Before I became a mother a year and half ago, mealtime mostly meant assembling "girl dinners" or overspending on Postmates. As a result, I was unprepared for the sheer logistical load of feeding a family every day: the planning, the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning. It’s a lot.
And because I came into motherhood with so little kitchen experience, my learning curve has been expensive. Trying new, often overly ambitious recipes my son won’t eat—and therefore I’ll never make again—means wasted food, time, and energy, all of which ultimately amount to lighting cash (and my sanity) on fire.
So when I learned about EveryPlate, the meal kit marketed as the most affordable on the market, I was intrigued. The premise is appealing: $6.99-per-serving meals that are straightforward and…
Before I became a mother a year and half ago, mealtime mostly meant assembling "girl dinners" or overspending on Postmates. As a result, I was unprepared for the sheer logistical load of feeding a family every day: the planning, the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning. It’s a lot.
And because I came into motherhood with so little kitchen experience, my learning curve has been expensive. Trying new, often overly ambitious recipes my son won’t eat—and therefore I’ll never make again—means wasted food, time, and energy, all of which ultimately amount to lighting cash (and my sanity) on fire.
So when I learned about EveryPlate, the meal kit marketed as the most affordable on the market, I was intrigued. The premise is appealing: $6.99-per-serving meals that are straightforward and simple to prepare. But I was also skeptical. Could any meal kit actually be cheaper than shopping for groceries the old-fashioned way? I decided to find out.
EveryPlate
My experience with EveryPlate
When you sign up for EveryPlate, it’s immediately clear that this is a meal kit built for cost control, not culinary theater. Recipes are familiar, streamlined, and built from a small number of components, which helps keep prices lower than most competitors. EveryPlate’s meals start at just under $7 per serving—lower than the typical price range for many other meal kits, which often land closer to $8–$12 per serving. The weekly menu offers roughly 30 rotating options that sit squarely in weeknight-dinner territory: chicken and vegetables, pastas, skillet meals, burgers, and stir-fries.
Steak and seafood do appear on the menu, but usually come with a small upcharge. And while some vegetarian meals are available each week, the service isn’t designed to cater to specific diets; there are no keto, vegan, gluten-free, or allergen-tailored plans. That said, there’s some flexibility: You can swap sides (for example, potatoes for green beans) in your chosen meals, and sometimes proteins too.
After placing my order, the box arrived with pre-portioned ingredients and printed recipe cards. Ingredients aren’t bundled by meal but rather thrown into the box unsorted, which requires a bit of organizing before you start prepping but results in significantly less packaging waste. Another way EveryPlate keeps costs down is by assuming you have basic kitchen staples on hand—like oil, butter, salt, pepper, and the occasional egg or splash of milk—so those ingredients are not included in your delivery.
To see if EveryPlate is, in fact, less expensive than ingredient-shopping, I ordered three meals from the brand (each meant to serve four people) and then shopped the same recipes at my local Ralph’s to compare costs. For each meal, I tracked what it would cost to buy every ingredient new as well as what I’d actually spend accounting for pantry staples I already owned, like honey or chicken stock.
Quick note on shipping: EveryPlate charges a flat $10.99 weekly shipping fee, regardless of how many meals you order. I chose the minimum—three meals per week—which means the per-recipe shipping cost was relatively high at $3.67. If you order more meals in a single delivery, that cost drops meaningfully on a per-meal basis.
Recipe 1: Crispy Buffalo Ranch Chicken
Ingredients
3 Tbsp sour cream, 24 oz potatoes, 24 oz carrots, 4 tsp honey, 4 cloves garlic, ½ cup panko breadcrumbs, 1/2 oz Frank’s Seasoning Blend, 20 oz chicken cutlets, 3 oz buttermilk ranch dressing
Cost comparison
| | EveryPlate | Grocery Story (All Items Purchased) | Grocery Store (Using Already-Owned Pantry Staples) | | | ––––– | ———————————–– | –––––––––––––––––––––––––– | | Meal price (4 servings) | $27.96 | $47.94 | $30.38 | | Shipping | $3.67 per recipe | $0 | $0 | | Total cost per serving | $7.91 | $11.99 | $7.60 |
Here, the grocery-store price tag came in significantly higher than what I paid for EveryPlate, largely because I had to purchase several full-size items—like a jar of honey—despite only needing small amounts for the recipe.
Removing the cost of items I already had on hand (garlic, ranch dressing, honey, and breadcrumbs) dropped my grocery store total to $30.38, or $7.60 per serving, which is actually slightly lower than EveryPlate once you factor in shipping.
Experience
This recipe was refreshingly manageable—a relief after my last meal kit, which involved what felt like a thousand steps and was impossible to pull off with a toddler underfoot.
Some prep was involved, but the ingredients list was short enough that I got through peeling and dicing without a meltdown (from me or my son). The pre-portioned ingredient packets also helped speed things along, as they eliminated the need for measuring.
Thanks to recipe cards that break the creation of each dish into six clearly labeled steps with photos, cooking was equally straightforward. This was essentially a sheet-pan meal: The chicken and carrots roasted together, which I appreciated because it allowed me to set-it-and-forget-it. The mashed potatoes required a bit more effort, but that had more to do with the nature of potato mashing than the recipe’s complexity.
