Let’s face it, although we’d all love to be the type of people who procure fresh farm stand quality ingredients and cook healthy, home-cooked meals every night, with life coming at us full speed it sometimes feels impossible. This is where I was recently with a newborn, toddler, my partner working full-time and barely a second in the day to shove down a power bar and a glass of water. I’d tried meal delivery services before, but this time I was looking for something budget friendly when I stumbled upon EveryPlate.

What is EveryPlate?

EveryPlate touts itself as “America’s Best Value Meal Kit.” But what does that mean? Each portion averages out to $4.99 each. Which means roughly $20 is spent on a meal for a family of four. EveryPlate claims to be a super flexible meal plan with classic, home style recipes.

Each week you choose how many meals you want, and they are sent right to your front door. There are five categories of meals including quick and easy (my choice), veggie, meat and veggie, family, and homestyle. All of the dinner meals come with the ingredients you need to make them at home in your kitchen. But, you do need a few pantry essentials like olive oil and butter.  

Did EveryPlate save me money?

This is what people want to know, did it save money? Most meal kits are notorious for being quite expensive. And we’ve tried our fair share of other kits such as Sunbasket, HelloFresh, and Green Chef.

Despite being much cheaper than those other kits listed, EveryPlate did not save me much money. The budget I had been shopping with for weekly groceries was about $100/week. That was for roughly six dinner meals, any additional foods for lunch, and some breakfast items. 

Also, we spend about $30 on one pizza night per week.

EveryPlate was $110 for five meals for four people. This did give us lunches for the next day as well, seeing as only 3 people in our house are eating the meals. However that left two days of dinner unaccounted for and breakfast.

So all in all I was still spending more than I really wanted to for our grocery budget.

Did EveryPlate save me time?

Time is valuable especially when juggling kids, pets, and other household chores.

The answer is yes and no. I like cooking, but I’m by no means a Top Chef of any kind. So it does take me a bit to coordinate and make everything.

Moreover, there are a lot of small steps, so i did spend an extra 10-15 minutes then the suggested cook/prep time. It didn’t help that my three year old was constantly yelling “Come help me with my trains!” while I tried to follow directions.

Also, I still had to go shopping for food, so it didn’t save me time there.

Were the meals easy to make?

I don’t think the meals were exceptionally difficult. In fact, most used a lot of repetitive ingredients. One week we had three meals with rice sides. 

This is one negative, you can’t modify the meals that much. So if you don’t want rice three times in one week, you have to choose a completely different meal. 

Anyone with a basic understanding of cooking can follow the simple instructions complete with a picture for each step.

Were EveryPlate ingredients good quality?

EveryPlate used very good quality ingredients. All of the vegetables and ingredients were fresh.

However, the packaging is another story. Unlike HelloFresh or Sunbasket where each meal is packaged together individually, EveryPlate just sends theirs all in a jumble.

Which goes back to time. It’s a bit of a time-suck to sort through the ingredients and put them with the intended meal.

How do the recipes taste?

Every meal we had tasted great. This was one of the benefits of using the EveryPlate meal service. 

We had been eating the same meals on a weekly basis, food that was easy to make and familiar. EveryPlate helped us get out of that rut by giving us some exciting meal choices.

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The verdict

I probably won’t continue my meal subscription with EveryPlate, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for everyone.

This would probably be a great option for a couple or single person.

For us, there is too much waste and not enough options. I think it’s just where we’re at with a three year old who only wants hotdogs and Mac and cheese every night.

And who can blame him?

Pros

• Cheaper than the other meal services out there
• Vegetarian options 
• Fresh produce and meat
• Great tasting meal options

Cons

• Packaging could use some work
• Repetitive ingredients 
• Lack of sides for meals like tacos
• Up charges for certain meals

Have you used a meal service in the past? Which one? How was your experience? Let me know which one I should try next!