A PlateJoy Review (and How to Use!) – Healthy Meal Plans from $8 per Month?

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You want to eat healthy, I understand. But it’s hard to know where to start, what to eat, who to trust, and so on… No more!
This PlateJoy Review covers the solution you might have been waiting for.

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A PlateJoy Review – Is PlateJoy Worth It?

An Online Meal Planning App and Website, Perfect for Families and Individuals

• Overall Rating: 9/10
• Price: $8.25 – $11.50 per Month (£6.67 – £8.88) *
• Best Place to Purchase: www.PlateJoy.com
  
  
• Customer PlateJoy Reviews: Very Positive
  
  
• Guarantee: 10 Day Free Trial Money Back Guarantee

*Offer: $10 DISCOUNT at checkout using this link with code LETSDOTHIS*

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Sign up for a 12-Month PlateJoy Membership for only $8 a month!

It’s no secret that many people want to eat a healthy diet. And I don’t just mean losing some extra weight for the Summer, I mean feeling good and actually enjoying the food you eat! That’s where it gets confusing for some people – making healthy food easy and enjoyable… In this PlateJoy review, we’ll explore just how easy it can be.

Now then, ever heard of meal planning? Whilst eating healthily can be easy, it can also be a little confusing at first and requires a little planning ahead (especially for families)… Don’t let this put you off of your health and fitness goals! A growing way to overcome this is with automated meal planning, which also saves your time.

A popular option is PlateJoy, and with good reason. It may be considered the best online meal planner when it comes to variety and versatility. For a cheap healthy meal plan, offering you a clean eating, ketogenic, or paleo grocery list each week, look no further!

This PlateJoy review gives an insight into what the program offers, the pros and the cons, customer satisfaction PlateJoy pricing, and whether it delivers that “bang for bucks” you may be looking for.

PlateJoy Menu and Features – What’s For Dinner?

Let’s kick this off with the obvious – what does PlateJoy actually do? PlateJoy offers individually catered and highly customisable meal plans for different types of diets and health goals. It can be used to help you count your nutritional information, plan healthy and wholesome recipes, and is highly cusomisable.

PlateJoy believes in disease prevention through nutritional power – a fundamental health aspect that was once recongised much more. I really connect to this goal, and try to teach more about the amazing abilites of a healthy diet – through this very website!

Types of Plans Available

Many people use it for weight loss purposes, ketogenic dieting (keto), and even paleo, but that’s not all. See below (or Click Here) for a complete list of the customisable features, with a few of their options included. I’ve briefly summarised each option:

PlateJoy 10-Day Free Trial > [Highly Customisable Meal Plans, For Individuals and Families]
(Image Credit: PlateJoy)

 

• Amount of people you’ll be shopping for:

This can range from 1 adult to 5 adults and 5 children.

• Your information:

Name, sex, and relevant information if you’re trying to lose weight, considering your activity level as well.

• Carbohydrate and diet plans:

Some options include Low carb, Mediterranean, and even more specific options such as Diabetic / Pre-diabetic and Low FODMAP, amongst others.

• Ingredients you’d like to avoid:

A few examples include added sugars (definitely avoid), spicy foods, tree nuts, as well as an ‘Other’ option in which you can type your own ingredients.

• Preferences on animal products:

Certain plans such as the Mediterranean and Paleo plans can be catered directly for different preferences such as vegan, vegetarian, or pescetarian. This differs between plans but you can always exclude certain recipes and items from your meal plan later on.

• Eating requirements:

You can eliminate allergens such as gluten and dairy, and also choose to go Kosher, Pregnant/Nursing, or Clean Eating (recommended).

• Net carbs:

The ketogenic diet option let’s you choose between up to 20, 30, or 40g the day of net carbohydrate intake. The low-carb diet provides under 30, 40, or 50g per meal.

• Preferences on seasonal produce:

This simply let’s you choose to have only in-season ingredients what’s the whether you’re happy with some non-seasonal.

