Don’t invest in Chefs Plate until you’re read my honest Chefs Plate review. I’ll go into everything that’s good and bad about it.
Many people will tell you that these meal preparation services are a waste of money. Or they’ll tell you that you’re lazy for getting them. Well, in all honesty, in the last month of using Chefs Plate we’ve saved money!
Lazy? Maybe, but we’re still doing the cooking. We’re just not finding the recipes, measuring out the ingredients, and buying everything individually. We’re doing meals smartly.
Before you think about getting any type of food boxes, you’ll want to see what other people are saying. There are three important elements to this for many: time spent making the meals, money spent on the meals, the healthiness of the meals. For us, we also wanted to find something that could be child friendly now and then, other than the amazing Frozen food vending machine that has been saving our lives.
In this Chefs Plate review, I’ll share my thoughts on those three important factors, and on whether they’re child/family-friendly. Here’s what I think about the food box.
Perfect when you’re short on time
Our lives are busy. I work full-time from home running my own business, and my husband works full-time out of the home and does freelance writing on the side. We have two children, one of whom is currently in daycare and the other is close to finishing up her school vacation up here. School starts Sept. 8, and everyone in this house is excited about it. No word of a lie.
Once back at school, they’ll have dance lessons. One wants to start ice skating and we need to get swimming lessons in there at some point. Of course, this is all while a pandemic is on, so we’re limited in options and places to go. We’re working odd hours while we try to deal with everything.
Usually, we (well, my husband) would spend the weekends batch-cooking meals. They’d be put in the fridge (here is a great choice for gaming) or freezer to use throughout the week. They were/are great for the winter months, but they tend to be things like chili, a bolognese sauce, and stews. They’re not the type of meals we’re looking for in the summer. And plus, the weekends have been taken up with a lot of other stuff thanks to the pandemic—stuff that we can’t necessarily get done during the week right now because work has been changed slightly.
So, our weekends have become time to relax. They’re the time to get things done we can’t during the week.
We’re short on time during the week when it comes to meals. When we want something quick, we end up losing inspiration or we realize the ingredients we need aren’t in the fridge. The main reason I started looking at Chefs Plate (and others). The idea was to have something that could be quickly pulled out of the fridge and cooked.
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A great variety of meals
Another problem with batch cooking and running short on time was variety. I was getting bored of the same thing day after day. There’s only so many times I can enjoy chili! So, another reason i started looking at Chefs Plate was for a variety of meals.
I took a look at the different menus available online before I ordered. This gave me a chance to see the types of meals we could make. They were interesting.
There is the worry that the first couple of menus are there to entice. That there may be a change when you sign up. I can tell you in this honest Chefs Plate review that’s not the case. The menus have always been intriguing and different to what we’d usually try.
The downside is remembering to pick the meals. We have it set to vegetarian by default. We’re not vegetarian, but this just helps us be a little healthier and try out something we wouldn’t usually consider. It encourages us to pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone. You can still pick the non-vegetarian meals on the list, if you want. You can also set a default to something else, like family friendly or a preference of type of meat.
By the Wednesday night of each week, you need to pick your meals. We’ve forgotten a couple of weeks and ended up with the default choices. There’s nothing wrong with them, but there were other recipes we’d have loved to have tried instead. I’m not the biggest fan of halloumi and that’s always in one of the dishes, so I always have to remember to switch that out! That’s just something you’ll get used to. It’ll become part of a routine.
Not all the meals are as tasty as others. Think of it as a little like when you go to a restaurant and order something that sounds good but turns out to be not quite for you. This is the same. There are going to be meals that just don’t hit the spot.
Do watch out for the spices, though! Some of the meals include the best tasting sriracha. If a menu says that it’s spicy, it definitely is. Well, that’s what my husband will tell you!
Chefs Plate is worth the money
There is the concern; that you’re going to waste money. Personally, I’ve found that I save a lot of money.
When my husband gets home late or it’s been a bad day, the last thing anyone wants to do is cook. Without the batch meals, it leads to ordering takeout. And that happens way too much. So, we can easily spend $200 to $300 per week on takeout. Yep, really!
Now we spend $60 per week on the Chefs Plate and that’s for three meals per week. I love that we can switch to getting less or adding more in if we need to. And right now, we order for two people, but the portion sizes are big. There have been a few times we’ve had food for lunch the next day or the kids have joined in with us because there’s enough food for all. I’ve heard that Chefs Plate have the lowest portion sizes of all the food boxes. I’d be concerned at the portion sizes of the others!
Chefs Plate review: Yes or no?
In the end, it’s going to depend on what you need from your meals. Chefs Plate is all-natural ingredients. The measurements are just done for you so you can literally just start cooking. If you want something to throw into the microwave (we actually don’t have a microwave!) then you’ll want to look at something else.
Overall, we’ve found Chefs Plate a great value for money. The meals are delicious, they’re worth the money, and they are suitable for the entire family.
