Lately I feel like there have been an abundance of commercials for home meal delivery services. Services that deliver a box of fresh, pre-portioned food and recipes right to your doorstep. I wanted to try them out, so…I tried 6 home meal delivery services, and I’m sharing what I thought and a comparison of the different services. Since posting this meal delivery services comparison review, I’ve added several services I tried and loved, I think up to date I’ve tried 12 services. I’ll keep updating this article as I try more (and I updated the post as a few companies have closed.)
With life being so busy – between work, being a new mom and just life in general, I was starting to really feel like I was in a cooking rut. I didn’t even want to think about what to make for dinner, I had zero inspiration, zero time to go to the grocery store, and zero motivation. When I kept hearing all the commercials for meal delivery services, I thought I’d look into them and give them a try. There are so many different companies out there! I made a list of all the different ones I wanted to try out, and each week tried a different service.
Here are some of the pros and cons, and at the bottom of the post I share a comparison chart to give an overview.
Home Chef (use code 40SWEETPHI to get $40 off your first two boxes if you’re a new customer!!)
Pros:
- Loved that there were lots of meals to choose from
- Lots of delivery day options which is always nice
- Absolutely LOVE that besides the designated meal plans you can add additional meals (so if the plan is 3 meals for a family of 4, if that week you want 4 or 5 of the meals, you can add them on and not change your plan!)
- One can add on breakfast/fruit/smoothie/premium meals which is nice
- Food is really tasty – their flatbreads or meatball options, whenever I see them on the menu I order them because they’re so good. Honestly, their food tastes SO GOOD!
- A binder came with the first order so that one could put all the recipes in the binder
- Definitely most flexibility if you’re a family of 2, 4 or 6 or if there are vegetarians, you don’t have to completely change plans, you can choose vegetarian options. This is great for families
- All the ingredients for a recipe were in a bag, meat was in a separate, sealed bag!
- The food is so good, I got my sister hooked on this service after she tried two other services. They have the most ‘family-friendly’ meals too (meaning menu items that I think the whole family would enjoy!)
- I wrote another post about Home Chef and meal delivery for special occasions (like for example for Valentines Day!) and I wrote a Home Chef meal kit delivery review post!
- I worked with Home Chef to get SweetPhi readers an exclusive discount! Use code 40SWEETPHI to get $40 off!!
- Home Chef also has ‘oven ready’ options where they send you everything (even the oven dish) to make a super quick meal and they have no cooking required salads! Also they just added slow cooker meals!
- The food is SO GOOD!
Cons:
- Their website was a little difficult to figure out at first (I had to email them to ask about how to ‘skip/pause’ weeks)
I was a little late to the game trying Sun Basket, but they have easily become my favorite (I should have listened to friends who had tried it sooner!) If you want to read a review of the best healthy meal delivery service I wrote about them, click here.
Pros:
- Healthy meals (that don’t taste ‘healthy’). I like that I don’t have to look at the calories per meal, because they’re generally all under 500-700 calories per meals (other meal delivery services per serving sometimes are 1200+ calories!)
- Lots of options
- They let you preview the meals before you become a member
- Lots of options for different diet-friendly meals (like vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.)
- Organic ingredients
- They include eggs! A lot of meal delivery services don’t include eggs for recipes that call for eggs, so I was very pleasantly surprised that they did.
- Their weekly box comes with a magazine which includes the recipes and also other helpful articles and recipes, it read like a magazine!
Cons:
- The meals are very healthy and delicious, but if you’re looking for something a little more on the indulgent side, this service is probably not for you. They have a lot of unique healthy recipes, so you don’t miss any of the unhealthy stuff. But if you’re a ‘steak & potatoes’ type of person, I’d try one of the other services.
- The magazine (which was listed in the pro section) is nice, but it’s a little hard to find the recipes that are in your meal kit – I wish they would list the page numbers on the ingredients to make it easier to put the ingredients together with the recipe.
Pros:
- Fresh n’ Lean offers already cooked healthy meals where all you need to do is heat the food up!
- Loved that they offer breakfast/lunch/dinner and snacks
- Especially loved their Protein + plan, the meals really filled me up!
