Does the Least Expensive Meal Kit Skimp on Quality? I Tried It to Find Out

As much as I love to cook, I do have a life outside the kitchen. So when my schedule gets chaotic—or if I get tired of expending valuable brain power to decide what’s for dinner every night—I turn to meal kits. They make it easy to enjoy freshly cooked meals without having to commit hours to menu planning and grocery shopping before turning to your mise en place.

EveryPlate, which is owned by HelloFresh, is designed for people who want simpler dishes—it calls its recipes “foolproof” and claims they can be prepared in under 30 minutes. It also bills itself as “America's best value meal kit”: Meals in your first box (which is discounted) are only $1.99 each. But would the cost savings mean a sacrifice in quality? I took the meal delivery service for a test run to find out.

Signing up for EveryPlate and choosing the meals for your first box is fairly straightforward. The first step is select your preferences from a preset list of meal types: Smart & Fit, Meat & Veggie, Quick & Easy, Family Faves, and Veggie. On the sign up page, you can click each type to learn more about the kinds of meals you can expect. For example, the description of Smart & Fit says, “Support your healthy lifestyle with wholesome recipes—including Calorie, Carb, and Protein Smart options.”

You can select as many plan types as you like during sign-up. But, I was relieved to see, regardless of what you pick, you have the full menu selection at your disposal each week. I chose Meat & Veggie because I don’t mind eating a full range of foods and I’m not necessarily trying to save time on cooking (it’s the prep that wipes me out, not the time in the kitchen). During sign-up, I was also asked about some general dietary preferences, like if I prefer high-protein meals, vegetarian, or spicy meals. I selected “I eat everything!”

Lastly, you pick how many servings per meal and meals per week you want. Plans are available for two, four, or six people and three, four, or five meals per week. I selected three meals for two people, and off I went to select my meals. Or so I thought.

In order to pick meals, you have to complete the entire sign-up process, including adding payment details. So if you want to simply browse the meals before fully committing, EveryPlate doesn’t make it easy for you.

I scheduled my first box to arrive on a Wednesday…but it wasn’t delivered as planned. New York City was experiencing a heat wave, and I was experiencing some mild disappointment. There was no way my chicken and steak would be safe to eat after spending extra time in transit during such sweltering conditions, I thought. But when the box arrived the next day, the ice packs were still 90% frozen and the raw protein was cold to the touch. The packaging was fully intact, and I felt comfortable using all the ingredients. (Phew!)

At a glance, the amount of food seemed like it should be enough for the three meals I had selected, and with the exception of one mushy tomato, the fresh produce was top quality. Even the bagged scallions looked as good as what I’d have picked up at my local grocery. The abundance of tiny packages of specialty ingredients like seasoned rice wine vinegar and mushroom stock concentrate reminded me why I like meal kits—you can experiment with new flavors without stocking your pantry with full-size versions of ingredients you might not use all of.

All recipes have six steps, which were clearly laid out on recipe cards that include a handy picture. The well-designed recipe cards made the prep steps easy to understand; I appreciated that the cards walked you through the ways the cooking process changes if you’re preparing your meal for two or four people. And if you had chosen to swap or add an ingredient when you ordered your box, the instructions for those ingredients are in orange.

The recipes themselves were involved—some steps include multiple mini steps, which aren’t always immediately apparent—but not very difficult to follow. As long as you feel comfortable with basic kitchen skills, like chopping and sautéing, you should be able to prepare these meals.

The first two out of the three recipes I cooked went off without a hitch, so I was riding high when I encountered my first problem. While making Sweet and Saucy Soy Garlic Chicken with Savory Honey Glaze, I couldn’t get my glaze to glaze. Even after leaving the glaze ingredients in the pan for five minutes (the recipe calls for two to three), it wasn’t thickening. Eventually I gave up, instead scooping the sauce onto the chicken after plating. All’s well that ends well—the chicken was delicious.

Overall, the meals were filling and, according to the recipe cards, ranged from around 650 calories (Tex-Mex steak and zucchini pasta) to 910 calories (chicken with carrots). Plus, true to its marketing, the meals were more affordable than other meal services I’ve tried, like HelloFresh and HomeChef. Three meals for two people came out to be around $36. (Editor’s note: Bon Appétit was gifted a week of meals for this review.)

Looking at the recipe cards, I immediately noticed that unlike other meal kits I’ve tried in the past, EveryPlate expects my kitchen to be stocked with more than just the basics. Among my three meals, I needed butter, white sugar and brown sugar, and flour. I don’t bake, and I never cook with sugar. And while I do have butter, I did wonder about the full range of ingredients needed to cook EveryPlate meals every week. This could be something to consider for people who don’t have fully stocked pantries and would like the meal kit to provide everything necessary to cook a meal.

Also, the recipe flavor profiles were a bit basic. I don’t think I have a wildly advanced palate, but I like it when meal kits introduce me to new flavor combos and maybe even teach me a new cooking skill. EveryPlate didn’t offer that originality or sense of discovery.

Nutrition-wise, the recipes were a little high on carbs (white rice, jasmine rice, and pasta) for my taste. I think that the penne could’ve used a second zucchini and the chicken with roasted carrots was a little light on the carrots. I also took note that two out of three recipes called for butter—even twice in the case of the chicken glaze and in the jasmine rice. So if you don’t feel confident skipping or reducing some ingredients in a recipe, the fat content in some of them may be high for health-conscious folks.

Sadly, the recipe cards do not include full nutrition facts, which might throw you off if you’re trying to track your macros, especially as some of the small packets, such as the generically labeled “smoky red pepper crema,” don’t have any ingredients listed on them.

EveryPlate is a solid option for people who want simple, affordable meals that don’t require much effort or skills in the kitchen. The recipes are approachable, the flavors are satisfying, and the convenience factor is there—especially if you already have a stocked pantry. That said, it’s not the best fit if you usually don’t have ingredients like flour or sugar on hand or if you’re looking for more innovative recipes.

Would I try it again? Probably, especially during a busy week when I want to avoid decision fatigue. But I’d probably choose less carby recipes and plan ahead with pantry staples.

Read more meal kit reviews on Bon Appétit

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