• Budgeting options:

You can choose to make more batch meals as per the plan, or even cut down on variety and costs.

• Which courses you would like to enjoy:

You can choose any selection or all of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks.

• Shopping location:

Do you plan to shop at traditional grocery stores? Or perhaps stores with more specialty ingredients (such as ‘Whole Foods’ in the US).

• Cooking appliances:

Do you have an oven? A microwave? Or perhaps my favourite – a trusty Slow Cooker? There are more options, too.

• Preferences on milk type:

You can choose between different fat percentages of cow’s milk, optical goat’s milk, lactose-free milk, coconut milk, and others.

• Would you like to avoid pre-cooked or pre-chopped vegetables?
  

• How much time do you have for breakfast?
  

• What kind of lunch would you like?
  

• How much time do you have to cook dinners (including with a slow cooker)?
  

• How much time do you have to make snacks?

As you can see… There is A LOT to choose from! This is the strongest advantage of PlateJoy above other meal plan and meal delivery services – the versatility is rather quite impressive. I believe that having this many options is what really creates a unique customer experience, so this definitely goes in the favour of PlateJoy and all of us.

PlateJoy’s Whole-food Option – The Newest & Best Feature

One of the first options you’ll be presented with when personalising your individual plan is about  “dietary requirements”. This is where you find the following initial options (and then you can exclude any allergens):

• Dairy-free;
• Gluten-free;
• Kosher;
• Low Sodium;
• Pregnant or Nursing;
• Whole-food.

Looking through the list, this is a fantastic change from some of the previously-limited options available.

The most significant benefit arguably comes from the whole-food option. Cut out all processed ingredients and added sugars – pretty much a formula to fix the currently “broken” diet system.

Previously, the closest they offered to this was the ’30-Day Cleanse’ Diet Plan, which I reported to be a little misguided…

However, I soon realised although it is called a cleanse, that doesn’t mean that all of the foods it excludes are bad for us. Here are some notes to think about if you’re interested.

It excludes all dairy, legumes, grains, and sugars. However, for many people, foods such as dairy and legumes and grains are perfectly fine. In a way, the diet seems more focused towards avoiding foods which some people tend to have trouble with.

This is called an “elimination diet”, and can be valuable in detecting food intolerances or finding autoimmune triggers. Inherently, however, properly-prepared whole foods are not ingredients we should shy away from, unless we already have health problems.

But the new change is warmly welcomed! I’ll cover this below, but for overall health, going for the whole-food personalisation, along with any others that apply to you, is the optimal choice.

What is even better, is that now they seem to have cut out seed oils in this plan – meaning you can easily avoid the toxic PUFA’s we find in almost all processed foods. Olive oil is soooo much better.

ALSO NOTE: The other plans still contain PUFA-rich oils, which are absolutely toxic. PlateJoy promote these due to a “high smoke point”, which has been thoroughly de-bunked (credit to Dr. Cate Shanahan) as a sole marker for an oil’s healthiness and suitability in cooking. Therefore, if you do not choose “whole-foods” as an option, select “other” in ingredients to avoid and tell them you do not want any seed or nut oils (excluding sesame or peanut in moderation, if you would like).

PlateJoy Recipes

Ahh, yes! Onto the big question – What’s on the PlateJoy Menu? You want delicious recipes that make you feel like a Michelin Star Chef, and there’s no denying!

The recipes, naturally, are found in a large variety. They need to cater towards individual preferences, and as such the options you chose dictate the recipes! After looking through some of the PlateJoy recipes that are given for different plans, I’ve found some great examples to share as an overview.

You’ll find amazing dishes catering for gluten-free meal plans, vegetarian meal plans, and so much more. Here are some meals from popular diet plans.

