For as much as I love meal planning, I gotta be honest: it can be a bit of a drag and a hassle at times. There are some weeks when I just don’t have the time or the energy to even think about what to cook, let alone go to the grocery store to buy ingredients, pack said groceries away, and then prep and cook meals, including all the peeling, chopping etc.
If I’m being honest, most of that responsibility falls on yours truly’s shoulders every week. I love my husband, but meal planning and cooking just aren’t his forte. So, with me having two demanding jobs, plus managing all the other stuff going on in my life, it can be exhausting. That said, many fast and ‘convenient’ solutions aren’t really an option for us, like packaged foods, frozen foods, and fast food.
Enter: Chefs Plate. We’ve been a big fan of this meal kit delivery service for years and it’s one of our faves. Plus, it’s 100% Canadian and partners with local organizations, like Second Harvest, which is really important to us.
Chefs Plate is a no-obligation, weekly meal kit subscription service. There is no minimum term when you sign up, and you can pause or cancel your subscription at any time. This gives us the ultimate flexibility to order from Chefs Plate whenever we want and do our own meal planning and cooking whenever we want!
How Does Chefs Plate Work?
We cook smarter, not harder, with Chefs Plate. Here’s how it works:
- Sign up – Head to the Chefs Plate website and start your subscription. There are always amazing introductory offers, like 50% off your first 2 boxes, so you can save $ when you sign up or refer a friend.
- Browse meals on their website – You can browse the weekly meal selections for up to the 3 following weeks. For people who like to plan ahead, like us, this is awesome! All meals are healthy and portion controlled. For each meal on the Chefs Plate website, you can see the nutritional info, including the number of calories, the amount of protein, dietary fibre, and fat. You can also check out the ingredients for each meal, how long it takes to prepare, what you’ll need to prepare it, and the step-by-step instructions. All Chefs Plate meals are ready in 45 minutes or less – with most being around 30 minutes, and some being ready in as little as 15 minutes.
- Choose your plan – It’s up to you to choose your plan for the week. Do you want 2, 3, or 4 meals? Do you want leftovers? Are you cooking for 2 or 4 people? You can change these selections every week too.
- Get your delivery box – Select your delivery date and then have your box delivered right to your doorstep! Chefs Plate boxes are 100% recyclable and their kit bags and cool-pouches are made from compostable materials, which was also very important to us.
- Cook convenient and healthy meals – Each meal comes with its own recipe card that has simple, easy to follow instructions. All ingredients come pre-portioned, individually packaged and/or labeled, so you don’t have to worry about doing a lot of peeling, chopping, and prepping before cooking.
Benefits of Using Chefs Plate
There are soooo many reasons we love Chefs Plate:
- Flexibility
- Variety
- Convenience
- Affordability
- Time-savings
- Fresh, healthy eating
- Minimizing waste
- Supporting local,
just to name a few!
Maintaining a healthy and well-balanced diet is one of our top priorities. Chefs Plate allows us to achieve this goal, while saving us time, energy, and money (especially with the cost of groceries on the rise in Canada).
With 23 different meals to choose from every week, there’s always a new solution to the dreaded question of “what’s for dinner?”. We never get bored or tired of eating the same thing over and over.
When we order from Chefs Plate, my husband takes the lead on dinner more often and has become a better cook. Because so many of the hurdles are already removed (the planning, the shopping, the prepping), it makes cooking much more approachable for him. And I love it, because it frees me up to do other things. That’s a win-win!
We also appreciate how much it minimizes waste in our household. I can’t tell you the number of times we buy fresh produce that sadly ends up in the garbage because we didn’t use it in time or didn’t use all of it.
Lastly, we know are supporting local too, since Chefs Plate works directly with local and national farmers and suppliers to get fresh ingredients from the closest sources possible.
Have you tried Chefs Plate yet? Let me know in the comments!
*This post was done in partnership with Chefs Plate. But as always, all opinions are 100% my own.
Photography by: Laura Clarke Photography
