Plated

The latest trend in home cooking is ordering boxed meals and have them shipped right to your front door.  I have seen a few companies adds and pictures of plated food on Instagram and most bloggers I follow have tried either Plated or Blue Apron. And it looked fun and intriguing.  For months it has had me really curious if it is something I would like.

I decided to go ahead and order a box through Plated.  The reason why I chose Plated is because their food is described as Farm to Front Door.  Their website states that their ingredients come from local sources whenever possible, and that their beef is antibiotic and hormone free. They also use carbon-neutral packaging, and their boxes are made from 100% recycled material.

Now that I found a company to use...my trouble was finding a meal that was somewhat adventurous and out of the norm for me to make.  To make this a true learning experience. But the meals also had to be appetizing for my family of three...well two and half...and that posed an issue that they only will deliver plates for four servings or more.  This to me was too much food, or so I thought... The food quantities was actually not a whole lot.

My choice for my first box was Indonesian Beef Randang...which is basically a beef cooked in lime and coconut curry.  (I love curry!!)

My box arrived on the date it was promised.  (a great start)
And the packaging was just as promised.

Organized, clean, and refrigerated with dry ice.

Here is the layout of what was inside the package:

I found the ingredients to be all very fresh and high quality with the exception of the beef.  I was not impressed with the cut of beef they included in the meal.  It was an inside round??  Whatever the beef cut was, I found it to be tough and not full of flavor.  And this dish is meant to cook for a while...so when I googled this cut of meat the first thing I noticed is that it states to NOT overcook that cut of beef.

The recipe and steps were all included and very easy to follow.

I am a girl who likes picture cookbooks.   So I love that they gave you a picture of what it should look like when its done.  As well as on the back of this card there was all steps broken out and pictures above each step.

The meal itself smelled glorious in the home when cooking.
However the cooking time which was posted was not accurate.  It took me longer than what was anticipated.  (which could have resulted in the tough meat).

Here is my end results...photos of what I made:

And the plating:

Sorry for the messy plating...but I actually sat down and started to eat and forgot to make a pretty plate up...so here is a rushed one I took after a few bites in.

I walked away feeling like it was a fun thing to try.  But the pre-made box meals are not for me.  I did not like being able to choose the cut of meat and the food outcome was just ok.  I was not blown away by the actual end result.   (would have been cheaper to order takeout!)

On a positive note...I will say I am making turmeric rice more often!!! This was a simple one step of adding turmeric to my jasmine rice to give my rice more flavor.  Who knew?!

Happy Cooking and Love,

Stylish Mama