This yen for experimentation can extend into brand partnerships. The meal I was least excited about in this season’s testing was actually the one I was initially most excited about. EveryPlate has been experimenting with a series of partnerships with boutique food brands, including New York Chinese–inspired dumpling brand Mimi Cheng’s. In this case, the flavors didn’t quite gel, and many of the dumplings arrived broken. In the meantime, EveryPlate has moved on and is now making dishes using flavored chickpeas and beans from craft canning brand Heyday.

I’ve had few mishaps with ingredients, but they do happen. A zucchini on my most recent order got some moisture or stray water in its bag. By the time I got to it, at the end of the week, this was death to the zucchini. I had to use my own, which luckily was already in the crisper.

I also had to make a special trip for eggs to fill out that turkey-ponzu rice bowl, because I’d neglected to look ahead at the recipe. There aren’t too many ingredients you need to have on hand to make EveryPlate’s dishes, but milk, eggs, and butter are sometimes among them. Look ahead when ordering recipes, or when receiving them.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

The seams can show more often on EveryPlate’s recipes than with premium kits like HelloFresh or Marley Spoon. I find myself improvising slightly: adding extra flavors after the fact, using my meat drippings on a side course, or swapping the order of operations. If I had my druthers, I would have used my own preferred prep on brussels sprouts rather than risk obliterating stray leaves in the oven.

But mostly, what EveryPlate offers is a baseline to work from. It offers an escape from my own tired routines: thought put into my meals by someone who is not me. A $7 meal where I buy an egg is still an economical meal—and a much more filling one than I would have had otherwise. EveryPlate remains the most budget-friendly meal kit I’d happily eat on a regular basis, a signal achievement for uncertain times.