- The food was really good, and again, really filling and it made me feel good if that makes sense (like my body loved how it felt after eating the food)
- The meals had a pretty long fridge shelf life – these are not frozen meals, so I liked that I didn’t have to eat it within a day or so of receiving it
- Major pro was not having to ‘prep’ or cook anything
- Really enjoyed that the food could be microwaved or cooked via stovetop or oven
- Loved that you could order a la carte meals or a whole plan/weeks worth
Cons
- If you order breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks for a weeks worth, the box is really big and the meals take up a lot of fridge space (but it’s not so much a con because you then have meals for the whole week)
- They are single serving meals so if you’re feeding a family you would need to order multiples.
I tried Martha & Marley Spoon after writing this review but had to add it in. It is Martha Stewart’s meal delivery program. The food is good, very family friendly. I liked that some of the recipes are from Martha’s cookbooks.
Pros:
- Very family friendly.
- Love that some of the recipes are from Martha’s cookbooks, and that there are adaptations and time saving tricks. For example if a recipe is made in a pressure cooker/Instant Pot, it will give directions for the pressure cooker and how to make it if you don’t have one.
- The food is super good, recipes the whole family would love. I’ve kept several of the recipes to make again.
- There are plenty of options.
- I felt like the portions were perfect.
Cons:
- I did feel like some of the recipes used a lot of dishes to make them, but I’ve come to find that a lot of meal delivery kits recipes do use quite a few dishes and kitchen utensils.
Pros:
- The meals are so affordable, the Every Plate slogan is “America’s Best Value Meal”
- Meals start at $4.99 per serving
- The food is good!
- I like that one could see the menu without being signed up to their plans
- The recipes were really similar to other services so that was great
Cons:
- All the ingredients came in one box. I know it probably really saved on costs, but having to sort for the ingredients to make a recipe is not great.
Pros:
- All organic (the other organic meal service I LOVE is Sun Basket, I’ve gotten so many comments about them and they’re allergy/diet friendly!)
- Meals came with sauces that were already made and were really tasty
- Minimal prep, only had to chop 1 or 2 things per recipe
- Loved the way the food/recipe cards were labeled and color coded, it made it very easy to know which items to use
- Meals were done (start to finish including prep) in 30 minutes
Cons:
- Didn’t like that one couldn’t swap out meals/recipes. You choose a plan and then are just sent the designated meals
- Online system doesn’t show more than two weeks in advance upcoming meals
- This could be a pro or con – the portion sizes were huge. Each meal for 2 we ended up having leftovers for a 3rd meal.
- We waited 4 days to make one of the recipes – veggie burgers- the arugula and kale were rotten. Contacted customer service and they immediately apologized and gave a credit on our account.
Pros:
- The food tasted really good
- Appropriate serving sizes, no extra portions
- Liked that one could choose between a few meals
Cons:
- Lots of chopping/prep work
- Lots of dishes/utensils required
- Lots of making sauces/different components of the dish
- Missing key ingredients (emailed their customer service and they immediately apologized and gave me a credit on our account.)
- Cooking instructions/times were wrong on 2 of the 3 recipes (example 6 minutes to cook an entire chicken breast – it was still raw on the inside)
- Cooking times varied and the dishes took a lot longer than expected to make, one 30 minute expected time ended up taking close to 50 minutes from start to finish.
- A lot of leftover ingredients (example: sent whole head of garlic when all one needs is 1 clove)
Pros:
- Really liked that all the ingredients for a particular recipe came in a box with all the ingredients for that recipe
- Unique flavor combinations
- One can choose different meal options, but there’s not a lot of flexibility between plans (if you want a family plan, there are only a few options, same with the vegetarian plan, there are only three options, and one can’t get a vegetarian meal with other meat meals)
- Liked that the meal options include a breakfast one
- All the food was tasty
- Easy directions to follow
Cons:
- The website is as not as easy to use as other ones, but once one knows where everything is it gets easier
- There are not a lot of options on some of the plans (for example, if you want a family plan and have 3 meals, there’s only 5 to choose from) versus if you’re on a 2 person plan, there’s like 6+ meals to choose from.
- They have the same meals very frequently so it gets difficult to find options you haven’t tried
If you’re looking for healthy and delicious meals for your kids, I would definitely recommend Yumble. Their food is nutritionist approved and is food your kids will actually want to eat. I had my son Ben try it out, and he did actually eat the food. I personally loved having a fully cooked meal all ready to go in the fridge ready for him. I tried a few bites and was super impressed, all the food tasted super good! Yumble Kids is definitely made for busy moms who want good meals for their kids.
