EveryPlate Review

EveryPlate is a flexible meal kit subscription service providing filling, classic, home-style recipes and their ingredients for less than five dollars a serving. The company identifies itself as “America’s Best Value Meal Kit” and was founded by HelloFresh in 2018 as a lower-cost alternative for at-home meal kits.

EveryPlate operates similarly to other popular meal kit delivery services: You select from a range of diverse recipes each week and the majority of the ingredients are delivered to your home ready to be prepared. However, unlike similar services, EveryPlate does not cater to a range of diets. We tried out the service to see how it stands up to its competition.

Pricing: Very Affordable

EveryPlate's meals start at $4.99 per serving, making it one of the least expensive meal delivery services we've tried. You will be charged for your first box upon completion of checkout and four days prior to each subsequent box going out. It is important to note that after the initial checkout, you enter a weekly auto-renewing subscription service. However, you can modify meals, pause, or cancel your delivery any time before midnight PST five days prior to each order. The cost of shipping is $9.99, which is applied once per week regardless of your box is for two or four people.

You have the option of ordering three to five meals for two or four people each week:

• 3 recipes for 2 people: $35.34 + $9.99 shipping = $45.33
• 4 recipes for 2 people: $43.92 + $9.99 shipping = $53.91
• 5 recipes for 2 people: $52.90 + $9.99 shipping = $62.89
• 3 recipes for 4 people: $59.88 + $9.99 shipping = $69.87
• 4 recipes for 4 people: $79.84 + $9.99 shipping = $89.83
• 5 recipes for 5 people: $99.80+ $9.99 shipping = $109.79

How It Works: Four Options

When signing up with EveryPlate, you are given the option to choose from four types of meal kits: classic options with meat, seafood, and vegetables; “vegetable-forward” meals; family-friendly, kid-approved options; and no-fuss meals ready in 30 minutes or less.

Then you select your box size—whether the meals will feed two or four people and whether you want three, four, or five meals per week. You are then prompted to pay for your box and can only then select meals for your first box and the next two boxes.

EveryPlate will pre-select five meal kits for your box based on your initial preference, however, you are free to edit them at this step. For example, if you want both family-friendly and “vegetable-forward” meals, you are able to add both types to your box.

There are 16 meal kits to choose from each week plus one “premium” meal kit that features “premium proteins and ingredients” and costs an additional $3.99 per serving. Additionally, you are given the option to add on two different protein packs—one featuring six chicken breasts and one featuring chicken breast strips and ground beef.

With the exception of your first box, which will be delivered on a set date, you can choose your delivery date for future boxes at least five days prior to each delivery. Boxes are delivered Tuesday through Saturday.

This company does not have a specific health intent in mind. It does not cater to specific diets, and its priority is to keep prices low. However, you will occasionally find vegetarian recipe options. While the recipes claim to be chef-developed, EveryPlate does not mention any nutritionists or other healthcare professionals on staff.

For the week that we tried, we found the recipes to be similar in terms of composition and ingredients used. Potatoes were the most popular ingredient used as well as a range of animal proteins, particularly chicken and beef. Other popular vegetables used were less adventurous like carrots, broccoli, and green peas. Almost all the ingredients arrived pre-packaged in our box with the exception of pantry and cooking staples like salt, pepper, oil, flour, butter, and ketchup, which we needed to already have on hand.

Choosing Meals: Entrée-Style Dishes

Each recipe is an entrée-style dish. While you ultimately select which meals you want to try, EveryPlate will pre-select options for you based on your selected preference—ClassicPlate, VeggiePlate, FamilyPlate, and EasyPlate.

The ClassicPlate option will select “mouthwatering meat, seafood, and veggie options." The VeggiePlate option will select a variety of “veg-forward meals perfect for anyone and everyone." And the FamilyPlate option will select “family-friendly, kid-approved dinners crafted for spending more time around the table with your crew.”

If you choose the EasyPlate option, “no-fuss meals—from easy cleanup to ready in 30 minutes or less—takes the stress out of mealtime!"

