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Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseJul 25, 2016 | 9 comments

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 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 make, how many plates of each dish you’d like to serve, 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, seasonal produce, and meat that’s free from 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 – July 21, 2015 - Inside

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

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 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 – July 21, 2015 - Recipes

Each week, Plated offers a different menu with 7 dishes to choose from. I opted for a Tuesday delivery (07/21) and selected Beef Gozleme, Chicken Avocado Burgers, and Sausage & Squash Stir-Fry.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - Email

When my box shipped, I received an email letting me know that I would need to have the following “pantry items” on hand: water, black pepper, kosher salt, and oliver oil. The email also clearly listed the difficulty level, cooking time, and calorie information of my selected dishes.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - Packed1

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - Packed2

As always, the box was packed with extreme care. Ingredients were bundled by recipe, and each item was in its own container.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - SealedMeat1

The meats were sealed and packed at the bottom of the box, safely away from the produce and surrounded by cool packs.

Recipe #1- Beef Gozleme

Calories Per Serving: 650

Cook Time: 35-45 minutes

Difficulty: Challenging

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - BeefCard1

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - BeefCard2

When I saw this dish on the Plated website, I knew I had to try it! I’d never heard of Gozleme, but the Plated photos had my stomach growling. As it turns out, Gozleme is a griddled Turkish flatbread that can be filled with any number of different ingredients. Plated’s version is filled with beef, spices, and mint.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - BeefIngredients

To begin, I prepared my ingredients. I then made the tahini dip from tahini paste, Aleppo pepper, lemon juice, water, salt, and pepper.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - BeefCarrots

I arranged my carrots on a baking tray, tossed them with olive oil and paprika, and put them in the oven to roast at 425.

While the carrots baked, I prepared the beef filling by browning the beef with the provided spice mix, salt, pepper, and fresh mint. When the filling was ready, I set it aside and began making the flatbread.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - BeefFlatbread1

The flatbread dough was a mixture of baking powder, milk, flour, olive oil, water, and salt. When the dough reached the proper consistency (soft, but not sticky), I turned it out on the table, kneaded it for 3 minutes, and then rolled it into four long strips.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - BeefFlatbread2

I topped two of the sheets with the beef filling, draped the other sheets over top, and sealed the edges.

The gozleme cooked in a hot, oiled skillet for approximately 2-3 minutes on each side. When they were browned on both sides, I cut each one in half and plated it alongside the roasted carrots and with a side of tahini dip.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - BeefPlated

I loved this dish. The gozleme was a cross between a calzone and a sandwich (two of my favorite things), and I was extremely impressed with how it turned out. The minty beef filling was delicious, and I loved the carrots dipped in tahini. I can’t wait to try and re-create this dish. I think it would be so much fun to have friends over for dinner and let everyone fill their own flatbread from a selection of pre-made fillings!

Also, I should mention that this is the first “challenging” recipe I’ve tried from Plated, and that rating is certainly due to the flatbread dough. Dough that’s too wet or too dry can be impossible to work with, and, even when it’s the right consistency, rolling dough into a thin, specific shape can be tricky. I managed okay, but I’d recommend that less experienced cooks keep the difficulty ratings in mind when they’re selecting dishes.

Meal #2- Chicken Avocado Burgers

Calories per Seving: 740

Cook Time: 35-45

Difficulty: Easy

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - ChickenCard

The following day, we had Chicken Avocado Burgers. Up until now, I’ve made all of the Plated dishes myself, but my husband (who also loves to cook) wanted to give this one a try.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - ChickenIngredients

He began by preparing the ingredients. Plated recommended slicing everything at the beginning, but Niall decided not to slice the avocado until right before he needed it, so it wouldn’t start to brown.

He tossed the sweet potato fries with olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper and put them in the oven to roast at 450 degrees, until they were browned and crisp.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - ChickenBurgers

While the fries baked, he made the chicken burger patties by combining chicken, ½ an avocado, garlic, salt, and pepper. These cooked in a hot skillet for approximately 12 minutes.

To finish, Niall made an aioli for the burgers and toasted the brioche buns. He built the burgers and plated the fries.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - ChickenPlated

He did a great job- the burgers and fries looked beautiful! We enjoyed this dish, but it didn’t blow our minds. I think the addition of avocado into the chicken patties is a clever idea (though it was a little odd to eat a burger with a green tint!), but I thought the burgers could have been more flavorful. (With hindsight, I probably should have added some lettuce and sliced red onion.) On the other hand, we both loved the sweet potato fries.

Niall had fun preparing the dish, and it was helpful to get his opinion on Plated. He found the recipe straightforward and easy to follow, and he liked having all of the ingredients pre-portioned and ready to go. (He said the only tricky thing about this dish was putting up with my constant requests for photos!)