Comparison:
After writing this post, several companies went out of business (Plated & Terra’s Kitchen) I got a lot of questions about meals that are already made (cooked) or servings for one – my recommendation for that would be Fresh ‘n Lean. Also, after writing this post and reading the comments, Sun Basket is really loved by a lot of people. It’s all organic and the meals look super tasty-I have tried their meals and understand the love, they’re amazing! Use this link to get $35 off Sun Basket meals!
Summary:
If you’re interested in home meal delivery services, the right one is out there for you!
I was pleasantly surprised that each and every one of the services I tried offered a ‘first time customer’ discount of some kind. I do need to mention -this post is not sponsored by any of the companies I mentioned in any way. I paid for all the services myself (some have referral programs where if you order using my code or special link, you’ll get a discount and I’ll get some kind of credit for future orders or a small amount from your first order.) All opinions are mine alone and based on my experience.
- Funny thing is, without even looking at the graph, my favorite service was Home Chef (use code 40SweetPhi for $40 off) they have the best options and the least amount of dishes!
- For healthy, organic and very dietary needs accommodating (if you’re gluten-free/etc.) my favorite was Sun Basket, a service I tried after putting together the chart, I get them frequently now because we’re always trying to eat a little healthier.
- If you’re looking for smoothies and soups, try Daily Harvest (super convenient for on-the-go and quick breakfasts/lunches)
- The cheapest option is Every Plate
- If you’re looking for healthy already cooked meals, Fresh n’ Lean is the one I’d recommend!
- If you’re looking for meal delivery for your kids where their meals are already made, I’d recommend Yumble Kids.
Have you ever tried home meal delivery services? What did you think? Tag me on Instagram, @philiakelnhofer and let me know!
Ann Blankenship says
I tried Blue Apron, Fresh Choice and Hello Fresh and HF is my favorite too. We are on the bi-weekly plan. Thanks for the review.
Sweetphi says
So glad you liked the review, and HF is awesome, isn’t it?
Danielle says
Question: My spouse is allergic to all nuts and most fish. Would your recommendations change for my particular circumstance?
Sweetphi says
They might…I just didn’t look into the allergy side of the services though, so I can’t answer that question, sorry!
Shirley Burkkhardt says
I agree with the comment about Florida heat. I now have tried Blue Apron, Home chef and Martha. I have cancelled my account with Blue Apron as the boxes came so beat up, vegetables were already wilted and was missing salmon in one package, they did promptly credit my account but then had to reorder to receive credit. I do think Home Chef is the best so far but am going to try some of your suggestions
Sweetphi says
So glad you liked the review Shirley! I just got a delivery of home chef last week and the food was so tasty. Hope you like the other ones you try 🙂
Edie Allyn-Page says
We tried a couple and settled on Home Chef. I consider myself a good cook (witness my waistline) but the experience has retaught me and my husband a little about portion size. Theirs are adequate but not what I would choose – the 16 ounce Ribeye. My point being that they provide the correct portions for an adult. We have learned to eat healthier. A confirmed vegaphobe – I am enjoying some roasted and pan seared veggies, but please don’t tell my mom. Of course everything isn’t a hit, but most are. Sometimes I alter a little here and there. Like when I just needed fried chicken tenders instead of whatever they wanted me to eat. It is also WONDERFUL not to have to think about shopping, travel (When I say travel, I mean we are 45 minutes from the nearest gallon of milk.) and menus for those three or four nights every week. Well worth the money.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for the awesome comment Edie! I feel the same way, you just said it so well – it’s definitely teaching me about portion size, my husband was even saying the other day he feels like he’s losing weight, but it hasn’t been at the sacrifice of taste or weird diets, it’s just eating better portioned food. Even though I’d consider myself an adventurous cook, there have been multiple meals where I had never used an ingredient before, so it’s neat to try out the different things! Glad to hear you like the services as much as I do!
Candy Gareiss says
Do you have a recommendation for people living in Florida? We used Home Chef of a few weeks and packages arrived with the cooling packs melted and sometimes the boxes soaked through. While all the meat remained chilled some of the vegetables wilted. (It gets pretty hot here in August.). They were kind enough to credit our account when I made them aware but the shipping was the big issue. Any suggestions for Florida delivery?
