I moved to New York City last September and after the freezer full of Mom’s gourmet Indian meals ran out, I had a problem. I had to start feeding myself. If you are like me, always pressed for time, live with two roommates with weird eating habits, and on a budget, you are well aware of grocery shopping woes. There are rarely single sized portions of anything a. fresh and b. delicious at C-Town. That mascarpone you want to splurge on is going to end up half-eaten in the trash. What else can you realistically make with mascarpone anyway? Sure you can just get the basics, eggs, milk and bread… boring. Specialty items like Thai Green Curry require even more special spices and ingredients. After throwing away half of a sad looking onion, I sighed. There had to be a solution to this problem.
A few days later I saw an ad for Plated on Facebook “chef-designed recipes and fresh ingredients delivered to your door.” I browsed the site and clicked on a few mouthwatering vegetarian recipes that Plated would deliver. What a great idea! After getting angry at myself for not coming up with this concept on my own, I decided to give Plated a try.
I signed up and ordered 2 recipes, Mushroom, Spinach, Squash and Goat Cheese Quesadillas and Rosemary Braised Swiss Chard and Cannellini Beans to be delivered on Saturday. Each meal (serves 2) is designed by chefs like Rebekah Peppler and Jason Roberts (The Chew ) and comes with everything I need (except salt and pepper).
Plated really exceeded my expectations. The ingredients came in a recyclable box, and each item was individually packed and labeled. 2 ice packs at the bottom of the insulated, Mylar liner kept the locally sourced produce fresh. The packaging made it easy for me to refrigerate everything and cook on my own time. Although, I do feel bad about the amount of plastic that was used to wrap and pack all the ingredients.
The recipes were dummy proof. So simple and easy to follow, even my tiny elf sized galley kitchen could handle it. I was cooking vegetarian dishes (plenty of meat options on the site) so cooking took a total of 20 minutes. The portions were also generous which meant I had lunch for the office and dinner for Monday! The only thing is I wish the quesadillas came with more than just 2 wraps. I had left over filling and cheese to make at least 2 more servings and ended up eating them with bread.
This experience was fantastic and I’m looking forward to next week’s menu! I’m looking forward to creating delicious meals for myself with minimal effort.
Subscribe to my blog and try Plated with my personal discount code. I’ll personally email you the code!
They also have great membership and referral incentives that give you 2 free plates every time you invite a friend. Yay free food! Plated currently ships to 80% of the US, check your zip code on their website.
