Chefs Plate — Restaurant in Toronto

I've been a customer with Chefsplate for years, and I think it's a great service for a specific customer. If you regularly grocery shop without issue, cook most of your meals from scratch, and don't have a problem with meal planning or inspiration, I don't think you'll find value in this service.

However, if you need to take transit or uber to shop, find that you order in on a regular basis, or have difficulty feeling inspired to cook different meals and get stuck in a rut often, I think Chefsplate could really work for you.

The meals work out to just over $20 each for 2 servings. I typically order 3 meals of 2 servings each per box for my 4 person family (2 adults, 2 kids), so $60ish for three meals. Definitely cheaper than ordering in, but not if you were to go out and shop for the ingredients individually. If you typically have to pay to get to a grocery store, this might work out differently for you based on time/money spent to get your food.

Chefsplate is by far the least expensive of all the meal boxes I've looked into, but I think that might come at a cost in the serving sizes. I find that the amount they send for 2 people is not what most people would typically find a serving. Definitely not for my husband who can go back three times for more. Still, I find it cheaper to order the 2 serving boxes and supplement with my own pasta/rice/potatoes etc than up my subscription to the 4 serving boxes (which would double the price).

Also, sometimes the produce they send is smaller than you'd expect. Again, I find it cheaper to add in my own than go to a different box where the produce might be larger. Once you've ordered a few meals, you get a good sense of what kind of ingredients are used frequently so it's easy to pick a few extra up when you do grocery shop.

I personally enjoy the recipes they offer. Each week there are 24 selections to choose from. I think there's a good mix of staple family friendly selections that my kids will either enjoy, or that I can easily modify (in terms of seasonings or presentation) so that they will try them. There are also recipes that appeal to my adventurous husband, so it's nice to throw one of those in now and then. I like how far in advance you can select your meals. Your box will start off with pre-selected meals, but it's easy to change these out for ones you prefer.

If you have any issue with your box, in my experience, you will be compensated with some kind of credit. In the many years I've been subscribed, I've had to contact them three times. Each time the interaction with CS was quick and easy (I suggest taking photos if you do have an issue as it just makes things clearer and more direct).

I love the new add-on feature, especially the protein add-ons. It makes it so easy to throw in a few extra packs of ground beef or chicken for when I have to put my own meals together. I've also tried a few of the desserts around holidays, or the salads if I want to augment a meal that I've chosen for my husband and I. I would love to see this feature expanded.

I can easily get into a rut making the same things or just grab random stuff from the freezer when it hits 5pm and I realize I haven't figured dinner out yet. The weeks that I do get a box, it's such a relief knowing I don't have to figure out all 7 meals. I save the recipe cards from the meals we enjoy and keep them in a binder organized by ease of planning. Now if there are no meals offered in a particular week that interest me, I can draw on those cards and meal plan with past meals. Such a time and metal load saver.

One thing I DO NOT like is the addition of extra charges on some meals. Sometimes it's due to 'premium ingredients' or larger servings, but some don't look any different than the regular meals. I refuse to order these.

So if you're here to decide if this service will work for you, hopefully some of this information will be helpful. Even with the few things that irk me, it's a service I enjoy and will continue to use, as well as one I recommend for a...

A little ‘buyer beware’ if you are considering Chef’s Plate. I’ve been using these guys for a little while, not because it is particularly cheap, or that it saves you a tonne of time cooking, but rather for the convenience of not having to plan my meals, and to give me a little variety.

I was supposed to get a delivery yesterday (Monday). The way this works is that it is packed in a warehouse the night before, picked up around midnight (according to the carrier info), and brought over to the Island for delivery the next day. They put one or two frozen water bags in the bottom of the box to keep it cool. By the time they get to us, the bags are still partly frozen, but are well on their way to being melted. Yesterday’s delivery did not show up. The tracking link showed that it was still sitting on the truck and delivery had been pushed to today. I knew that there was no way the ice bags would last another 24 hours, and if you know anything about food safety, you know that meat and other perishables would not be safe to eat in this situation.

I went on their website and reached out to their customer service (online chat). The guy looked up my account and verified that my food would be a day late. I told him that the ice packs would not stay cold that long. He assured me that the food would be fine. The only thing he was willing to do was to reach out to their logistics team to see why it was late. I told him that the food would be spoiled and if that was his response, to please cancel my account. It took several requests before he was willing to cancel my account. He kept pressing me to just suspend my account for awhile (not sure how that would have fixed things). I told him that he could have kept me as a customer if he simply would have credited my account for the cost of the box. He continued to press for me to just suspend my account but finally agreed to cancel.

My box came today. The meat was warm and there was no way I am willing to trust any of the perishables in it. Except for a couple of potatoes and an apple, everything else went in the garbage.

I had posted something on their Facebook page stating my issue. I got the ‘send us a DM so we can make it right’ response that is common. I waited until the box came, and then I did send them a private message to see if they would make it right. I told the agent that my meat was warm and that the box was garbage. After looking into my account, she assured me that she had passed this on to their procurement team and also added that she had credited my account the sum of $17.97. I paid $65 for this box of food that I am unable to use, and their response is to credit me $17.97, which I will never use because they have lost me as a customer. After pointing out that this is no where near the value of what they charged me, she offered another $10. That was the end of the conversation.

I don’t have any other avenue to pursue, so at this point, all I can do is let people know what my experience is. You don’t know how good or bad a company is until it is time for them to make something right, and that definitely isn’t...

I have been a customer for years, but have been disappointed in both the value and the service in the last year, and see Chefs Plate on a downward trend.

My family used to use Chefs Plate on pretty much a weekly basis, a few years ago. We found the meals generally appealing, though the instructions have frustrated us from the start. (I mean - who needs to add oil to the pan before cooking chorizo?) After a few mishaps that resulted in our house being full of smoke and our smoke detector getting a good workout, I gained enough cooking knowledge to know when to ignore their instructions and cook using my own common sense - and we've had a better experience since. I do wish they would organize their cooking steps in a more organized manner though - you definitely need to read through all of the steps and often, find things take longer than stated.)

My biggest complaints though, have been with their customer service and value. Their service deteriorated when they moved to a chat-only function for help. Getting to the right answer is sometimes impossible, and we've received boxes with all three meals affected by rotting or poor quality ingredients - only to receive a $10 credit on a $60 box (when we had to spend more than that to replace the ingredients they sent that were ruined) - but due to their "help" feature being inadequate, had no recourse.

The value has really deteriorated, with many meals having add-on fees (quickie meals now have surcharges, "premium" meals have surcharges, air fryer meals have surcharges, slow cooker meals have surcharges). On top of this, the list of what they call "pantry staples" have grown - items they expect you to contribute towards the meal. I mean - if I'm paying for a meal kit, I kind of expect everything I need for that meal to be included, not 60% of the ingredients. It's sold to me as a convenience thing and it's not convenient if I need to ensure I have ingredients on hand before selecting my meals as well. Items like butter, oil and milk (which are all really expensive now) have become "pantry items" and are no longer provided - neither is sugar, and they were considering moving honey and soy to the list as well (having sent a survey to subscribers).

After previously ordering weekly, we deactivated our subscription for several months. We recently reactivated after being enticed to do so, but are receiving a box maybe once a month - and don't expect to carry on in the summer, when heat makes ingredients more prone to spoilage and cooking at home is...