Sweetphi says
Oh my goodness, I never even thought of that with the heat! So I don’t know how different this would be, but have you tried Hello Fresh? When they deliver the packages (at lease the ones I’ve had delivered) they had these gel packs that they put at the bottom of the insulated box, and I think they’ve been delivered on an 80 degree plus day and were fine. I can’t remember which other service it was, but it came with dry ice. But I’d definitely ask whichever company before they shipped again.
Leslie says
Candy – you might try Home Chef again – I was getting frustrated here in Texas also but they recently changed packaging and it addresse many of the issues I’ve seen folks mention.
Joanne says
I use Hello Fresh and they have the food well insulated. I have no problems. Also, they buy sustainable food and many organic items. I love their recipes and it is easy. I have never used my kitchen this often.
Sweetphi says
Hahah I agree about never having used my kitchen more Joanne 🙂 I also love the sustainable ingredients, and I find myself using ingredients I never would have!
Micko says
Thank you ???
Meredith says
We are currently using Sun Basket and enjoy it very much!! The menu options are great and the food is fresh with a lot of flavors. However, we are thinking of trying other companies just to compare. I am glad you shared your comparisons as I think it was helpful in our decision. Thank you!
Sweetphi says
Thank you for saying that Meredith! Hope you enjoy the other services you try 🙂
Karyn Jones says
Just finished a month of Hello Fresh and loved it but wanted to try some others – I think you just saved me a LOT of time. Thanks.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much! Glad you liked the post 🙂
Heather says
Just got my first kit from Hello Fresh. Loved it!! The 2 recipes I have tried have been a hit. Can’t wait to try more!
Sweetphi says
I’m so glad you like them too – they were my fave one!
Susan Myszkowski says
Could not find the way to reply to original post but our experience with Hello Fresh has been a little different. It has never been delivered in the window it was supposed to arrive hence cooling bags completely melted, soggy bottom on box. Also, the salad greens they include are not yet any that we like…mostly arugula (yuck). Chili recipe was terrible until I doctored it up with things from my own kkitchen. I am however pleasantly surprised how nice it feels to not have to struggle with…what am I going to fix for dinner. And, it keeps me out of the grocery store when I am hungry, we all know how dangerous that can be! ?
Sweetphi says
Thanks for sharing your experience Susan, that is different then mine and i’m sorry to hear that, especially because I feel like since I have been using Hello Fresh (or other services) they have gotten better! Like they used to not include eggs, and now they do (at least I know Hello Fresh and Home Chef do) and they now separate the meat and other items so nicely. I do relate how nice it is to not have to think about what to make, guesswork is definitely taken out of it. Thank you for sharing though, i’m always interested in what people think!
Sheikh says
Excellent Sweetphi, Thanks for great comparison. Will certainly help next time I order meal online.
I really appreciate your work you are making people life easier.
Sweetphi says
So glad you found it helpful 🙂
Nathania says
Was wondering if you also know off hand, if any of these home delivery services offered diff. types of plans such as; Vegan, low carb, etc… ? Thanks!
Sweetphi says
Yes, I believe some of them do. I believe Green Chef offered a Vegan option 🙂
Dawn Connor says
One of the most thorough and relavant comparisons for actual families. I have tried Blue Apron, Home Chef, and Plated.
One thing with Blue Apron, after a while, you get similar flavors. Although we like their dishes, you felt like you had something similar the week before. I have an active account and only request a box once a month or every other month. The downfall is you only get 2 meals – for us, the 3 meals is about optimal.
I have consistently stuck with Plated – their ingredients seem to be fresh and of high quality, which is why we didn’t last with Home Chef (once got 6 rotten potatoes sent to me).
I might just sample the Hello Fresh, just to compare. Thanks!!!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for the super sweet comment Dawn, I really appreciate that, and so glad you liked the review! It’s the absolute worst when ingredients arrive rotten, isn’t it?
I like Hello Fresh because it seemed to me that they use the least amount of dishes when cooking their recipes … and I’m all about that lol 🙂
Ryan Cook says
This is a great post… my fiancé and I do Hello Fresh and set it to only ship once a month. It adds variety to our meals and we have enjoyed everything we have made and even made one of the recipes again. We got a discount for Blue Apron and will be giving that a try next week. I will now have to check out some of these other services as well. Thanks for the input and information you have provided.
