Your increasingly busy lifestyle probably doesn’t allow as much creativity in your kitchen as you’d like. Searching for recipes, planning your meals, going grocery shopping, and cooking can just take too much of your time. And if you have an incredibly busy schedule, it may even become an impossible task.
Many people are trying to eat healthily, and cooking your meals at home is the best way to control everything that goes into your diet.
PlateJoy is a subscription-based service with custom meal plans that helps you by creating a suitable meal plan, appropriate grocery list, and recipe ideas, improving your diet. It is a perfect way for busy people to find an everlasting inspiration for healthy eating.
In this PlateJoy review, we cover every aspect, from recipes, shopping lists, meal planning, to all other benefits and downsides of this service. Read on to find out if PlateJoy is the best meal planning service to help you create custom meal plans and reach your health goals.
PlateJoy At A Glance
- Best Match For: Busy people looking to eat healthy with a personalized meal planner app that suggests recipes and prepares shopping lists based on preferences and dietary goals.
- Commitment Level: 6 or 12-month subscription; 10-day trial
- Availability: Available for Android and iOS
- Value: $8-$12/month; Free 10-day trial
- Type: Personalized meal planning and grocery shopping app
How PlateJoy Works?
PlateJoy is a meal kit delivery service focused on clean eating and reducing food waste. The company’s main selling point is customization, and it’s nothing like you’ve seen in other meal delivery services. In fact, it's one of the cheapest meal services that deliver.
You can customize pretty much everything, from your food preferences, special dietary needs, ingredients you dislike, cooking methods, and more. It allows people to remain more in control of their diets, which is particularly important for picky eaters, people on a specifying eating regimen, or parents looking for healthy recipes for their kids.
PlateJoy offers 6 and 12-month plans, but there is a 10-day free trial you can take advantage of.
Initial Food Quiz
Once you join PlateJoy, you need to fill out a personalization quiz that helps Platejoy understand your dietary needs, taste preferences, health goals, schedule, and how much time you plan to spend on cooking.
This first step is essential to familiarize yourself with options. Their wide selection and ability to customize things can cater to even the pickiest eaters.
Once you are finished, PlateJoy will create a customized menu. You can then additionally alter it and choose the meals you want every week. You can choose breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snack options.
Dietary Preferences
PlateJoy is one of the most customizable meal planning services, making clean eating simple and convenient. One of the most significant advantages of PlateJoy is an abundance of different eating programs, including low-carb, kid-friendly, vegetarian, vegan meal kit services, pescatarian, Mediterranean, keto-friendly, paleo-friendly, dairy-free, gluten-free, and low FODMAP.
Low FODMAP is an excellent option for people who often experience gastrointestinal problems such as pain, bloating, and gas. Specific meal plans like the Whole30 can help you identify foods that make you feel less than optimal (read our detailed review of the Whole30 diet).
There are also options to customize your meal plan for weight loss and diabetes management. With so many Americans struggling with excess weight, and type 2 diabetes becoming more prevalent, it is vital to control your diet, lose some weight, and manage and prevent diabetes.
If you are struggling with food allergies, PlateJoy allows you to remove any ingredients you are allergic to. You can even eliminate stuff you don’t like, and enjoy recipes specifically tailored to your taste.
Taste and Freshness
PlateJoy allows you to incorporate a variety of different healthy ingredients and vibrant recipes.
You can select your preferred ingredients, seasonal produce, and other food-related parameters to come up with unique grocery lists tailored to your needs.
Once you have your list, you can go to your local grocery store or farmers market and get everything you need. If you don’t have time for that, you can select the same day delivery with Instacart.
This option is available in hundreds of cities nationwide, and you can easily choose everything you need for your customized meal plan and a store where you want your ingredients to come from.
Your meal kits will arrive on the same day, depending on your location, and all you have to do is make those delicious dishes.
If you don’t want meal kit delivery, PlateJoy also offers batch cooking, where they send you pre-made meals that require little to no preparation.
Website and Customer Service
PlateJoy offers informative content, video tutorials, and detailed answers to the most frequent questions on its website. You can learn all about personalizing your meal plan, changing account information, using different services, and improving your PlateJoy experience.
The website is user friendly and very easy to use. There is a chat option, allowing you to contact customer service, and you’ll typically get a reply in a few hours. However, there is no contact email address or phone, which may be inconvenient for some people.
What You Can Expect From This Meal Planning Service
Once you have filled the information about your eating restrictions and preferences, you’ll get a selection of meals according to your liking.
Choose the meals you like, and generate a grocery list with all ingredients for selected meals.
You can also choose the meals you don’t like and decide whether you want to take them off from that week’s list or for good.
Customization is the biggest advantage of PlateJoy. Your meal plan is designed with the info you provided initially, but you can always update it.
