About 2 years ago I went through a home meal kit phase. I enjoy trying new things, LOVED the fact that I didn’t have to go shopping (not a fan) and that when I made something I used it all and didn’t have random jars, bottles, or halves of items that I needed for the recipe that would now squat in my frig for longer than I care to admit.
I finally landed on Hello Fresh which I loved the variety, the recipe cards, and the feeling like a rockstar when I made a pretty (if I say so myself) awesome dish. Cue the “I have made Fire!” scene from the movie Castaway. Then summer came. And while Hello Fresh offered up tasty summertime grilling options, I decided to drop the service for the season and then never went back.
Which brings me to the current state of the world. I mentioned I disliked shopping? I like it even less now. Recently when my friends were raving about their Hello Fresh meals I thought, Yes! I will go back – but it turns out they are not taking new customers right now and understandably so. So…. enter EveryPlate. It’s like a mini version of Hello Fresh, not as many options each week, not the big cool recipe cards and extras, however – the price was totally right (4.99 per serving) and as it turns out this company is owned by Hello Fresh AND was taking on new customers. Like most of these services, you can quit anytime and even take breaks and stop shipment for a time if you are going to be gone or just need a break. My total for 3 meals with 4 servings each and with shipping came to $68.12
So I’ll bite.
I placed my order and went with the 4 serving option (I really only needed two) mainly to see what portions looked like and honestly for that price I was skeptical about quantity and I do not mind leftovers. I chose the Pork and Pineapple Tacos, French Onion Meatloaves (which comes with potatoes and carrots), and the Honey Ancho Chicken (which comes with potatoes and Zucchini).
On Friday, my box arrived.
First thought: I was thrilled with the look of both the veggies and the meat. I felt like I had a CSA box of fresh goodies that I was going to have the pleasure of assembling. The box comes with two large ice packs (the meat is kept between them) and I save the ice packs to be used in coolers over the summer or for any event I need to keep something cold.
Here is the first recipe I tried.
Pork and Pineapple Tacos
Why did I choose this recipe? Honestly I like the thought of the southwest spice and pineapple combo. The ingredients looked like this:
The card was easy to follow. It listed all my ingredients so I could pull them out of the box. I was impressed with the number of tortillas ( 12 total!) and a full red onion and two full Garlic cloves. The only thing not included was a little olive oil for the pan, a tablespoon of sugar and salt and pepper.
Prep was easy to follow and I used my own already minced garlic for no other reason than I did not want to mess with peeling and fine chopping the cloves. I will use them babies elsewhere.
The sour cream was mixed with juice from the lime, some of the garlic and salt and pepper (YUM!). The Jalapeno and onions were mixed with lime juice and a little bit of sugar.
When all was said and done in about 30 minutes I had a tasty meal that I was thrilled with. The flavors of the spices and pineapple were spot on tasty! There was more than enough and I was pleased with the portions. I used a 4th of the tortillas. This particular meal did not come with any sides so I made Brussel sprouts to accompany this dish. The pineapple was to be drained from its juice and I put that to use as well in a little icy mix with a Sparkling Pink Grapefruit beverage. BONUS!
The good:
1. Well worth it. The quality of both the meat and the vegetables was really good. Everything was fresh.
I loved the dish. I was able to take everything I needed from the box and use it all. Nothing extra went into the refrigerator other than the leftover taco filling.
The not so good: No complaints. Hello Fresh meals come with each meal prep in a bag and EveryPlate came all together not separated. It’s not even worth mentioning other than I thought someone might want to know.
Disclaimer: I am all about shopping local and I do almost always. We ever have many local small business restaurants offering meal kits (including the company I work for) as well as take and bake or heat and eats. And I use these services in some way or another almost weekly to support them, and it’s tasty stuff. My point is – you can’t do that 7 days a week… and something like this is good to get a little creative on your own.
(I will review the other two recipes as well)
Have you tried any of the Meal Kits? If so what are your thoughts? Which do you like> If not is it something you would ever consider?
Book Journey 
Thanks for sharing, Sheila. I’ve always wondered about these services so your take is appreciated.
Thanks Mary! I just thought it would be fun to learn about it together. Tonight was my first experience and I would rate it a 5 out of 5 for this one. I will review the next two meals for this week as well so I can give it an over all rating.
I am definitely curious, except that I am now in a situation where meals are provided and I just need grocery apps to fill in where the dining room here is lacking. Yes, that happens, even in a place where one pays for full service dining.
The Pandemic has changed a lot of things. I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you.
I like them because with a small household I don’t need all the “extras” that I buy for one recipe. I like that I am not adding to my refrigerator “Collection” 😀 And of course now, it makes me a feel little more comfortable than putting myself in large crowds.
You got me hooked on meal kits, and I’m still going strong! I liked Hello Fresh pretty well, but we’ve been doing Sun Basket for over a year now, and have been very happy with it. Only downside now is I’ve been prescribed a low carb diet for my health condition, and SB is very much lacking in truly low carb options. Looking for something to replace it!
LOL well I am glad to hear it worked for you! It is hard when you are looking for a specific diet, I know some offer that but the choices from what I have seen seem limited. Let me know if you find one that works!
To each [their] own I guess. But even though I have a cooking degree I am no longer the cook. We’ve been using Instacart, which started here in Syracuse, since it began to crawl. We only do lamb on the red meat scale anyway, so a delivery service for us like yours isn’t really something we can use. We need lamb , chicken, turkey? We go to the Halal butcher down the street. We need “staples”? We get regular farm-to-table weekly deliveries that we supplement with Instacart. We need non-perishables? “Glamazon” to the rescue if the shipping’s not too dear.
Nice to see you regularly in my email again Sheila
Hey Andrea, that sounds really good! You are current what I am doing probably would not work – one downfall is I have not found one that caters strictly to support farmers and consistently healthy choices. I believe Sun basket comes close.
Glamazon. LOL
We did Plated for a long time but they went out of business. Then we tried SunBasket but found their recipes bland. Now we’re using Home Chef. The recipes are simpler than Plated and most are very tasty. It doesn’t seem as healthy but you can always choose the meals that are healthier or eliminate some of the ingredients. Overall we’ve been pretty happy.
Nice! I just love not having to think about dinner… 😀
We are doing Hello Fresh for three meals a week. I love that they have a different take on things we’ve made one way since the beginning of time. I also like that everything comes together and ready to prep and cook. My biggest complaints: 1. We have not been happy with their chicken (the recipes are great, but the chicken never tastes right). 2. They give short prep times. It always takes me much longer to peel, dice, chop, grate, etc. than they indicate.