December 16, 2019 No Comments

Disclaimer: I was not paid to review EveryPlate or any other meal kit, but this post does include referral links which will credit me if you choose to sign up.

EveryPlate bills itself as the “Affordable Meal Kit for Everyone” with kits starting at $4.99/serving. I’ve been a long time proponent for meal delivery service kits, starting with Hello Fresh and am currently using Sun Basket and Blue Apron. You can see my review of these services here. I’d been seeing EveryPlate advertised online and received a 40% discount for my first 3 weeks.

Each week, you can select 3 recipes from 9 different options. Some options (like steak) are an extra charge per serving. It is also easy to skip weeks if you won’t be home or don’t like the menu options. I’ve been ordering the 2 serving meal kits for my family of 4 (kids aged 7 & 3) and it provides us a nice reasonable sized meal. My 3 year old hardly eats anything, so I would consider it really 3 servings. I’ve also found that pasta dishes are much larger servings than other meals and many times we have leftovers.

Every recipe indicates that it can be cooked in 30 minutes, but I’ve found that so far I’m usually done quicker. EveryPlate also relies on your home “staples” more than other meal kits I’ve tried. They assume that you will have milk, flour, oil, and butter on hand. Oil is the only one of these ingredients that I regularly have, so I have to be prepared and stock up in advance.

Like other meal kits, the food is shipped to you on ice, within a bag designed to stay cold. The box is smaller than the other meal kits I’ve used, so a little friendlier on the environment. Within the box, you’ll find each recipe on its own recipe card, the meat in the lowest section right next to the ice, and the remaining ingredients in a nice little cardboard crate that fits nicely in the fridge. The ingredients are delivered in their purest form, so some prep is required.

EveryPlate is a great option if you want to save money and like simple options for your family that are quick to cook.

EveryPlate finished product — The finished product

Meal Kit Comparison

	EveryPlate	Sun Basket	Blue Apron	Hello Fresh
Weekly Menu Options	9 recipes	18 recipes	11 recipes	20
Starting Price / serving	$4.99	$10.99	$7.49	$7.49
Key Differentiators	Price	Organic produce; Lots of weekly options; Plans for multiple diets (paleo, gluten-free, etc.)	Good middle of the road option	Great entry to the space; Long history in the industry

For a comprehensive look at even more meal delivery kits, check out ConsumersAdvocate.org. They studied different meal delivery options and analyzed their costs, the freshness of their ingredients, eco-friendly packaging, and their variety to find the best option for everyone.

Meal Delivery Kits – Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Sun Basket

Disclaimer: I was not paid to review any of these services, but this post does include referral links which will credit me if you choose to sign up.

Meal delivery kits have become popular for combining convenience with fresh food. Our family has used 3 different meal delivery services and have enjoyed trying new foods and eating a variety of cuisines. The meals come in various stages of preparedness, usually just requiring some dicing and then cooking. The average estimated time to prepare is 25-35 minutes. This post will outline our experience with each company. For each company, we enrolled in 3 meals a week for 2 individuals.

Hello Fresh

Hello Fresh allows you to sign up for 3, 4, or 5 recipes for two people each week, or 3 recipes for four people. If purchasing less than 5 recipes per week, you choose your meals from the 5 total for the week. There is also a Veggie Plan with 3 vegetarian meals per week. Hello Fresh shipped their meals with all ingredients for 1 meal boxed together. This made it very easy to pull those ingredients when ready to prep the meal. The meal selection was good, but we no longer use Hello Fresh as the quality of their ingredients became worse and worse. We would receive rotten vegetables and meat that was brown. When contacting customer service, they would always place a credit on our account for a portion of the meal cost to replace the bad ingredient.

Pricing starts at $7.49 a meal.

Blue Apron

Blue Apron was the second company that we tried and one that we still use regularly. They provide a selection of 11 meals to choose from each week. If you’ve tried Blue Apron in the past, you may remember that the selection of certain meals would eliminate other options. This contingency has been removed and you can select any 3 meals that you wish.

The meals are very easy to prepare with only some minimal prep, such as dicing potatoes, grating cheese, removing stems from kale, or pressing garlic. The ingredients for all three meals are lumped together in the delivery box, not separated by meal. Although, the ingredients are individually wrapped and labeled with the exception of garlic, lemons and limes. Pricing starts at $7.49 a meal.

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Blue Apron also provides how-to videos on their site, plus options to order corresponding wines and cooking tools.

Sun Basket

Sun Basket is by far my favorite meal kit delivery option! Each week you get to choose from 18 different recipes, with no restrictions. You can even select to receive multiple of the same recipe. This would be a great option for a dinner party or when having company.

When selecting your meals, each recipe indicates if it is paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, or vegan. There is the option to upgrade proteins for an additional charge, like upgrading chicken thighs to chicken breast or for organic options. All of their produce is 100% organic. They also have add-ons, like breakfast egg bites, oatmeal, salad kits, and snacks.

Like Hello Fresh, the ingredients for each recipe are packaged together in paper bags. Pricing starts at $10.99 a serving.