Breakfast Ideas:

• Dijon pork and vegetable breakfast bowl (Paleo)
• Italian egg scramble with parmesan, spinach and tomato (Low Carb)
• Oatmeal with pomegranate, walnut and chia (Mediterranean)*

(Image Credit: PlateJoy.com)

*P.S. Fermenting Your Oats is The Best Way to Enjoy Them! This simple preparation maximises nutrition and removes unwanted antinutrients from raw oats…

Lunch Ideas:

• Turkey burger stacks with portobellos and avocado (Paleo)
• Warm chickpeas with veggie chorizo and goat cheese (Low Carb)
• Crunchy quinoa and red bean salad (Mediterranean)

Dinner Ideas:

• Moroccan spiced halibut with tomatoes, carrot and zucchini (from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen) (Paleo)
• Crispy trout fillet with Thai herb and romaine salad (Low Carb)
• Mexican snapper with spicy sweet potatoes and salad (Mediterranean)

Batch Meal Ideas:

• Middle eastern chicken & tahini bowls (Paleo)
• Slow Cooker short rib and parsnip stew (Low Carb)
• Sheet pan shrimp & vegetables with arugula pesto and rice (Mediterranean)

(Image Credit: PlateJoy.com)

Snack Ideas:

• Toasted Turmeric Pumpkin Seeds (Paleo)
• Antipasti olives and almonds (Low Carb)
• Pineapple cups with lime and mint (Mediterranean)

As you can see, there are some top quality recipes here to enjoy. There is so much more to explore, but definitely some notes to take when buying some ingredients (See ‘Best Way To Use’).

You can opt out of any dish you don’t want and select which ones you would like on your grocery list menu. It’s your choice.

Instant Nutritional Information for Each Person

If you’re just cooking for yourself, you’ll be able to access nutritional information of every recipe you make anyway. And if your online meal plan is for multiple people, it’s still easy to keep track of.

PlateJoy also has a convenient feature in which portion sizes are given for every person, meaning that if you cook a large recipe, an exact percentage will be given for each person to eat according to their goals.

Admittedly, having the information presented as a percentage can be a bit tedious. I say this because it could mean that you’ll have to to figure out the total weight of the recipe and divide it, or go by personal judgement (which isn’t always accurate).

Bonus Features!

Keeps Track of Your Pantry (Never miss an ingredient)

The Instacart delivery option isn’t for everyone, but hey, you can always get your own delivery from a supermarket or store you’d prefer and simply use the grocery list that PlateJoy offer!

Sync with FitBit

For those who want to easily track their nutrition alongside their fitness goals, integrating your PlateJoy with a FitBit (if you use one) is simple.

You can do this from your “My Account” page or from a web browser. Once you’re synced up, all you need to do is click “Track to Fitbit” for each meal on the PlateJoy Menu that you have.

How Much Does PlateJoy Cost?

There are multiple membership plans offered by PlateJoy, both of which save a lot of time and come at a surprisingly good value. No matter which personal option you choose, you’ll always start off with a free trial, which gives you 10 days to cancel if you’re not 100% satisfied the service and don’t want to pay for it!

After your free 10-day trial, you’ll be billed for your membership. This comes at a standard $69 or $99, for a 6 month or 12 month plan respectively. Per month, this means you’ll be paying just $11.50 (£8.88) if you want 6 months of meal plans, and even less at $8.25 (£6.37) for a full year!

PlateJoy pricing can be even lower: I have something, just for you.

There’s a Bonus, too! (Free $10 Discount Code and Trial Period)

Here at Healthy Ronin, you know we like to provide the best service available. That’s why you can use our discount PlateJoy code: [LETSDOTHIS] and receive a $10 Discount on your purchase!

Simply click on “I have a code” at the checkout, enter ‘HEALTHYRONIN10’ (without punctuation), and you’re all set.

Try it out for 10 days, and if you like your new personalised meal plans, you can reduce the price for free.

All in all, the PlateJoy pricing will depend on your plan. It’s an initial investment after your PlateJoy Free Trial, but one that has great value on a month-by-month basis!

Start Your Free Trial Today > [https://www.platejoy.com/app/personalization]

Customer PlateJoy Reviews

When writing reviews, I always try to look at the experiences of others to get a well-rounded perspective. A great way to do that is to learn from the customers themselves.

