Plated Meal Review (with Creative License)

I have so many great things to say about Plated. The food is good, the service is exceptional, and the recipes are really suited to our lifestyle. In addition, I've gained so much confidence through using them only for a few months because now I feel comfortable being creative with the recipes. 

This week, we ordered three meals: Tofu with Citrus Glazed Vegetables, Quinoa Stir Fry, and Pasta. My husband and I thought about it a bit and realized we really liked the idea of a tofu stir fry, so we used the tofu from one recipe, along with the orange to make the Stir Fry a citrus soy ginger tofu mix, saving the quinoa and veggies for other recipes. 

Plated Review - Meal #2: Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pesto

For this Plated meal, we tried something a bit more complicated. We also got dessert, but by the time we started cooking, we decided to leave the Chocolate Espresso Crinkle Cookies for midweek as a treat. The meal was Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pesto.

Although Plated is generally easier, this meal was a bit of a fiasco, but mostly for reasons beyond anyone's control. We got started fairly late, because my husband was watching football. Since I started by myself, I forgot to take pictures from the beginning, too! Everything was there and the squash was cut already (although I needed to cut it into smaller cubes to make it easier to mash later).

By the time my husband joined me, the squash was roasting in the oven and everything was ready for the pesto. Unfortunately, the pesto calls for either hand mixing (which is quite difficult) or a food processor/blender. Since we had a blender, we were a little overconfident. Suffice it to say, because it's us, we got everything into the blender, turned it in, and then... after 15 years, the blender decided it had had enough and stopped working.

Now things were already cooking and we needed to hand mix pesto. My husband did that while I started the ravioli filling. The water had been boiling but since we were delayed, I put it on low and by the time we were ready to stuff the ravioli, it was barely warm.

Plated Review - Meal #1 (Asian Stir Fry Quinoa and Tofu Bowl with Clementine Upside Down Cakes for Dessert)

As evidenced from our experience with Blue Apron, we aren't really gourmet chefs! (And, yes, I am aware I promised to make acorn squash, but we have definitely determined these meals are best for weekends for us since we just don't have that kind of time during the week).

Plated works the same way as Blue Apron in many respects. You select your meals and they bring you the exact amount, as well as the recipes on big cards with the directions laid out fairly simply. There are also significant differences and I'm going to note the pros and cons I picked up on between both services at the end of this post.

Our first meal with Plated was Asian Stir Fry Quinoa Bowl with Tofu. We also ordered the desserts with this order and we had Clementine Upside Down Cake after we ate.

Everything was prepackaged in two bags (the cabbage and scallions were too big for the main bag), and it was all labeled both by what it was and which meal it belonged to in the event they were separated.

This required a great deal less prep time than our previous two meals - we started cooking about 20-30 minutes after doing an ingredient check and setting everything up. And that's with a debate on how best to mince ginger.

As far as the cooking for this meal, it was really easy. My husband has worked as a cook, but I am basically useless in the kitchen and I was able to contribute. I also found that this was a meal that could easily be made by one person.

All of the ingredients were fresh and full of flavor. And look at the adorable soy sauce containers!