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Plated meal kits are now available at Albertsons, Safeway and more grocery stores

Don't want delivery? Now you can pick up a Plated meal kit right off the supermarket shelf.
/ Source: TODAY

Plated was one of the forerunners of the online meal-kit boom and now they're hoping to become just as big on supermarket shelves.

Albertsons, which acquired the pre-prepped meal delivery service last year, will be carrying Plated kits in hundreds of its stores nationwide by the end of 2018.

Second iteration of Plated's retail product, photographed in-store at Jewel Osco in Chicago.
Second iteration of Plated's retail product, photographed in-store at Jewel Osco in Chicago.Albertsons Companies/Plated

Plenty of companies have been jumping on the meal-kit bandwagon lately. Amazon made its own meal kits widely available online last year. Even less likely candidates have placed stakes in pre-packaged meals and food items — like the fitness company Crossfit, which announced the release of a branded, grass-fed meat box this month.

But, increasingly, more meal-kit purveyors are moving away from the subscription model and offering them up à la carte up in store. Take, for example, Weight Watchers' meal boxes, which will soon be available in Walmart locations.

Alberstons Companies launches Plated in-store meal kits.
Alberstons Companies launches Plated in-store meal kits.Albertsons Companies/Plated

Albertsons owns grocery chains in 35 states, including the nation's capital. While Plated meal kits are already available in 20 Safeway stores in Northern California and 20 Jewel-Osco stores in the Chicago area, the company plans to have Plated meal kits available at hundreds of its supermarkets brands including Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Star Market and Haggen locations by the end of 2018.

According to a Plated spokesperson, the in-store meal kits are priced from $15 to $19, and include enough food for two servings. Shoppers can choose from six, seasonally-rotating recipes like roasted chicken au jus with orzo and peas, beef noodle bowls with dinosaur kale, and a pine nut-crusted salmon with creamy tomato farro and roasted green beans.

Plated's online delivery subscription costs $12 per serving for kits that serve two diners ($24 total) and $10 per serving for kits with three to four servings ($30 to $40 total). With Plated's online service, subscribers have 20 different recipes each week to choose from.

If shoppers want something in between an online, subscription-based Plated plan and an in-store shopping experience, Albertsons says it plans to offer the Plated meal kits, with a two-hour delivery window, through Instacart, so you can order dinner at work and have all of the ingredients ready to go by the time you get home.