Overall * * * * *
Flavor * * * * *
Uniqueness * * * * *
Price $ ($6.99 for the 4 snack box, $11.99 for the 8 box)
Comfort/Convenience * * * * *
I like snacking as much as the next person, but the problem is I'm irresistibly drawn to things like Cheezits, which I know are roughly on par with shoving my mouth full of butter and trans fats. Sure, I could have some celery or an apple (and sometimes do), but sometimes I just want something easy and prepackaged and different.
That's where Graze comes in. You sign up, go through their snacks (really just to weed out the stuff you're sure you either can't or won't eat), and wait for your first box to arrive. You'll get four little individually packaged snacks, each somewhere between 110 and 250 calories (highest I've seen, anyway) Rate those snacks and they'll have a better idea what to send you next time. So on and so forth.
At first I was a little dismayed.
$6.99 for four little (roughly the size of your hand) packages of snacks? What a rip off! Oh, but they were good. And they were filling! There's nothing worse than eating a snack that leaves you hungry for more, in my opinion.
Top picks for me so far are the Apple Cinnamon Flapjacks (like a soft oatmeal-based granola bar), the Summer Berry Flapjacks, the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dippers with Berry Compote (weird sounding I know, but I promise it's good), and the Tropical Daquiri fruit mix.
Words of wisdom: Not sure you'll like it? Use a promo code (like this one) to try it out. The first box is free and as long as you cancel or pause before the next box goes out, there will be no additional charges.
Showing posts with label online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Plated (Online meal ordering service)
Overall - - - - -
Flavor * - - - -
Uniqueness * - - - -
Price $$ ($12 per plate, no shipping charge Coupons available for first order)
Comfort/Convenience * * * - -
Our box:
Nicely packaged, really fresh, very well labelled. Not in the shot are the recipe cards, which are full 8x11 size with illustrations and all.
Plated meal one: Chicken Paillard with Roasted Parmesan-Crusted Asparagus and Smashed Potatoes Translation: flattened chicken breast pan-seared with lemon zest, salt, and pepper, oven-roasted asparagus with Parmesan, and mashed potatoes with chives.
Looks pretty tasty, yeah? It was. Recipe was easy to follow, though I made some minor changes based on my cooking knowledge (aka, when you're making chicken like this in a non-stick skillet, if you use a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter it will be DRENCHED in fat and not the tastiest thing. Also it won't brown.) and took roughly the same amount of time the card said it would. All the ingredients were fresh and up to snuff.
Plated meal two: Trout Teriyaki with Salad and Carrot-Ginger Dressing
Plating skills were definitely on point here. This is one attractive dish (please ignore messy table). Unfortunately I loathe trout, so the fish was a no-go (my husband said it was pretty good) and the salad dressing had sesame seed oil which is another huge turn off for me (if you've never had it, I highly recommend you try it out somewhere that you can return the dish. It's a VERY strong flavor and not everyone likes it). I managed to power through about five bites of the salad before I had to give up and fix myself a microwave dinner. Again, everything was very fresh, it was just me.
This time.
Last Plated meal: Spaghetti with Meatballs, Pesto, and Greens.
This one wasn't a matter of taste, it was just bad. Doesn't even look as good as the others, does it?
It took a lot longer to get ready than it said (almost an hour and a half instead of half an hour), requiring quite a bit of prep work for the greens and meatballs and then the meatballs ended up needing far more than the time on the card said (even after I made them smaller than it said to) The pasta was a solid lump of starch (it was coated in either flour or semolina to help form up the sauce, but it ended up just continuing to congeal as you cooked and then as it cooled) The "sauce" was flavorless (pretty talented, that, considering two cloves of garlic and all that lemon zest), EXCEPT the dandelion greens that were like eating lemon rinds. Apparently no one ever explained to their fancy chefs that you're meant to eat young dandelion greens, not the ancient bolted ones.
Eat like this
Not this
So. The verdict?
We only paid for two plates worth of the 6 (3 meals, 2 plates per meal), thankfully. That's all I considered worth paying for and I'm not really sure I'd pay $12 for pounded chicken breast with mashed potatoes and a piling heap of asparagus. It was convenient having everything laid out and ready to go and portioned so you just stuck it in as you were ready for it, but to me the convenience doesn't outweigh the price and the fact that I really only liked 1 dish. My husband liked 1, tolerated 1, and also hated the pasta (he actually finished his), but a 3 out of 6 just isn't a high enough average to justify $72 a week.
Flavor * - - - -
Uniqueness * - - - -
Price $$ ($12 per plate, no shipping charge Coupons available for first order)
Comfort/Convenience * * * - -
Our box:
Plated meal one: Chicken Paillard with Roasted Parmesan-Crusted Asparagus and Smashed Potatoes Translation: flattened chicken breast pan-seared with lemon zest, salt, and pepper, oven-roasted asparagus with Parmesan, and mashed potatoes with chives.
Looks pretty tasty, yeah? It was. Recipe was easy to follow, though I made some minor changes based on my cooking knowledge (aka, when you're making chicken like this in a non-stick skillet, if you use a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter it will be DRENCHED in fat and not the tastiest thing. Also it won't brown.) and took roughly the same amount of time the card said it would. All the ingredients were fresh and up to snuff.
Plated meal two: Trout Teriyaki with Salad and Carrot-Ginger Dressing
Plating skills were definitely on point here. This is one attractive dish (please ignore messy table). Unfortunately I loathe trout, so the fish was a no-go (my husband said it was pretty good) and the salad dressing had sesame seed oil which is another huge turn off for me (if you've never had it, I highly recommend you try it out somewhere that you can return the dish. It's a VERY strong flavor and not everyone likes it). I managed to power through about five bites of the salad before I had to give up and fix myself a microwave dinner. Again, everything was very fresh, it was just me.
This time.
Last Plated meal: Spaghetti with Meatballs, Pesto, and Greens.
This one wasn't a matter of taste, it was just bad. Doesn't even look as good as the others, does it?
It took a lot longer to get ready than it said (almost an hour and a half instead of half an hour), requiring quite a bit of prep work for the greens and meatballs and then the meatballs ended up needing far more than the time on the card said (even after I made them smaller than it said to) The pasta was a solid lump of starch (it was coated in either flour or semolina to help form up the sauce, but it ended up just continuing to congeal as you cooked and then as it cooled) The "sauce" was flavorless (pretty talented, that, considering two cloves of garlic and all that lemon zest), EXCEPT the dandelion greens that were like eating lemon rinds. Apparently no one ever explained to their fancy chefs that you're meant to eat young dandelion greens, not the ancient bolted ones.
Eat like this
Not this
So. The verdict?
We only paid for two plates worth of the 6 (3 meals, 2 plates per meal), thankfully. That's all I considered worth paying for and I'm not really sure I'd pay $12 for pounded chicken breast with mashed potatoes and a piling heap of asparagus. It was convenient having everything laid out and ready to go and portioned so you just stuck it in as you were ready for it, but to me the convenience doesn't outweigh the price and the fact that I really only liked 1 dish. My husband liked 1, tolerated 1, and also hated the pasta (he actually finished his), but a 3 out of 6 just isn't a high enough average to justify $72 a week.
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