Review: "Plated" Just Another Food Delivery In A Box?

The average twenty-something living in the district balances their time between work, happy hours, co-ed sports teams, and other social activities, leaving little or no time at all to enjoy a good meal. Because of our busy schedules, dinner for those bouncing around inside the beltway tends to be a 'grab-and-go' meal. Plated, a gourmet meal delivery service, is a game-changer for those living this lifestyle.

Plated.com is a food delivery service that gives you the tools you need to be a gourmet chef at home without hours of prep work or the hassle of finding a recipe and then shopping for the ingredients. Each week, Plated offers a menu of five different meal options created by their featured chefs. You can order 2, 4 or 6 plates – or portions – of each meal with the cost ranging from $12 per plate with a $10/month membership fee to $15 a plate with no monthly membership fee. Once you order your meals, the ready to cook ingredients are delivered to your door.

Last week I had my first plated experience. I went online and took advantage of their offer for first time Plated users. It couldn't have been easier to sign up, and the menu was easy to browse. Each menu item satisfied different palettes and there was even a gluten-free option! I went with the Seared-Tuna Sushi Bowl, selected my delivery date and waited anxiously as the days passed till it arrived.

A few days later while I am sitting at work I received an email from Plated telling me that my ingredients have arrived at my doorstep, and sure enough it had. All of the ingredients were pre-portioned and labeled inside a biodegradable box kept cool with ice packs. I removed the ingredients, set up the provided recipe in front of me and began cooking.

After following six simple steps that took about half an hour to complete, I was sitting down enjoying a nice gourmet dinner with a glass of wine. I'll be the first to say I was a little hesitant about cooking with fish delivered to my door, but it was once of the best pieces of tuna I have ever had! The clean up was just as easy as the prep itself. Since all of the ingredients were pre-portioned just to use for this meal there wasn't any extras to put away for later use.

Bottom line - would I use Plated again and I would I recommend it others? In my best Napoleon Dynamite voice, "HECK YES I WOULD!" If you are like me and don't have a lot of experience in the kitchen, Plated is a great way to learn how to cook and start working in the kitchen. Not only was I able to cook a meal for myself, and a good one at that, but I had extra for lunch the next day. I would also recommend using Plated for a 'date night in' cooking with your partner, or for a girls night!

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