A few weeks ago I decided to try adulting and made a decision to sign up for a meal delivery program. Friends of ours had ordered through Chefs Plate so that’s the one I went with. They had a special that made the first order 50% off and you can skip a week or cancel at any time. We are really frugal with our money (we have a couch in the basement that has had a large hole in it for 10 years). But I wanted to mix things up at home. The first week I eagerly awaited our first order and was happy to return home to it sitting in my kitchen. The box is insulated and has ice packs to keep it cold all day if you happen to be at work. You can pick which day to have it delivered and I am off on Tuesday’s so that made the most sense for us.  Each meal is in a separate paper bag and the meat is in a vacuum sealed separate package.  The first day we made Garlic Pepper Steak and Caprese Salad with fingerling potatoes. The boys loved all but the salad. Adam and I loved it all. It was so easy to make and Corbin helped. Everything you need except pots and pans and salt, pepper and olive oil are included in the kit. It’s great for  work days because you can jump right into cooking without having to prep. We are loving the luxury of having new recipes chosen for us and they come with wonderful colour recipe cards (8×11) that we plan to put in a binder and keep. We have skipped a couple of weeks when we either didn’t like the choices (only once) or when we weren’t really going to have 2 days to make supper – as they have to be used within 4 days of delivery. I do wish they would include a dessert option, that would be an awesome addition.

A few weeks ago,after being inundated with ads for other meal delivery plans I decided to sign up for Good Food at a reduced introductory rate so I could compare the two companies. Like Chefs Plate you can pick how many meals a week you want delivered and which day you want delivered. Good Food actually says that most of their meals are good for up to a week after delivery. The box it comes in is pretty much the same and everything is divided into bags for each meal. I liked Chefs Plate better because they put things into recyclable paper bags. I also found that when the recipe called for chicken – Chefs Plate provides boneless chicken breasts while Chefs Plate provided lower quality chicken thighs. Also unbeknownst to me the Good Food recipe needed me to provide the eggs which I was not aware of as other than oil they usually supply everything else.  Overall there wasn’t much difference between the two and we were happy with all the meals. In fact there hasn’t been a meal yet that Adam and I didn’t like (picky kids are a different story). But honestly the boys have liked all the main parts to the meals – they just don’t always like the sides like salads and we had couscous for the first time. Adam and I are loving trying new things. The best is that you get all the spices that you need per recipe so you ‘t have to buy large spice containers and only use it once. They even include butter, sour cream, hummus etc when you need it.

Overall it seems a little pricey at $78 per week. However, we have not eaten out since we started this and with basically 4 adults that is always a $100 per meal. So we really are coming out ahead. As well, the meals have been forcing us to abide by portion control as there is just enough for the 4 of us to have 1 serving each (usually, with pasta dishes there is sometimes extra). This means we are all eating a healthy amount and we don’t have leftovers being thrown in the garbage. If you are thinking about trying this service please use this link and you will get three free plates and it helps us out too (just paste the link in your search bar and click on it – your 3 free plates will be taken off at check out).                   chefsplate.com?r=3pc-zasSjVa