So, how do PlateJoy score in customer satisfaction? As it turns out, the majority of PlateJoy reviews are very positive indeed! To break down some of the pros and cons, we’ll see what people have to say, and then provide an overview.

According to Trustpilot

80% Excellent:
The majority of PlateJoy reviews on Trustpilot are rated as excellent. Customers in this category have extremely positive comments, particularly on the variety, organisation, savings on money, food, and time, family experience, and even the staff!

11% Great:

With 11% of customers racing the service as great, that means that 95% in total rate it above average. Many positive comments are made from customers in this category, but with some small recommendations such as:

• Making improvements to the calendar feature
• Adding and improving more recipes
• Integrating with MyFitnessPal (unfortunately they aren’t accepting new partners at this time. However, PlateJoy works with FitBit).

5% Average:

Some customers on Trustpilot also found that the service wasn’t ideal for them. This the great thing about reading reviews, they really give an insight into services to help you decide for yourself and learn from others’ experiences. The recommended improvements include the following:

• Add a vegetarian keto option
• Add more recipes (this was the largest issue for most in this category) 

<1% Poor:

The problem that customers found in this category is that the meals could be of higher quality. Having read this from other categories as well, it is important to consider before signing up for the plan.

The best way to see if it’s for you is to take a look through the recipes after you’ve personalised and always test out what you can during the 10-Day Free Trial. Don’t forget that it’s always possible to substitute specific ingredients or add some of your own seasoning in if you like more complex dishes.

3% Bad:

Of the 219 reviews on the review website, 7 customers noted a bad experience. It seems that these are all reviews which unfortunately reflect technical issues and misunderstanding in membership charges. As usual, due diligence is very important when setting up any subscription. So, it would seem unfair to me to deem the overall service poor due to these cases.

Overview

Public and individual reviews of PlateJoy tend to stick to the core point: An excellent service which has helped people improve their diet, time, and budget.

Nonetheless, the customers have also provided some recommendations for improvement. Considering these, although PlateJoy has very positive reviews overall, there are a couple of cons alongside the pros.

The key points to take away from this are that PlateJoy ready to deliver quality and value. Whilst there are still opportunities for improvement, judging from the care goes into the business and their customers, I’m sure they will only continue to get better as they grow.

Best Way to Use (Here’s What I Recommend)

Of course, there are many ways to use this program. If you need a meal plan catered towards your personal dietary preferences or requirements, the PlateJoy menu offers plenty to customise.

You can choose plans to suit your requirements, taste preference, and health goals! Personally, I’ve found several options that I feel are worth chosing for almost everyone. Here are some simple recommendations to make the most of your experience.

#1: Avoid These Ingredients

The personalisation page let’s you choose additional options for your diet, and exclude a range of ingredients (to your preference). Amongst these, I suggest anyone using PlateJoy to try the following:

• Opt for PlateJoy’s “Balanced” plans for more balanced protein, fats, and carbs in each meal, unless you are strictly Low-carb (<50g carbs / day), Paleo, or “Mediterranean-style” for personal reasons.
  
• If you decide to choose vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, flexitarian, or no-red-meat diets: make sure you’re on top of supplements and protein pairing to support your health when cutting out nutrient-dense and protein-rich animal foods.
  
• Choose “Whole-food”: This excludes processed foods and refined sugars, according to their website. These are two of the food industry’s worst items, and avoiding them is optimal for physical, mental, and genetic health.
  
• Avoid “Added sugar” and tell them you want to avoid PUFA-rich oils (all seed and nut oils except for moderate amounts of sesame or peanut oil, should you wish): This ties into the above point, as added sugar is often counterproductive for anyone eating to achieve a healthier body through any natural diet. Toxic oils are completely off the table.
  
• Avoid “Soy”: It’s a common belief that soy products are a healthy protein source. And traditionally, it certainly was so. However, most modern products are not prepared properly, and as such contain large amounts of anti-nutrients, phytoestrogens, goitrogens, and enzyme inhibitors. Too much of these can interfere with hormonal and digestive processes, particularly in sensitive individuals.

