This is a great review! It is so detailed, with wonderful photos! I think that this paints a perfect picture of what to expect from this subscription, which is always so helpful for people who want to know more.

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Stephanie

I love your reviews! Thank you for taking such amazing pictures to share with us 🙂 I always find myself wishing that I lived at your house when I see the meals that you’ve created!

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