I have a confession to make. I subscribe to a dinner meal kit every week. Yes, every single week. And I absolutely love it! If you’re struggling with making (and planning) dinner every week, I wanted to give an honest EveryPlate review to maybe make your life a little easier!
My EveryPlate Review
You can tell by browsing my blog that I’ve loved cooking for quite some time. When I got pregnant with Willa, for some reason I loathed being in the kitchen. I think it was a mix of most foods sounding horrible to me and just being so exhausted. As I started getting closer to my due date, we prepped some freezer meals, but I still wanted to plan for meals after she arrived.
I did some research on meal kits. We’d tried Blue Apron and Hello Fresh (my preference was for Hello Fresh), but at $60+ per week, I felt like those didn’t actually save us money. I found EveryPlate (owned by Hello Fresh) for $40 a week and could stomach (hah!) that weekly bill.
So now every Wednesday, we get a delivery of 3 meals that are easy to prepare and don’t cost us much more than going to the grocery store for the ingredients (plus, no waste since there’s no buying a full container of an ingredient to use 1 teaspoon of it).
Pros
Affordable: This is the best value we’ve found in all of the meal kits we’ve tried.
So easy: Everything is pre-portioned in packets and bottles for the amount you need. The recipes are not super involved and since a lot of their recipes are similar (see below) once you cook a few, you get quicker at making them.
Simple ingredients: There is nothing complicated or crazy to cook; there’s a protein and two sides or a pasta dish with a few ingredients. It’s never intimidating and is wonderful for new cooks since you can learn a lot of beginner cooking tips!
Easy to recreate: Since the ingredients are simple and the recipes are easy, you can make these again on your own. We’ve made these Pork & Pineapple Bowls quite a few times!
Cons
Less variety of side dishes: My husband gets excited when the meals have something other than zucchini. Granted, we select the meals we get each week, but the ones we like always seem to come with zucchini and he gets a little bored with it.
Fewer creative and new recipes: I think Blue Apron and Hello Fresh have some more creative recipes and less repeats. If you’re looking to try unique ingredients or new recipes, EveryPlate may not be the best for you. But, I actually like that I can look forward to a recipe I like being available again and cooking things I’ve made before. While this one may be a con for some, I don’t consider it one.
You have to cook them right away: This is not a con that is specific to EveryPlate, but with fresh ingredients, you do have to cook these meals up soon after receiving them or the produce will go bad. Not something you want to stress about when you’ve had a long day, but I think the fact that you don’t have to plan the meal evens this one out.
This Week’s EveryPlate Menu
We had a Chicken and Long Pepper Stir Fry, Sweet and Tangy Cherry Meatballs, and a Farmers Market Pasta which was my favorite! Here’s a picture of the finished pasta:
Another thing I love about EveryPlate is that you can view the recipes before and after you choose them. It helps to see the cooking steps ahead of time if you know how busy your week will be. It also helps in re-creating the recipes later if you choose to.
Overall, EveryPlate has been my absolute favorite meal subscription service. I look forward to browsing the menu each week and I love winding down every night cooking a meal I didn’t have to plan or shop for. If you want to try EveryPlate yourself, you can get $20 off your first box using my link. Remember to pause your delivery on weeks you don’t want to get the meals. You can also cancel your subscription if you’re not happy with it after your first free box.
Have you ever tried a meal subscription kit? Which one is your favorite and why?