Plated Meal Subscription Box Review + Free Meals Coupon – January 2016

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plated january 2016 box

For 2016 Plated’s look has gotten a refresh, but is still sending the same great meals!  Plated sends weekly dinner kits with high quality ingredients and chef-created recipes. Each week you’ll choose from a variety of quick gourmet meals 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.

Important to note: whereas Plated has been a subscription, you could previously turn off auto-shipments. You can no longer do that. No big deal for us, because we like to go in and select what recipes we’re receiving anyways.

plated january 2016 insulation

The jute packaging is back again. We’ve determined that there is no real rhyme or reason to the choice of outer packaging, as it changes monthly.  No herbs this time, so I don’t know if they still pack them in an envelope to protect them from the ice.

plated january 2016 bags plated january 2016 meatBoxes are always packed with the meat on the bottom, underneath a few big ice packs — the rest of the food is set on top with more ice.

This week’s email was once again pretty bare and did not include information about our meals. There’s now no reminder of the ease of preparation and all the other subscriptions provide some version of that. We think the recipe cards should include it anyways, but at the very least the email should let you know which is easiest. The link to our box details only showed the current recipes, so it was unhelpful. You can get the recipe PDFs in your account but not the difficulty.

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] We have also started ordering Home Chef. We love all of these boxes – try them out and pick your favorite.

plated january 2016 recipes

Plated has new branding – but we were super disappointed that they didn’t put the ease of preparation on the recipe card.  They could put it right there where it says serves 2 people – because all of Plated’s meals serve two people!

plated january 2016 instructions

Plated’s recipes rely on mise en place and then cook, and to be honest, we often mix up the steps from how the recipe is written, but we’re both experienced cooks and know what can be accomplished while something else cooks. So, read your cards if you need the step by steps.

plated packaging

All the food comes bagged up and separated (mostly) into the recipes.Italian Sausage with Lentils and Ciabatta Toast.

Italian Sausage with Lentils and Ciabatta Toast. 35-45 mins, 810 calories. This meal featured french green lentils flavored with red wine vinegar and chicken stock, some wonderful Italian sausage, and a great hunk of bread!  This was an easy meal to prepare, although I would have skipped boiling and draining the lentils – preferring to rinse and cook and add things instead.

Italian Sausage with Lentils and Ciabatta Toast

It was delicious and the flavoring was great, although maybe I would have preferred a bit less vinegar and a bit more tomato. This was fantastic, because I do prefer ordering the non-vegetarian meals, but I adore lentils. Tom and I agreed that all meals should come with bread!

Chicken Pot Pie with Flaky Biscuits

Chicken Pot Pie with Flaky Biscuits. 35-45 mins, 780 calories. Really, everything on this week’s menu was hearty and perfect for winter. This was a simple stovetop chicken pot pie, and we were really amused with the pre-made biscuits, but it turned out great.

Chicken Pot Pie with Flaky Biscuits in pot

The gravy was thick and rich and featured carrots, peas, and onions. Tom cooked the mushrooms separately because I don’t enjoy them.  I think the pearl onions were sent from frozen and were a little watery, so I was concerned, but they turned out fabulously. Chicken Pot Pie with Flaky Biscuits

Another relatively simple meal and the flavor was really enhanced by the fresh thyme in the dish.

Chocolate Peppermint Bark with Pecans and Sea Salt. plated

Chocolate Peppermint Bark with Pecans and Sea Salt. 20-30 mins, 360 calories. Sometimes we get 2 meals, or 2 meals including the Chef’s Table recipe, and other times we just add on a dessert to avoid paying shipping charges. It’s worthwhile for that purpose, but rather spendy if you think about it by itself ($8).

Chocolate Peppermint Bark with Pecans and Sea Salt. unbroken

We prepared this only with a little of the nuts and sea salt at the request of our children!Chocolate Peppermint Bark with Pecans and Sea Salt.

This recipe made an enormous amount of bark, and although we have grown a bit tired of the sea salt trend on chocolate (I know, blasphemy for some – and this is from a certified salt fiend! – but we think it’s overdone), the amount was just right on our pieces.Chocolate Peppermint Bark with Pecans and Sea Salt. yummy

This was really a big hit with our crew – and this giant hunk never made it into the photo!

I’m enjoying the new Plated interface and like that I have direct access to a Plated “concierge” when I want to change my order for the week (for example, to add double of one dish, or an extra dish than my subscription).  I have also noticed that some of my absolute favorites are coming up over the next few weeks, and I have a few boxes scheduled!

Visit Plated to find or more or to subscribe. Currently you can get 2 free plates when you buy 4 when you sign up with this link (no coupon code required).

The Subscription: Plated
The Description: Ingredients for chef-designed meals delivered to your door. You select the chef-created recipes on the Plated.com website and Plated sends you a box of food and recipes.
The Price: $12 per plate – must order in multiples of 2 and your box ships free with $50 in product. If you want only 2 meals, go for a Chef’s Table + a regular, or 2 regular plates plus a dessert!
See Plated in the Hello Subscription Box Directory!
The Categories:, .
The Reviews: See all our Plated Reviews.
The Spoilers: Previews and ordering of future weeks are available on the Plated site!.

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