Sweetphi says
Thank you for commenting. I too think that it adds variety, I just started using the services again after having a baby – definitely makes life a little easier 🙂 Hope you enjoyed reading about the other services, besides Hello Fresh, you might really like Plated – I love their dessert option!
Denielle says
Hi, thanks for this amazing comparison…it’s what made me want to give meal delivery services a try! I decided to sign up for Plated but sadly my first box never showed up. The tracking shows it was scanned on Sunday evening for delivery on Monday, and here we are a week and a half later with no updated tracking info, and still no box. I’m still very anxious to give Plated a try but I’ve had to skip the next 4 weeks because we’ll be out of town. Plated immediately reimbursed me but the shipping company, LaserShip, has offered no explanation, just an email with the same crummy tracking. Has anyone heard of them or experienced missing/undelivered boxes as well?
Sweetphi says
So glad you liked the comparisons. That’s so odd that your box never showed up, that must have been so disappointing, I know I would have been. I’ve never had that happen, thankfully, so hopefully (sadly for you) it was a weird fluke!
Weiser9 says
Is there anything out there for singles (that’s not already prepared?)
Sweetphi says
That’s such a great question, I have not come across anything yet…if I do ever find something I’ll let you know- hope a reader can chime in!
Rob says
Dinner Thyme allowed for this. Awesome service. However, they just suspended service for a few months.
Sweetphi says
I’ll have to check them out when they’re back, thanks Rob
Shaton says
Love your post. I’ve used Home Chef on a couple of occasions and really enjoyed the food but most of all I enjoyed not having to plan meals. However, after the 2nd time using them, the food didn’t excite me anymore so I’m currently on pause. I have been looking at Hello Fresh so it was great to see your comparison…… same with Plated. I may consider using several of these services on a rotated basis over a period of time – Maybe 2-3 months and then change. That way the flavors and choices may stay more inspiring.
Sweetphi says
I’m so glad you like this post, thank you for your comment! You know, I was the same way, after trying these services back to back, I needed a little break before using them again. I love that you can just pause your account and come back later – they definitely helped with meal time inspiration.
Rita says
Dear Phi,
Love this segment was reading it to Al especially with everything that is going on. Thinking a lot about you this week. Love you, Rita
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much Rita!! We loved trying the different services out, it was a really fun post to do. Thank you so much for your thoughts this week- much appreciated, we’ll keep you posted 😉 Love phi
Christina Moehrke says
Hello! I absolutely loved your post on meal delivery services and found it to be very insightful. My husband and I just received our very first Hello Fresh box last night and were pleasantly surprised. The organization was great and the first meal was excellent (Juicy Lucy burgers). I like how Hello Fresh allows you to send a $40 coupon to your friends who might be interested and if they sign up you get $20 off your next order. We have also ordered a box from Blue Apron to come at the end of the week to compare. Home Chef and Plated are next on the list to try.
While I don’t see that it will be a significant savings to our budget, it certainly runs close (some cheaper, others a little more) and it keeps me from having to come up with different meal ideas every week.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your comment and feedback! I definitely know what you mean, it’s not so much the budget saving, but it’s the ‘mixing it up’ factor and having different meal ideas that i don’t have to think up myself lol! Hope you enjoy the other meal delivery services as you try them. I found it fun to try different ones and compare them to each other!
Edward says
I just signed up with Plated…. I will let you know about my experience!
Sweetphi says
Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Karla Carter says
Thanks for this amazing comparison! Has anyone tried Purple Carrot? It looks fresh and healthy. I’ve been tempted to try it!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much – so glad you liked the comparison. I heard from one of my friends who tried Purple Carrot, she said she liked it, but it’s all plant based (vegan) and she said that while she’s vegetarian, she’s not vegan. She said the food was good, but that she like some of the other delivery services with vegetarian plans better. Hope that helps – I’ve never tried it personally.
Mary W says
Friends of mine were given one of these meal services as a gift. These are people who think cooking is taking dried food out a well known brand name box and boiling it. They were thrilled with the meal service. It really opened their eyes and taste buds to new possibilities. The gift proved to them that they really can cook from scratch and it’s not as difficult as they thought. They gave their gift very high marks and were raving about it. Consider a week or month of these services as a gift for someone; new Moms and Dads, college students, someone new to the neighborhood – there are endless possibilities. And no – I do not work for any of these companies.
