June 13 2015 Plated Dinner Kit Subscription Box Review

 Plated sends weekly dinner kits with high quality ingredients and chef-created recipes. Each week you’ll choose from a variety of dishes that range from meats, chicken, seafoods, and purely vegetarian options. There’s enough selection to please all palates, and the recipes are seasonally focused. We love the way each meal incorporates only a couple key herbs or spices; the flavors shine through, and the recipes remain easy to follow. We love getting boxes most week to try new recipes, and we save the must make again recipes – although they’re also available in your account. Plated’s recipes rely on mise en place and then cook, and to be honest, we often mix up the steps, but we’re both experienced cooks and know what can be accomplished while something else cooks.

 The recipe card is new and fresh for 2015, though I wish it would indicate the ease of the meal right on the card. When your box is sent out you’ll get an email indicating the pantry items you’ll need (black pepper, canola oil, kosher salt, olive oil, water), plus a reminder of what meals are coming, preparation ease, cook time, and calorie count. We get asked a lot – Sometimes we order Plated and sometimes Hello Fresh. It just depends on what meals we’re interested in. [Hello Fresh: Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8]

Chicken Shawarma with Tahini and Israeli Salad: 35-45 minutes, 710 calories, Medium Difficulty

This classic street food is almost like a meaty version of felafel sandwiches. It wasn’t spit-roasted or anything, but it was good, and the marinade made the flavors easy. It wasn’t amazing and…

There was a ridiculous amount of tomato salad left. Which is a lot of preparation for something that didn’t get used.  Tom made this one and to be honest, he just didn’t realize when he was doing it that it was a completely insane amount of tomatoes to cut.

Pad See Ew with Pork and Sweet Peppers: 35-45 minutes, 730 calories, Easy

This was absolutely amazing and delicious. Pad See Ew (aka crazy/drunken noodles) is one of my very favorite meals and this was really up there with my fave Thai Hut meal. I’d never had it with pork and I loved the ground pork texture – it made it easy and quick. The flavors are really there, and I consider myself a crazy noodles taste expert. I get it every time, every Thai restaurant, because I’m crazy about it. My only criticism: this was a bit salty and they should have used less regular soy sauce and included dark soy sauce for more depth of flavor.

We didn’t get a Plated box for today, because we’re out of town, but you can view and pick menus fairly far in advance, and for next Saturday we have Steak and Zucchini Gyros with Pesto, Fontina and Basil Chicken with Spinach, Artichokes, and Tomatoes, and BBQ Ribs with Grilled Red Potatoes, Summer Squash, and Tomatoes coming up!

Visit Plated to find or more or to subscribe, or check out all our Plated Reviews.  There are more meal subscription services & dinner kits in the directory.