One of my goals this year is to make life easier. With each passing day, it feels like life gets busier and busier. It’s been very difficult to maintain work and responsibilities while trying to balance a social life at the same time. As an independent musician, my days are filled with marketing, promoting music, handling website maintenance, learning new music, writing new music, recording, performing at shows, and more. In addition to maintaining this blog, which I am deeply passionate about, there’s not much room for anything else – like grocery shopping, planning meals, and putting great food on the table every night. As a result, I started looking for ways to simplify meal planning and cooking. Meal kit delivery quickly piqued my attention.
My objective was to choose a service that was affordable, easy to follow, and offered tasty recipes. I came across EveryPlate during my search. I went with EveryPlate because they seemed to be the most affordable option while not sacrificing quality.
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First Impressions
After unboxing my first delivery, I was impressed. The food came neatly packed in an insulated bag, and the raw meat was packed separately from other ingredients. Each box includes a recipe card indicating which ingredients to use and instructions on how to make the meal. In addition to the insulated bag, the box also includes two bags of cool gel to keep the temperature in the box extra cool. This makes it super convenient because you don’t have to rush home to unpack the box if you’re away during delivery.
Food Quality
What I Love
The recipes offered with EveryPlate are traditional meals you’d find at your Mom’s or Grandmother’s house. You’ll get lots of ‘meat and potatoes’ dishes. I like it because it’s familiar. Although the meal selections follow a conventional route, I’m impressed with the flavors. EveryPlate gives you a chance to experiment and learn about different sauces, flavoring, and adding extra flair to what might be considered as ordinary dishes. For instance, I know how to make a great tasting sauce or pico de gallo to add as a garnish to tacos for that extra boost of flavor after following recipes from EveryPlate.
If I Had My Way
I’d love to have more variety in the meal selections. We’ve been using this service for a couple of months now, and some meals have already repeated. Also, there’s only one vegetarian choice per week. There aren’t many options for those with food allergies, vegetarians, vegans, or those with more selective diets. Unfortunately, that can be an eliminating factor for a lot of people.
Cooking Process
What I Love
Cooking food with EveryPlate is simple. It’s just a matter of grabbing the ingredients and following instructions on the recipe card. Instructions are easy to follow and they also give tips along the way like why the leftover starchy water from spaghetti makes such an amazing sauce. I also love the fact that if I have an early evening show, I can come home and whip up a great meal without having to put too much thought into whether I have all the ingredients or how to make the meal.
If I Had My Way
Even though the recipe cards come with pictures, I would rather the pictures better match each step in the process. Pictures on the card are from random parts during the cooking process and may not completely line up with what you’re doing at any given time. I’m a very visual person and I find that to be confusing. It’s also frustrating that the cook/prep time is not always accurate. What may take 20 minutes according to them, usually takes me about 40 minutes in real-time. That makes it a bit more difficult if I’m trying to factor cooking time into my busy schedule.
Support
What I Love
It’s really easy to contact support. There’s an instant messaging app inside of your account that you can use to speak with a support agent 24/7. There’s also a phone number you can call if you want to hear someone’s voice. We’ve had a few issues with our boxes not having the right ingredients. We used the instant messaging app and they addressed the issue right away. They are good at resolving problems quickly.
If I Had My Way
I really can’t think of any changes they need to make with their support. I’m really happy with access to support and their attention to our specific needs.
Cost
What I Love
Choices! You can choose the plan that fits your individual needs. EveryPlate offers meal plans for 2 people or 4 people and you can choose between 3, 4, or 5 meals per week. One of the reasons I chose EveryPlate was its affordability. We pay less than $50 for a full week of meals. It’s been extremely helpful in cutting down our grocery bill. If you’ve read any of my finance tips for musicians posts, you know cutting down expenses is one of the first areas we look at. We’ve even figured out a way to get a few more servings out of each meal by adding on a vegetable side or salad.
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If I Had My Way
With the low cost of this plan, it’s hard to find anything to complain about in terms of cost. But there are some corners they cut to keep costs low like not organizing the ingredients in the delivery box by meal and not offering more variety in meal selections. That’s the trade-off.
Final Thoughts
Because I have to wear so many hats as an independent musician, I don’t have much time to explore in the kitchen. My days are spent doing administrative tasks and nights are spent performing live or practicing and recording. I need something I can cook quickly and not have to spend extra time planning and shopping. EveryPlate is the best option for me to save money and time. Additionally, on weeks when I’m touring, EveryPlate lets me skip or pause my deliveries so I won’t have to pay for wasted food. I recommend EveryPlate for busy families, especially musicians with a tight budget. You can keep good food on the table without sacrificing money and time to do it. If you’re interested in giving EveryPlate a try, use my link here to get $20 your first box.
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I’m one of those musicians who’s all about saving them dolla-dolla bills, so I can totally see the appeal of a service like this. I’ve actually used something similar and it was delicious, not super expensive, and made me feel like an actual chef. Thanks for all the info, Anitra!
Oh wow, Caleb! I didn’t know you had used a meal kit service before! What was your experience? It really does help me save on groceries and keeps us from eating out all the time which helps us save even more. When we initially started, I thought the cost was going to be challenging, but it’s actually been the opposite.