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@hilsy85: Oh, cool! Plated has a monthly fee but has more options.

I'm going to try Blue Apron next week and see how I like it.

So I signed up for Blue apron and got 3 meals on April 22nd. There was an issue with my citrus being bruised (lime) and rotten (lemon). I had to complain on FB for them to credit me $9.99. I'm happy. I was hoping they would ship me another lime and lemon, but the $10 credit works for me. As for the meals, itself... Yum! So good! DH made the first two meals and I made the last one. We both approved. So Blue Apron has menus that come out each week. I skipped this week's delivery because the 3 meals they were going to send me wasn't something I wanted to eat. I think I liked only 2 of the 3 meals. So I skipped this week. Then I looked at next week's meal and again I only like 1 of the 3 they were going to send me. So skipped again.

Now I signed up for Plated. A little more expensive. You can sign up for a $10 monthly or yearly membership to bring meals down to $12 per plate. If you don't have a membership, you pay $15 per plate. Blue Apron costs $9.99 per plate.

Wow, but what a difference! Plated allows you to select the meals you want. Like you get to choose the meals you put in your cart. With Blue Apron, the minimum that you have to order is 3 meals and you don't really have a say in it.

Blue Aprons meals are ok compared to Plated. (The week from blue apron was great and delicious. We would definitely make those meals again. We got nice menu cards, too, so we can make it again if we buy the ingredients.) Our Blue apron order had a chicken, pork and cod dish. My plated delivery that is scheduled to arrive on May 3rd, this Saturday, will be a steak, tuna and pork dish. The steak and tuna dishes look great.

So here are my pros and cons of both:

Blue Apron
Pros- cheaper with no monthly fee. $9.99 per plate
Cons- menus come out about one week before. You can't order in advance. You can't select which meals you want. You put preferences in your profile but they chose the meals. We eat meat so we will be shipped meals with meat first. Maybe if I had the option of substituting a vegetarian meal. It might be better. Oh, you have to get 3 days of meals. That's the minimum.

Plated:
Pros: you get to select your meals. More higher quality options. You can order up to 3 weeks in advance. They have 3 weeks of meals up. You can get a minimum of 2 days of meals, if you want to.
Cons: more expensive. $10 monthly membership for $12 plates with free shipping. Or no membership for $15 plates with shipping costs.

Both companies can sell out of a particular meal or delivery date if it's a popular dish or you wait til the last minute to order it.

I guess Ill update you next week when we make our meals from Plated.

Oh, I liked Plated next two weeks of menus so much that I scheduled the following delivery May 10th.

For Blue Apron. I'll just keep skipping deliveries until I find a week I like.

Oh, both have auto bill, so I have to make sure I cancel each week. After I try plated, I'll decide which one to cancel. I might keep both accounts active so I have options. Though, if I miss a week, it would suck to have both boxes delivered. First, they'll be a chance that I don't like the meals and two, it might be a ton of food to store. We barely had enough room in our fridge from the 3 Blue Apron Meals.

As for trial promos. For Blue Apron they gave me two plates for free. Just find this on their website. For plated they offer 2 plates for free, too. But I signed up for their email and few weeks ago and they send me an offer for 3 free months of membership and 4 plates for free. We can't do referral links here but I hope you can get the same deal, if you sign up for their emails.

My meals from Plated. First pic is for my delivery on May 3rd and second pic is for my delivery on May 10th.

Excited about the hot pot. Never made one before.

@BoogieBea: @swurlygurl: if you follow their blog, they list the recipes online.

@swurlygurl: http://www.blueapron.com/recipes/spring-root-vegetable-casserole-with-english-peas-egg-noodles

@dc yoga bee: I don't see it on Gilt. Is it still available?

@dc yoga bee: Oh, it's ok. Thanks!

ETA: Oh, it's sold out and plus, it's for new customers so I wouldn't have qualified for the deal. Thanks for letting me know, though.

@dc yoga bee: Aww, bummer! Oh, you can be put on the wait list. I hope you get the deal.