Meal #3- Sausage & Squash Stir-Fry

Calories: 440

Cook Time: 25-35

Difficulty: Medium

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - SausageCard

I finished out my Plated week with Sausage & Squash Stir-Fry. I began by prepping my ingredients.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - SausageIngredients

To start, I browned the sausage, to make sure it had a nice, tasty char.

I removed it from the wok and added the zucchini and summer squash. I allowed them to cook for about 4 minutes before adding the onion, sweet peppers, and corn.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - SausageStirFry

When the veggies were tender, I added the spices, sausage, basil, salt, and pepper. When the basil started to wilt, the dish was ready!

I divided the stir-fry between two plates.

Plated Subscription Box Review – July 21, 2015 - SausagePlated

This was a perfect summer dish. It was light, tasty, and very easy to prepare.

Verdict: For the most part, I really enjoyed this box from Plated. The Sausage & Squash Stir-Fry was great, and the Beef Gozleme was a fun (and delicious) challenge. As usual, the ingredients arrived fresh and in good condition, and the recipes were clear and easy to follow. The cost per dish is about what I’d spend if I went shopping for ingredients at Whole Foods, and, considering the recipes and convenience factor, I’m happy with the value Plated offers. If you enjoy cooking at home, I would definitely recommend giving Plated a try!

Do you subscribe to Plated? If so, which Plated meals did you choose this week?

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

Amanda

I love your reviews. They make me so hungry. I really admire your ambition. You might want to check in with your mail delivery person. Based on the condition of that box, I’m guessing someone has anger issues. 🙂 Says something good about how well they must package all that beautiful produce, though!

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Jean

I am disappointed that Plated.com requires me to fully subscribe, including giving them my credit card number before I can use a gift card I was given. Guess I’m too old fashioned to think that using a gift should come without strings.

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Andrew

Not a good experience with Plated. First box arrived two days late, we were going to take it on a weekend trip to the mountains, instead it spoiled on our front step. Customer service apology was a $6 ($6!) credit. The next box the food was ok, but absolutely pales in comparison to Blue Apron. So I went online to cancel my subscription, and see there was another box on its way. They had sent the confirmation at 2:00am two days before, so I didn’t see it, and gave me less than 24 hours to change/cancel. When I complained they said there was “nothing they could do about it”.

Plated was one of the first in this business I think, but they’ve been severely passed by Blue Apron and others in terms of recipe quality and certainly customer service.

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chris

Your comment made me wonder when each of these started since they all seem to have exploded recently….

Hello Fresh started in early 2012.
http://eseller.net/profile-ed-boyes-co-founder-hello-fresh/

Plated launched in late 2012.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/09/plated-funding-meal-delivery-social-recipe-pages/

Blue Apron started early 2013.
http://www.inc.com/diana-ransom/blue-apron-lands-venture-funding-and-whopping-valuation.html

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Brownie

Hi everyone. The Plated subscription has intrigued me ?. I understand the breakdown but I’m fuzzy on the billing cycle. Do you pay weekly, bi weekly, or monthly? TIA

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Lindsey

Hi Brownie,

You pay per box and are billed weekly. If you don’t want to receive a box every week, it’s very easy to skip & you can skip up to 12 consecutive weeks. (When you sign into your account, there’s a calendar and you just click on any week you want to skip.) Hope that helps! 🙂

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Brownie

Understood. Thank you for the quick response, Lindsey!

chris

We chose the same 3 meals you did, Lindsey. One of our favorite food boxes to date! My husband especially wished we had more of the sweet potato fries but I can make them again. 🙂

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Alanah

This was one of my favorite if not my favorite box I’ve ever receive from Plated! Every dish was just delicious. We got the exact same dishes as Lindsey above.

I accidentally messed up the gozleme by adding the ingredients for the tahini dip to the carrots… oops. Turns out, they still roasted up beautifully and were very very flavorful! The gozleme itself was so flavorful too. My dough didn’t roll out quite as thin as they recommended, but when grilled up it was crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. So good. We ended up dipping it in salsa, since I messed up the dip… amazing!

The burger I really enjoyed. I ate mine without the bun, but still piled it high with aioli and avocado. I thought the burgers were really flavorful and moist from adding the avocado to it. I seasoned it pretty heavily with garlic salt and black pepper so maybe that was the difference? The sweet potato fries were amazing dipped in the remaining aioli.

Lastly the summer squash dish.. I though this would be my least favorite and I definitely didn’t think the boyfriend would like it but we were both surprised. Again, so flavorful and simple. The sausage itself was sooo good. I was impressed.

This was maybe my 6th or 7th Plated box and they never disappoint. Quality ingredients, great flavors, convenience, great customer service when you need it!

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