April 2016 Plated Subscription Box Review + Coupon

This week we opted for a couple meals and a dessert for our Plated choices.  Plated is a weekly dinner kit subscription box 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, seafood, and purely vegetarian options.

There’s enough selection to please all palates, and the recipes are seasonally focused. You can swap out your recipes and skip any week you don’t want.  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 weeks to try new recipes — our favorite recipes always remain available in our account if we want to look them up to make again ourselves.

Plated uses recyclable/compostable jute for its insulation.  I have a stack of it in the garage that I’m planning to use to border some trees in our yard and create a weed barrier in some of the plant beds. Boxes 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.

Plated sends a weekly email — it doesn’t tell you much about your meals, other than what you need from home. There’s now no reminder of the ease of preparation and all the other subscriptions provide some version of that.

On-card information is now streamlined and includes only prep-time, number of servings, and calorie count.  Traditionally, all of Plated’s meals serve two people, but recently we’ve seen a few with 3 person serving sizes.

Plated’s recipes rely on mise en place and then cook – 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.

All the food comes bagged up and separated (mostly) into the recipes — meat and some large or delicate items are bagged separately, with the meat nestled at the bottom of the box among the ice packs.

Everything in our box!

Seared Steak with White Asparagus and Red Potatoes:  30-40 min, 670 calories per serving.

This meal looked very fancy, despite the few ingredients that went into it.  It was also moderately easy to prepare, and it used only a pot and pan.  As you can see in the picture, the steak was absolutely fabulous — very tender and cooked perfectly (the even cut of the meat helps with this).  The Potatoes were yummy, and the white asparagus were an elegant touch, even if the wine sauce was a little more than they needed.  Sauteed shallots and thyme finish the dish.

Pork Patties with Lemongrass and Crunchy Tahini Slaw:  20-30 minutes, 630 calories per serving.

This dish had tons of flavor and was a breeze to put together — this is more of a 15 minute recipe, if you’ve read through it ahead of time.  The slaw came pre-cut, saving tons of effort, and the pork patties were quick to throw together.  The patties and slaw salad each had their own distinct Thai/pan-Asian seasoning, so the there was a nice bit of variety of flavor from bite to bite.  I liked being able to toss everything in a pile and not worry about presentation.

Peanut Butter Cheesecakes in Graham Cracker Crusts:  30-40 minutes, 600 calories per serving. 

This recipe is a keeper — such an easy crowd-pleaser.  It really had the taste and texture of cheesecake, and we didn’t have to fuss with eggs or baking.  The natural-style, super-thick peanut butter added the necessary texture and depth of flavor to allow skipping normal cheesecake formalities.  Also fail-proof with the pre-made crust.  

It was a hit with everybody!  The homemade whipped cream puts it over the top — the thick texture is something you can’t get from a can, and it only takes a few minutes — so worth it!
This week’s Plated wasn’t too far outside the box, but it was really delicious.  The steakhouse meal was elegant and really delicious, the Thai salad hit all the right flavor notes, and the cheesecake gets an A+ for ease of deliciousness!

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).