Plated Chicken Tostados March 2014

Plated is a meal delivery service.  They deliver fresh, ready-to-cook ingredients in a box right to your door.  They have seven meal choices per week.  Three of those are vegetarian,  the rest are lamb, beef, chicken and a fish.  You must choose four meals in order to check out.  This can be four of the same or two different meals.

The Cost: If you choose to subscribe, its $10/mo and then $12 per plate.  You have to order at least 2  plates of any one meal and you must have at least 4 meals  for your order to ship.  You can choose 4 plates of the same meal or 2 plates of different meals.  If you choose not to subscribe, you will pay $15 a plate.  The same rules apply.

  

What You Get: Everything you need to make a 2 meals for 2 or  one meal for 4 (unless you order more than that, of course)!  All ingredients are fresh and measured out for you.  All you have to do is put it together.

Today I made Chicken Tostadas with Avocado Dressing!  It was excellent!  You can read about my previous meal here, if you care to.

You may notice right away that mine does not look like the picture.  This is because there was a slight problem with my order.  The main one being that my corn tortillas had been folded in half when they were packed and subsequently tried to disintegrate en route.  I didn't feel like buying a whole bag of tortillas just to make one meal so I just dealt with it.  First world problems, right?!

My box arrived yesterday after shipping out on Monday.  Everything was still cold when I got it.  They use some kind of refrigeration pack and large ice packs to keep everything cool.  The ice packs were still half ice when they got to me.

It's always good to know that your fish and chicken are cold!  The ingredients of each meal are wrapped separately so those less inclined won't be able to mix everything up.

The Greek Yogurt for this recipe was in a plastic ramekin and it exploded in transit so everything was somewhat messy.  However everything was easily washed off and I used sour cream instead of yogurt in the avocado dip.

Everything you need is included except the kitchen sink.  Okay, you need a knife and cutting board and a cookie sheet.  And a spoon and a bowl.

That white bag in front is the queso fresco and the plastic tub in the back is refried beans.

The chicken, tomatoes and onion were roasted in the oven.  I also stuck the jalepenos in there, too, even though it wasnt in the directions. 

The avocado dip was heavenly.  It had the sour cream and the juice of a lime in it.  Mmm.

I tried to fry up the tortillas but they were being difficult and there were only a few pieces that were big enough to be worth it. 

I shredded the chicken when it came out of the oven.  So good! Sprinkled with cumin, too.

And the finished product!

VERDICT:  Plated customer service was VERY kind when I called about the issues in shipping.  Far more generous than I was expecting.  Kristen is the best!  I have really enjoyed all my meals from Plated.  The ingredients are very fresh (seriously, my avocado was pure perfection), everything has been cold when it got here so I don't feel like I need to worry about some kind of food borne illness.  And the recipes are unusual (next week I'm having Bibimbap) and not something I would normally make.  That's probably the most fun.  It's an easy way to experiment without having to go buy a whole bottle of fish sauce or money on a special ingredient that costs a fortune and I'll never use again.  I recommend trying Plated, if you are so inclined.  I like them enough to continue to order up tasty meals when I see them on the menu.