Plated Subscription Box Review + Coupon – September 2018

Plated is a weekly meal kit delivery subscription that delivers you pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to help you make chef-designed recipes at home. They offer different weekly menus and randomly pick recipes for you based on preferences you submit when you sign up. If you'd rather pick your own recipes from the weekly menu, it's easy to hop in and change your order on their website or their handy-dandy app.

Plated is committed to using sustainably sourced seafood, seasonal produce, and meat that’s free from antibiotics and added hormones. Like most meal kits, Plated won't include standard pantry items (think salt, pepper, olive oil). They will, however, email you to let you know what pantry items you should have on hand for that week's box. Prep time and dietary details are listed in each recipe. And if you love a recipe, you can rate it and download a digital recipe card via your online account. (Highly rated recipes sometimes come back as "Encore" recipes for you to order again, so don't forget to leave your star rating each week!)

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

This review is for the 2 recipes (4 plates) plan, which cost $48.00 per week (+ $6.00 shipping). I chose to have chicken, beef, shellfish, and fish as options to include in my recipes.

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

About Plated

The Subscription Box: Plated

The Cost: Recipes begin at $12.00 per plate:

• 2 recipes (4 plates)= $48.00 per week (+ $6.00 shipping)
• 3 recipes (6 plates)= $72.00 per week (with free shipping)
• 4 recipes (8 total plates)= $96.00 per week (with free shipping)
• Dessert costs $4.00 per serving (available after your first order)

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Save 25% off your first 4 weeks of Plated with any subscription plan (up to a $159.20 value)

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 U.S. (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.)

Good to know: Plated was recently purchased by Albertsons.

Plated September 2018 Review

Plated sends each meal mostly packaged together in a plastic bag, except for meat and any larger produce that may not fit. Each individually wrapped item is marked with the meal it belongs to so you can organize them in your refrigerator upon unpacking. I really appreciate this extra step to keep things organized and easy for me when unpacking!

Chicken Tamale Pie with Cornbread and Monterey Jack 

Calories per Serving: 610

Total Prep and Cook Time (listed): 30 - 40 minutes

Actual Time to Cook: 35 minutes

Plated recipe cards come with a short description on the front and include the estimated prep and cook time and the calories per serving. On the other side, you'll see a list of ingredients, what you'll need from your kitchen (ingredients as well as tools), recipe tips, and step-by-step directions with photos.

I started by cleaning and chopping the romaine lettuce, and set it in a bowl to use later when I build my salad.

Next, I chopped the scallions and halved my lime. Super fast and easy!

After preparing my produce, I prepped the two pieces of chicken. I placed them in a pan with oil and cooked for about six minutes on each side.

While the chicken cooked, I crumbled the piece of cornbread that was provided on the bottom of the tin pan. I have to say, I was pretty sad to see only one small piece of cornbread for this meal because, as you can see, it didn't really cover the bottom of the pan very well. This is meant to be the "pie crust" so I think another piece would have helped.

From there, I moved my cooked chicken to a plate to cool and added the scallions to cook down. Then, I added the tomato sauce to simmer together.

Once the tomato sauce started to boil, I added the can of black beans and shredded chicken.

Now that my "pie filling" was ready, I added it to the pan with the cornbread and sprinkled the Monterey jack cheese over the top. Time to pop this into the oven at 450 degrees for about six minutes.

While my pie baked, I made my crema and salad. The crema is made with cilantro, lime juice, and sour cream. Once the crema was combined, I added half to the romaine lettuce salad.

Here is the pie straight out of the oven, look at how yummy and cheesy this looks!

Here is my final plate! OMG, this was so delicious and I know I will be making it again. The cornbread added a light sweetness to each bite and the cheese brought together the black beans and chicken perfectly. The salad was so light and crunchy with the perfect amount of lime and creaminess from the sour cream. A bite of the pie with some of that salad, to me, was the perfect way to enjoy this dish! This meal was very filling and allowed each of us to go back for seconds, which I really appreciate. Again, my only negative was that there needed to be more cornbread to fill the bottom of the pan to allow this to be more pie like. Other than that, this was a huge hit in my house!

Soy-Glazed Chicken with Long Life Noodles, Sriracha Cashews, and Pea Shoots

Calories per Serving: 710

Total Prep and Cook Time (listed): 25-35 minutes

Actual Time to Cook: 35 minutes

Here is our second recipe card, I love reading through the recipe tips that are listed on the back of each card.

As always, I started by chopping the produce. This was very easy since all I had were the cilantro and scallions.

Here are the cashews coated in sriracha powder, ready to be baked!

Then it was time to make my sauce! I combined the soy sauce, holsin, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and scallions. This was the perfect mixture of salty and somewhat sweet.

Once my water boiled, I added the noodles to cook for only about two to three minutes.

Once my noodles were cooked, I added them to the pan with my cooked chicken and poured the sauce over everything. I let this all simmer together for a minute to let the noodles and chicken soak up all of that yummy sauce.

This recipe seemed too easy, but here is my final plate that was brought together so quickly! This dish was so delicious and filling! The noodles were cooked perfectly and really soaked in all of the sauce. The sauce was sweet and somewhat sour with yummy hints of salt. The cashews were my favorite part of this dish, adding a lovely crunch to each bite, but I do wish they were a bit spicier. Overall, a wonderful and hearty dish that was super easy to put together, and one that I know I will be cooking again in the future!

Verdict: This month's Plated was a big hit! Both meals were hearty and were filled with so many flavors that I loved. My favorite part, though, was how easy each meal was to prep and cook. As a busy Mom, having a sub box for meals makes life easier, but it only really helps if the recipes are quick and easy which both of these meals delivered on! I often feel that the meals are never enough food for myself and my husband, but these meals were wonderful in terms of keeping us feeling full. A big win this month!

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. The Plated menus change weekly and you need to lock in orders before shipments go out.

Coupon - Save 25% off your first 4 weeks of Plated with any subscription plan (up to a $159.20 value)

Value Breakdown: This box cost $48.00 + $6.00 shipping, which is $13.50 per meal.

Check out all of our Plated Reviews and discover more meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!

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Would you eat the meals I cooked from Plated this week?