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Plated Subscription Box Review + Coupon – June 2016

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseJul 25, 2016 | 4 comments

Plated-May-2016-Box

Plated
3.7 overall rating
43 Ratings | 23 Reviews

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. You can skip a week at any time.

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 and added hormones. 

Plated also makes it easy to pick recipes that suit your lifestyle. Each recipe clearly lists calorie content and prep time.

Plated-May-2016-Inside

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

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Plated-May-2016-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).

COUPON: Free dinner for two with purchase of 3-dinners plan ($24 value), just use this link!

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 and discover more meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

Plated-May-2016-Recipes

Each week, Plated offers a different menu with at least 7 dishes to choose from. For this box, I selected Eggplant Pizza alla Norma, Chili Maple Pork Tacos, and Mustard-Roasted Salmon.

When my box shipped, I received an email letting me know that I would need to have the following “pantry items” on hand: olive oil, black pepper, and kosher salt.

Plated-May-2016-Packed1

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

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

Meal #1-  Eggplant Pizza alla Norma with Mozzarella and Ricotta Salata

Calories Per Serving: 570

Cook Time: 35-45 minutes

Pizza is one of my favorite foods, and I’ve been really impressed with Plated’s pizza recipes in the past. If there’s pizza available on their weekly menu, it’s rare that I can resist adding to my box!

Plated-May-2016-PizzaRecipe1

Pizza alla Norma is a traditional marinara and mozzarella pizza that’s topped with ricotta salata, eggplant, and fresh basil.

Plated-May-2016-PizzaRecipe2

Plated’s two-sided recipe cards provide step-by-step instructions for preparing and baking the pie.

Plated-May-2016-PizzaPrep

Before cooking, I ripped a ball of mozzarella into small pieces, washed and chopped an eggplant, and cleaned the fresh basil.

Plated-May-2016-PizzaEggplant

I began by sautéing the eggplant slices in olive oil until they were soft.

Plated-May-2016-PizzaPrepped

I stretched out the provided pizza dough, topped it with marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella, ricotta salata, and sautéed eggplant. (I love dipping my crust in marinara, so I didn’t use the whole jar of sauce on the pizza.)

Plated-May-2016-PizzaBaked

Plated recommended baking the pizza at 450 degrees, but I always turn my oven all the way up when I’m cooking pizza. (I think it’s the secret to perfect crust!)

When the pizza was finished baking, I topped it with fresh basil.

Plated-May-2016-PizzaPlated

This pizza was delicious. It was cheesy and indulgent, and I thought the ratio of toppings was perfect!

Meal #2- Chili Maple Pork Tacos with Avocado and Spring Onion Salsa

Calories per Serving: 760

Cook Time: 25-35

Plated-May-2016-TacosRecipe

Tacos are another of my favorite foods, and I picked this dish because I was intrigued by the idea of adding maple syrup to pork tacos.

Plated-May-2016-TacosPrep

Before I started cooking, I prepped my vegetables: I halved a lime, minced garlic, cleaned and quartered radishes, and rinsed and chopped spring onions.

Plated-May-2016-TacosShallot

To begin, I warmed the tortillas in the oven and charred the spring ovens in a hot sauté pan with garlic.

Plated-May-2016-TacosSlaw

When the onions were ready, I made the spring onion salsa by combining lime juice, radishes, olive oil, salt, pepper, and the spring onion mixture. The recipe also called for an avocado, but the avocado Plated sent me was rock hard. (And I made this meal on day 4!) They did include a tip to wrap the avocado in foil and bake it at 200 degrees for 10 minutes in case “you prefer your avocado a little more ripe,” but I opted to just omit the avocado and allow it to ripen naturally. I used it a few days later in a different recipe.

Plated-May-2016-TacosReady

Lastly, I sautéed ground pork with chili powder and maple syrup until the meat browned and most of the maple syrup absorbed.

Plated-May-2016-TacosPlated

The sweet and spicy meat was delicious, but I thought this dish was a little mediocre overall. Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I cleaned our plates. I just don’t think I would make this dish again.

Meal #3- Mustard-Roasted Salmon with Orzo Risotto and Crispy Capers

Calories: 570

Cook Time: 30-40

Plated-May-2016-SalmonRecipe

The last dish I selected for this box was Mustard-Roasted Salmon with Orzo Risotto and Crispy Capers. I recently had crispy capers for the first time, and I’ve been obsessed with them ever since. (They remind me a little of fried pickles. Something that sounds weird and a little wrong, but is actually SO good!)

Plated-May-2016-SalmonPrep

Prep for this dish was simple. I diced an onion, cleaned and chopped some dill and parsley, and then got down to cooking!

Plated-May-2016-SalmonOnions

To begin, I cooked the onion in butter until it was soft.

Plated-May-2016-SalmonOrzoToast

I then added the orzo to the pot and allowed it to toast until it turned golden brown. I added water and salt and simmered the orzo until it started to get tender.

While the risotto simmered, I topped salmon filets with a mustard-olive oil mixture and roasted them on a baking sheet with the capers.

Plated-May-2016-SalmonRisotto

When the salmon was ready and the orzo was tender, I finished the risotto by stirring in pecorino, dill, and parsley. I divided the risotto between two bowls and topped each one with a salmon filet. To finish each plate, I spooned on some crispy capers.

Plated-May-2016-SalmonPlated

This dish was a definite winner. The pasta was yummy, and the salmon was tasty. The mustard and capers cut through the richness of the salmon perfectly.

Verdict: This box from Plated was a pretty big hit. The tacos weren’t my favorite, but I loved the pizza and salmon. The perceived value of a box like Plated is subjective, but, for me, it’s definitely worth the cost. I don’t always have time during the week to plan, shop for, and cook meals, and I love the convenience of having everything I need to make scratch meals delivered directly to my door. I think I’d spend as much (or more) shopping for the same ingredients at my local Whole Foods, and I’d certainly spend more if I ordered dinner out three times per week.

Do you subscribe to Plated? If so, which meals did you pick last week?

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This weekly meal kit delivery subscription lets you select from a diverse, ever-changing menu of 20 recipes per week that feature responsibly sourced meats, sustainable seafood, and seasonal ingredients. They're also the only meal kit box to offer add-on desserts! Choose to receive everything you ne... read more.
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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4 comments

Debbie

We signed up for plated a few weeks ago and I love it! Some recipes are a bit more time consuming but so far have been pretty great. Selections must change by region because I didn’t see the other two option you had but we did get the salmon. Yummy. So far, so good!

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Peggy

I’ve never had capers! Now I want to try them. 😉 Everything looks so wonderful! YUM!

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Anna

The salmon looks amazing! I love your food box comments and pictures. A small tip though; if you have a rock hard avocado wash it off under the tap, dry it well with a paper towel and bury it in your flour canister. In a day or two it will be perfectly ripe. I don’t know why it works but it does.

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Lindsey Morse

Thanks so much for the tip, Anna! I’ll definitely give it a try! 🙂

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