Sweetphi says
I absolutely love the idea of giving one of these meal services as a gift. I’m totally going to gift my mom and sisters one!!
Jessiva says
This is such an amazing resource! I love the fact that you took the time to review each and every service and break it down with pros and cons! I’ve only tried Hello Fresh and we did like it, but discontinued it the end of last summer when we needed to kind of pull together the budget. I’ll have to remember Plated too, it looks like another great option! Well done!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much, so glad you liked this post! It was a lot of work, but fun to put together. I know what you mean about the budget though, I tried all of them with the first time customer discounts and then after had to skip a bunch of weeks or services because it definitely adds up. It was really nice to get a bunch of different ideas and inspiration though 🙂
Darcy says
Thanks for this post! I had not really paid attention to these; we’re cattle ranchers and all of the commercials I’ve seen are for Blue Apron, and I personally don’t agree with their marketing/portrayal of traditional (vs organic or natural) farm products as “bad”. I just signed up for Hello Fresh with your code, and want to try Plated next. Thanks for the review & for sharing!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your comment Darcy, I truly appreciate it! I know what you mean – I felt inundated with commercials and do not always like the strong messages. I was surprised by which services I ended up liking vs. not lol. Thanks again for the comment 🙂
Betsey Weaver says
Thank you for your wonderful post! My husband and I really loved everything you had to say and how you put it all together. Appreciate the time and effort you put into this! I shared it on my Facebook page because I have lots of friends asking about these meal delivery services. Good work!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your awesome comment Betsey! And a big thank you for sharing on Facebook, I really appreciate that 🙂
Kay Bastian says
Phi, Thank You for this post, I love it! very informative and I love the number rating at the end, I now will try one or some of them based on your post. ❤?
Sweetphi says
I’m so glad you liked the post Kay!! Thank you!! I hope you like some of the services – I know they have inspired me to try new things in the kitchen 🙂
Karen @ Seasonal Cravings says
Woah, this is such a thorough comparison. Thanks so much for all the details! I tried Blue Apron and really enjoyed it and I can totally see the value in ordering meal kits. Life is so crazy – it such a time saver1
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much, so glad you liked the comparison. It was fun to do, but also a lot of work lol. I do like meal delivery services, it was nice not to have to think about what i was going to be making for dinner, and totally inspired me with different flavor combinations I normally wouldn’t have tried!
Sues says
What an awesome post!! I still haven’t tried any meal delivery services (trying to resist!), but I know where to come if I decide to go for it 🙂 I’ve heard awesome things about both Hello Fresh and Plated!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much! I was really feeling just low on inspiration and motivation to cook, and I do have to say it was fun trying all the different services and some of the recipes totally inspired me to get cooking again. I really like that one can ‘pause’ or ‘skip’ weeks, so after trying all these different services I can space them out to once in a while 🙂
Buffy Coffey says
This post is awesome! I’ve been trying to figure out ways to make dinner time easier because we all get home at different times. Meal delivery service is something I’ve considered but, I haven’t had time to do any research. Plated is one I haven’t heard of so I may check that one out this weekend. Everyone I know has raved about Blue Apron but, when I looked on their website, I felt like there weren’t many options and the majority of the meals Phoebe would not eat. Hello Fresh was next on my list but, Plated might be a better option for us. Thanks for sharing your experience with each of them. This was extremely helpful!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for commenting Buffy!! I’m just like that – trying to find ways to make dinner time easier, because it can be so hard to come home at the end of the day and then start the process of thinking of ‘what’s for dinner?’ These services were really helpful. I feel like everyone I know has heard of Blue Apron, and I have to say, I was very surprised by how much I did not like their service. There was SO MUCH prep work and dishes involved (I think I counted and for one meal I used like 5 bowls for mixing, 3 pots, 2 pans, and a bunch of utensils – a whisk, a zester, multiple knives, etc.)…it’s just not the way I cook. The food from Plated was so tasty, I seriously saved 2 of the 3 recipe cards to make on my own again because I liked them so much, and I loved that I could add on dessert, that too was really good. Anyway, thanks again for commenting, makes me so happy to hear this post was helpful.