EveryPlate Review: My Genuis Hack for Easy Midweek Mealtimes
EveryPlate Review: A Great Way to Get the Whole Family Involved in Mid-Week Meal Prep
I’m going to be honest. I don’t mind cooking, I don’t even really mind shopping for groceries that much. What I do mind…actually what I absolutely HATE, is having to decide what to eat for dinner EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! It’s just another thing added to the mental load that no one else seems to want to help with.
If I ask my family what they fancy for dinner, 9 times out of 10 the answer will be a variation on “I don’t mind,” or “whatever you want.” Which of course, is totally unhelpful! Having said that, it’s not unusual for that respondent to later exclaim “oh, are we having that again?” when presented with the evening meal. Because on days when my bandwidth for mundane tasks is at its all-time low and I’m standing in front of the pantry or the fridge wondering what to cook for dinner, I invariably opt for something quick and easy that I know everyone will eat. Which is possibly why spaghetti bolognese is on such high rotation!
When I was recently given the opportunity to try EveryPlate, I leapt at the chance. For me, being presented with a menu of 22 meals a week to choose from, and then having all of the ingredients to make those meals delivered to my door on a Sunday morning, meant that one of my most loathed task of each day was now taken care of! I also love that the meals change each week. So, for the last 3 weeks that I’ve been receiving EveryPlate, we haven’t had the same meal twice…and not a spag bol in sight!
It was after my very first EveryPlate delivery that I had my dinner-related stroke of genius though. As I was unpacking all the clearly marked ingredients and putting them away, I pulled out the accompanying ingredient cards. Each card has simple and easy to follow instruction, and images to demonstrate making them perfect, I realised, for my teens to follow. After packing all the food away, I laid the recipe cards out onto the kitchen bench and called my kids into the kitchen.
They looked at the recipe cards eagerly, pointing out which ones they were most looking forward to.
“This is what we’ll be eating for dinner this week. So, when you walk through the door after school, I don’t want the first words you say to me to be “What’s for dinner?”
They looked at each other almost spraining their eyeballs from all the Olympic level eye-rolling that comes so naturally at that age.
“Not only that, I want you all to pick a card. Everyone is going to get a chance to make dinner this week. We have all the ingredients, and the cards have all the instructions. I’ll help out with anything you’re not sure of, but I think this is a really good opportunity for you all to learn a few more skills in the kitchen and add a few different recipes to your own repertoire, so when you are grown up you don’t bore yourself to death eating spag bol vey night!”
The suggestion was met with surprising positivity! I guess they really were fed up with mince beef and pasta!
It’s been a game changer! They actually look forward to their chance to make dinner, and it’s become something of a competition between them of who can cook the best meal! Personally, I look forward to sitting back and supervising but it’s also a really nice time to have a bit of one-on-one time with them and chat about their day and what’s going on for them while they cut up and crumb the chicken, or peel and chop the sweet potatoes.
The Verdict
The long and the short of it is, my family have really enjoyed preparing and eating the EveryPlate meals. I think they are perfect for busy families that want to eat healthy meals but don’t have the time or energy left to spend hours in the kitchen. Most, if not all of the meals we’ve prepared have been ready in between 20-30 minutes – which is perfect for busy weeknights. I’ve also saved money as I haven’t had to pop to my local supermarket so often for one or two ingredients for dinner – because we all know that you never walk out of the supermarket with just the few things you went in for! For convenience, value for money and taste, I have no hesitation in recommending this meal service. It has really streamlined meal planning and prep – having my teens also take a turn at cooking has just been the icing on the cake!
How You Can Save on EveryPlate Meals
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Jolene
Jolene enjoys writing, sharing and connecting with other like-minded women online – it also gives her the perfect excuse to ignore Mount-Washmore until it threatens to bury her family in an avalanche of Skylander T-shirts and Frozen Pyjama pants. (No one ever knows where the matching top is!) Likes: Reading, cooking, sketching, dancing (preferably with a Sav Blanc in one hand), social media, and sitting down on a toilet seat that one of her children hasn’t dripped, splashed or sprayed on. Dislikes: Writing pretentious crap about herself in online bio’s and refereeing arguments amongst her offspring.