Flavor-wise, this meal was a hit. It didn’t reinvent the wheel—this was basically an upgraded chicken tender night—but it did check all the right boxes for a weeknight dinner: It was filling, balanced, toddler-friendly (I left his portion unseasoned), and low-lift. We ordered four servings for our family of three and easily finished about 75% of the meal (my toddler eats like a fully grown adult), so it also felt well-portioned.
Cleanup was breezy, as the recipe required use of just a few dishes—a sheet pan, a pot, one mixing bowl for the sauce, a plate for breading, and our usual dinnerware. This made me happy because kitchen cleanup is my final chore of the day, and if too many dirty pots and pans stand between me and a new episode of Real Housewives, I immediately resent the recipe and mentally blacklist it. This one passed the test.
Ultimately, this first meal validated EveryPlate’s core promise: simple, satisfying food that comes together quickly and can cost less than shopping for the same ingredients yourself—especially when you factor in the value of time saved in meal planning and grocery shopping.
Recipe 2: Maple Pecan Chicken
Ingredients
16 oz Brussels sprouts, 1 oz pecans, 4 sweet potatoes, 4 Tbsp maple syrup; 20 oz chicken cutlets, 4 tsp dijon mustard, 2 packets chicken stock concentrate
Cost comparison
| | EveryPlate | Grocery Story (All Items Purchased) | Grocery Store (Using Already-Owned Pantry Staples) | | | ––––– | ———————————–– | –––––––––––––––––––––––––– | | Meal price (4 servings) | $27.96 | $47.42 | $33.44 | | Shipping | $3.67 per recipe | $0 | $0 | | Total cost per serving | $7.91 | $11.86 | $8.36 |
As with the first recipe, the grocery-store version of this dish came out more expensive, though adjusting for pantry staples I already owned (maple syrup and chicken stock) brought it closer to EveryPlate’s price.
Experience
This recipe was remarkably similar in prep to the Buffalo chicken: Brussels sprouts needed to be washed, trimmed, and halved; potatoes needed to be diced; and pecans needed to be chopped. When it came to cooking, the main difference was that the chicken was pan-seared rather than roasted, and the maple-pecan glaze also needed to be tended to on the stovetop. This added a few extra steps my toddler could attempt to sabotage, but it still wasn’t difficult.
Flavor-wise, this dish surprised me. Like the first recipe, it wasn’t trying to be dinner-party impressive, but the maple-pecan glaze genuinely elevated the meal, and it was something I wouldn’t have thought to make on my own. The Brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes were simple yet satisfying.
If the first recipe validated EveryPlate’s promise, this one reinforced it. The meal was straightforward, flavorful, and cost-effective compared to grocery shopping.
Recipe 3: Dijon Butter Steak with Roasted Asparagus & Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients 24 oz potatoes, ¼ oz rosemary, 2 shallots, 12 oz asparagus, 20 oz ranch steak, 2 tsp dijon mustard
Cost comparison
| | EveryPlate | Grocery Story (All Items Purchased) | Grocery Store (Using Already-Owned Pantry Staples) | | | ––––– | ———————————–– | –––––––––––––––––––––––––– | | Meal price (4 servings) | $32.95 (includes steak upcharge) | $32.81 | $28.03 | | Shipping | $3.67 per recipe | $0 | $0 | | Total cost per serving | $9.16 | $8.20 | $7.01 |
This meal was an outlier among the three in that it was more expensive through EveryPlate than it was in the grocery store. With a steak upcharge, EveryPlate cost $9.16 per serving, while grocery shopping came in at $8.20—or just $7.01 per serving once I removed pantry staples I already owned. The takeaway: EveryPlate’s cost advantage holds strongest when you skip the premium proteins.
Experience
I could have prepared this meal in my sleep—the workflow was nearly identical to the first two recipes. That said, the meal itself wasn’t a carbon copy of the first two. The rosemary mashed potatoes were actually my favorite of the three versions, and I’d finally perfected the texture, which felt like a small win. The steak, however, was underwhelming, and the meal as a whole was a bit forgettable, especially as the third in a lineup of similar meals.
This dish highlighted EveryPlate’s strengths and limitations. The recipe’s simplicity makes cooking predictable and low-lift, which is valuable on hectic weeknights. But the protein-and-sides format can feel redundant. And while some of this repetition was on me—I accidentally ordered three meals with mashed potatos—it also reflects EveryPlate’s intentionally streamlined approach.
The verdict: Is EveryPlate worth it?
So, is EveryPlate actually cheaper than grocery shopping?
Yes—with asterisks. When I priced out what it would cost to buy every ingredient new, two of the three meals were meaningfully cheaper through EveryPlate than at the grocery store. Once I accounted for what I already had on hand, however, that gap narrowed considerably, suggesting that grocery shopping can be just as cost-effective if you keep a well-stocked pantry. And when premium protein upgrades entered the equation, the math flipped: The steak dinner cost less at the store, reinforcing that EveryPlate’s value holds strongest when you stick to its base recipes.
But here’s what the raw math misses: EveryPlate bought me back hours I’d otherwise spend researching recipes, writing grocery lists, and navigating the store with a toddler in tow. Those hours matter—especially in a season of life where time is limited.
For me, EveryPlate ultimately made sense as a cost-conscious shortcut. It wasn’t always cheaper than grocery shopping, but it was consistently cheaper than other meal kits and often close enough to grocery prices to justify the trade-off in time and effort. For a new mom who went from subsisting on takeout to overcorrecting with extravagant home cooking, EveryPlate offered a middle ground: simple, repeatable meals that fed my family without breaking the bank or my brain.