Personally, I really believe some items like added sugars should be laregly excluded, or replaced with more natural options like honey in calorie-controlled diets. And almost all seed/nut oils should be ABSOLUTELY eradicated. This detail is, unfortunately, a minus in this PlateJoy review score.

Nonetheless, you have the option to exclude them, so it’s not a major problem!

#2: Choose to Cook Your Own Protein

PlateJoy recipes are catered towards your convenience, and if you don’t have the time to cook or your own protein (meat, fish, etc.), then you can buy it pre-cooked. This will save time, but comes with a couple of potential downsides.

Firstly, it will be less budget-friendly to buy pre-cooked meat or other foods. Cooked proteins generally come at a considerably higher price. Because of this, they’re not the best options for healthy food on a budget.

Secondly, home-cooked food is generally better in taste and nutritional quality! When you buy pre-cooked meat, for example, it’s more than likely that it would have been cooked “well-done” for safety during distribution.

This certainly takes away from the nutritional quality, and can add carcinogens. Whilst it’s impractical to always avoid these foods, doing things yourself gives you more control (unless you add your own healthy seasonings)!

#3: Customise, Customise, Customise! (IMPORTANT)

Don’t forget this step! Personalisation is important for the program and how well it will work for you.

At the same time, without personalising, you’ll find unwanted ingredients on your grocery list. You wouldn’t have to get them, but it would probably be a bother.

There is an important downside here for our PlateJoy review.

Notably, I have found several meals and snacks that make use of added sugar, “cooking spray” (unhealthy oils), and some pre-packaged foods like “veggie burgers”, and ketchup. Additionally, you can find a considerable amount of high-glycemic foods such as honey, some fruits, and mirin.

Certain ingredients on this list can be avoided with plans such as Whole-food, Low-carb, or Paleo. As a result, the best thing to do is simply click the ‘Remove’ or ‘Swap’ button on unwanted recipes.

Besides, don’t forget you could substitute and eliminate ingredients when you cook, choosing healthy fats and oils, and opting for whole food ingredients.

For the most part, PlateJoy recipes and the PlateJoy menu as a whole contain nutritious whole ingredients. You can choose to avoid certain ingredients before being offered recipe lists, (including “other” items which you can type in yourself). If you find something that you don’t want on your list, you can simply swap it.

Another possibility is to search through the recipe library and select what you’d like to make.

(P.S.: If you choose the Diabetic/Prediabetic meal plan, beware of refined carbohydrates such as bread, crackers, and wraps. You can exclude these items from your list. Alternatively, why not subsitute for healthier options like cooled (sweet) potatoes, lettuce or cabbage for wraps, and so on?

Therefore, the #1 rule for using PlateJoy is to make use of their strong point – customisation!

Conclusion: Is PlateJoy Worth It?

Is PlateJoy worth it? That’s what this all really comes down to, but only you can decide that. I’m here to help you decide with some insights from this PlateJoy review.

There are no commitments to try it out. 10 Days Free Trial, and a discount if you use your exclusive code LETSDOTHIS and follow our link. 🙂

By using this online meal planning service, you have instant access to quality recipes and useful features to suit your your personal diet and health goals.

For a standard price of $69 for 6 months and $99 for a whole year, they absolutely deliver to a high value (ROI). And what’s better, you can even reduce the amount and receive a free $10 Discount by using the PlateJoy Code LETSDOTHIS.

Click Here To Get Started > [Unlock Your Meal Plan Today!]

Sign up for a 12-Month PlateJoy Membership for only $8 a month!

It certainly has been worth it for many satisfied customers, which says a lot about their service.

Using a meal planner can save money, time, and food, and who doesn’t like that?

Considering that it still does have some improvements to make (and I’m sure they will be made), overall I rate this service a 9 / 10.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any experience with similar services, and send me your thoughts on this one! This post is sponsored by PlateJoy, thank you for reading.

Until next time, stay healthy
James

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