What We Made 

The week that we ordered there were five VeggiePlate options, six EasyPlate options, and the rest were unlabeled, and so they fell under either ClassicPlate or FamilyPlate. We ordered five meals for two for the purposes of this review:

• Crispy blue cheese chicken with bacon ‘n’ chive mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli
• Creamy mushroom steak with roasted potato rounds and green beans
• Creamy rajas quesadillas with salsa fresca and lime crema
• Homestyle meatloaves with roasted carrots, mashed potatoes, and gravy
• Lemon chive chicken legs with garlic mashed potatoes and schmaltzy carrots

Packaging: Lots of It

The meals were delivered in a large cardboard box on our doorstep a day later than indicated. However, according to the company's website, ingredients can stay fresh up to 48 hours of being in the box without being refrigerated because of the box design and materials used.

The box was lined with a piece of plastic-covered cotton. A piece of cardboard was used to separate the bottom layer of ingredients, which was all the meat, from the top layer, which contained the remaining ingredients. Ice packs were placed below and above the meat layer.

While the broccoli was pre-cut into florets, the rest of the ingredients were not prepped. Almost every ingredient was packaged with the exception of a few items such as potatoes and limes. In total, there were 29 pieces of packaging for our EveryPlate order.

According to EveryPlate, nearly all pieces of the delivery box are recyclable. With the gel ice packs, you need to cut a small corner off the pack and empty the gel contents into the trash before recycling. Additionally, you can recycle the box liner by cutting off the plastic film to recycle and dispose of the cotton interior.

We were impressed by EveryPlate's innovative packaging system with highly perishable items like meat on the bottom with ice packs to keep it the coldest and storing the remaining ingredients on top. While we think it is best to store your ingredients in the fridge right away, it's our opinion that the ingredients in the EveryPlate box would stay fresh on our porch on a summer day.

Customer Support: 24/7 Support

The majority of the ingredients were included in the delivery box with the exception of a few staple ingredients like oil, salt, and pepper. Additionally, recipe cards were included and are also available on the website and in the mobile app. While access to a dietitian or other nutritional experts was not explicitly stated, you can access the customer service team for immediate response 24/7 through the chat box in the lower right corner of the website.

Nutrition: Transparent

Each meal on EveryPlate has the nutrition facts label listed as well as a full ingredient list and list of allergens. While it does not cater to specific dietary needs, there are a few vegetarian options.

Calories per meal are on the higher end, with some containing 1,000 calories per serving. The majority of meals offered by EveryPlate are balanced with carbohydrates, protein, and fat, but some are particularly high in saturated fat given the high fat cuts of animal protein used in many of the dishes. Additionally, many are high in sodium—some have more than 1,600 mg per serving, which approaches the FDA's daily recommended amount of less than 2,300 mg.

The Cooking Process: Mostly Straightforward 

Overall, the meals were easy to prepare by following the provided instructions, which have pictures of each step. Each recipe came together in close to the indicated time. EveryPlate states that each of its recipes can be prepared in six steps or less and around 40 minutes or less, which we found to be the case. EveryPlate is good for the beginner home cook since the instructions are visual and easy to follow.

Flavor, Freshness, and Quality: Classic Flavors

Though our box arrived one day late, the ingredients still looked and tasted mostly fresh. There was some discoloration with the chives, and unfortunately, a sour cream packet opened up during shipping and covered many of the ingredients.

The meals we selected were similarly composed with potatoes making up the main carbohydrate source of the meal, accompanied by a protein like beef, steak, or chicken and a popular vegetable like carrots, broccoli, and green beans.

The flavors were classic all-American. Some of the seasoning and sauce packets did add quite a bit of salty flavor. Had we known that, we may have opted to use only half of each. Overall, however, we were satisfied with the composition of ingredients and flavors.

EveryPlate Is Good For

EveryPlate caters to those looking for a flexible meal kit subscription service that offers filling, classic, home-style recipes on an everyday budget. We would recommend this service to folks looking for a healthier alternative to take-out meals and who are beginner home cooks. EveryPlate is not for those with specific dietary needs and for those with a more adventurous palate beyond meat and potatoes.

Methodology

We ordered, cooked, and evaluated meals from 40 different meal delivery services to rate each one’s offerings, nutrition profiles, prices, sustainability, and, of course, flavors. We contacted the customer service teams at each of the companies, collected data, and rigorously reviewed each one.

Our Verywell Fit writers are all registered dietitians who relied on their research and its resulting data to inform their reviews.