Choose how many recipes you need each week, what you like to eat, diet type, allergies, dislikes, portion size, and health goals. You can change all of these parameters and get a steady flow of innovative recipes each week.
PlateJoy updates its menu weekly, so you can always find something new to try. Since the company doesn’t deliver ingredients directly, you can choose where you want to buy your meat and produce.
Locally-sourced ingredients are always the best choice. But if you don’t have the time, select an Instacart option, and have all your groceries delivered to your door.
All recipes are designed with health in mind, and they should help you get your diet on the right track. However, buying fresh produce, meat, and other quality ingredients will help you experience the full health benefits of PlateJoy’s menu planning.
Review of Sample Meals
PlateJoy offers a variety of different meals depending on the information you provide about your eating habits. Although it is hard to predict what you’ll choose, here are a few meals that may appear on your menu:
The beauty of PlateJoy is that there are many options for every dietary preference you want, and new recipes are presented every week. It will save you a lot of time you would spend on searching recipes or flipping through cookbooks. You can even use PlateJoy as inspiration and create your healthy recipes inspired by the suggestions you receive.
Delivery
One thing about PlateJoy that makes it different from other meal kit delivery services is that it doesn’t offer direct shipping. PlateJoy presents recipes according to your preferences and generates a list of items needed to make those healthy meals. It’s up to you to choose the ingredients you ultimately buy, which leaves you more in control of what you eat.
However, if you don’t have the time to go grocery shopping, PlateJoy can help you get everything you need with Instacart. This company offers same-day grocery delivery in many cities across the US.
Once you click the Instacart option, your whole grocery list is copied to Instacart’s website. There you can select the ingredients you want and remove the ones you don’t need.
You’ll also have a selection of stores from your local area to choose where you want your ingredients to come from. When you are all set, simply click “Purchase” and your meal kit will be at your doorstep in no time.
Instacart option is available in many places across the US and Canada. It is better than traditional meal delivery services since it reduces carbon dioxide impact from transport, and uses less food packaging, resulting in a more eco-friendly option with a lower impact on our environment.
FAQS
Yes, PlateJoy is an excellent meal planning service, which can help you eat more healthily. This subscription brings you weekly recipes, but you don’t have to follow their meal planning all the time.
You can always order take in when you don’t have the time or energy to cook, or make extra portions and enjoy leftovers on your busy days.
Yes, PlateJoy is 100% legit. Keep in mind that it is a meal planning service, and the subscription does not include ingredients needed to make recommended meals.
You will still need to purchase everything individually, so it’s important to calculate all costs to make sure it fits your budget.
There is a 10-day trial period when you can experience how PlateJoy works. If you are not completely satisfied during this period, you can cancel without any additional fees.
PlateJoy offers meals for many dietary restrictions and preferences. One option includes gluten-free meals.
Yes, PlateJoy has a wide selection of recipes, and they are delicious. PlateJoy is a perfect option for people with special dietary preferences and needs or those looking for more variety in their diets.
PlateJoy costs $8-$12 a month, based on the plan you select. You can also take advantage of the 10-day free trial and make sure you enjoy their service before choosing your subscription plan.
Simply go to your account on the PlateJoy website, click on the subscription tab, then “Manage Subscription,” and you’ll get a pop-up to cancel your membership.
Platejoy Costs
You can try Platejoy for free for 10 days. Afterward, you can choose a 6-month subscription for $69 or an annual membership for $99. That’s $8-$12 a month.
Pros and Cons
PROS:
- Suitable for many dietary preferences and restrictions
- Fully customizable meal plan tailored to your needs
- Meal planning made easy for the whole family
- Easy for tracking calories and compatible with Fitbit
CONS:
- Some recipes may lack details for newbie cooks who are not familiar with all cooking techniques
Food for Thought
PlateJoy is an excellent online service people use as a meal planner. It takes all your eating habits into account to create healthy meals you will truly enjoy. It generates a shopping list and lets you decide whether you want to buy everything on your own, or order ingredients via Instacart.
With Instacart, you can get all of your groceries delivered on the same day in many cities across the US and Canada. You can even choose a store, and Instacart will get all of the ingredients from there. Everything arrives fresh, with no extra packaging, and you can start cooking straight away.
One big advantage of PlateJoy is that absolutely everything is customizable, from your dietary preferences, ingredient sources, cooking methods, ingredient list, meal sizes, and more. That way, you can get perfect dishes for all family members, picky eaters or not. It also allows you to explore different flavor profiles.
We absolutely love the freedom you have, which is why our PlateJoy review is full of praise for this incredible service.
PlateJoy is perfect for busy people looking to save some time on meal planning. With new exciting dishes every week, you’ll always know what to cook, and you’ll be able to experience flavors from all around the world.
PlateJoy