Have you ever picked up a prepared meal from the grocery store or a restaurant and thought you could make something similar yourself that would be healthier, cost less money, and even taste better? Do you have some basic kitchen skills but want to elevate your cooking repertoire with some new dishes? With Plated, rather than order a pepperoni pizza for delivery, you can make a prosciutto balsamic pizza at home in about the same amount of time.

Plated lets you select two, three, or four meals per week, with two, three, or four servings per meal. They offer 20 meals to choose from weekly plus desserts. After you’ve made your selections, they deliver all the ingredients right to your door so you can get started cooking those delicious, healthy meals.

Select from recipes with meat or seafood, vegetarian dishes, meals with no gluten ingredients, and low-calorie and low-carb meals. You can mix and match from all the meals available to get exactly the menu you’d like for the week. Plated highlights the most popular dishes based on customer reviews and they also note if a recipe is Quick Prep or Stovetop Only to make it easy to choose recipes based on how much time you have to cook. Plated even offers desserts, something most meal kit delivery services don’t have.

Popular recipes include:

• Chicken marsala with roasted fingerling potatoes – low-carb meal
• Caprese chicken over warm spinach salad – Stovetop Only
• Seared steak with cherry tomato vinaigrette – no gluten ingredients, Stovetop Only, low-carb meal, low-calorie meal
• Salmon and creamy dill sauce with sautéed kale and roasted fingerling potatoes – no gluten ingredients, low-carb meal

There are no special designations on the recipes for family- or kid-friendly meals but with options such as pizza, calzones, empanadas, and some classic chicken and steak dishes, it’s easy for parents to select meals their children will love. And if you’re an adult who’s not an adventurous eater but still wants to try cooking some new meals, these should work for you, too.

The delivery date for your box is flexible and can be changed by a certain deadline, along with any other adjustments you need to make to a box one week. Plated makes it easy to skip boxes, too, on those weeks when you don’t need it. Plated has an app to help you manage your meals on the go and has online chatting through its website to aid in customer service.

What Makes Plated Special?

Plated offers more weekly recipes to choose from than most other services, including desserts. All the pork and poultry is 100% free from antibiotics and the ground beef is 100% free from added hormones. Plated sources seasonal produce from farmers around the United States and strives to use local, organic fruits and vegetables and sustainably sourced fish whenever possible. Some of the leftover perishable food from their facilities is donated to local food banks.

The shipping box is made from recyclable cardboard and the plastic packaging is recyclable, too. Some of the insulation materials are compostable and the gel packs can be re-frozen and reused. When it’s time to dispose of them, the gel can be thrown in the trash and the plastic can be recycled.

Plated has started boxing up its meals for sale in your local grocery store, too. They feature the same pre-measured ingredients in one box that you can grab and go while you’re running errands. If you have a favorite meal that’s not available online one week, check to see if it’s at the store.

Pricing

• Two-serving meals cost $11.95 per serving.
• Three- and four-serving meals cost $9.95 per serving.
• Desserts have an additional per-serving cost that varies.
• Shipping for plans less than $60 is $6.00.
• Shipping for plans over $60 is free.

Pros

• Plated includes dessert options.
• They offer versatility with choices, from recipes, number of servings, number of weekly deliveries, and delivery dates.
• Plated uses locally sourced and organic ingredients whenever possible.

Cons

• It’s one of the more expensive meal kit delivery services if you’re on the two-person plan.
• It lacks some of the tips and online tutorials that other services feature.
• They do not deliver to Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Texas.

Plated is one of the most popular meal delivery services due to its convenience and versatility. It’s great for singles who want to have some leftovers and families who need larger meals. With Plated, you skip the meal planning and the grocery shopping and go straight to the kitchen to start cooking.