Full transparency: I am not a established home chef and all opinions are entirely my own and unpaid. Honestly, after a full work day and a 40 minute commute, I’m exhausted just thinking about dinner. Much less having to prepare it. But a while ago, Peter stumbled upon Blue Apron. Subscription meals were just starting to take off. But since he hates grocery shopping as much as I hate meal planning, this seemed like a great solution.
Welcome Blue Apron to the family. At this time, there were fewer options out there. Plated was around. Blue Apron was doing Groupon’s like crazy and HelloFresh has just made it to the scene. After looking at options, budget and other criteria, we decided to try Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. We ended up sticking with Blue Apron. The recipes had more variety and the vegetables and other ingredients were always fresher than Hello Fresh. Oh, the irony.
So here’s an honest review of my experience with Blue Apron. We’ve used this service for over a year and have sent complimentary meal boxes to several friends and family.
Meal Variety
As the title says, I’m a picky eater. This is probably an understatement. I know that karma is real because now I have my very own little picky eater in my son William. Pizza. Pasta. Bacon. Chicken Nuggets. That’s all a child really needs to live – right?
Ok, maybe not. Luckily my palette has matured and I have to admit, I owe most of that to Blue Apron. I found a love for vegetables that was never there before. Broccoli – yes! Cauliflower – my new favorite! Kale, spinach, collard greens – seconds please!
What I love most about Blue Apron is the meal selection and opportunity to try new food. Every week I choose three meals from eight different options. There’s always chicken, beef, fish (admittedly I still won’t eat fish) and vegetarian options. I like to pick two solid meals that I know will be good. Then I choose a wildcard third option, and try something new. Of all the meals I’ve made – which is probably close to a hundred now – I’ve only had one that I could not eat.
Food Quality
This is where I think Blue Apron really stands apart. All of the produce is fresh and sent whole. There are a few occasions where something was wilted or had gone bad (see extra hot summer 2017). In the rare case that this does happen, you can snap a picture and upload it to the app. Usually you’ll see a $20 credit. Even if only 40¢ potato has gone bad.
Cost
The company says that the cost is about $9.99 per person. I’m on the two person meal plan and most of the time, there is leftovers for one person to have lunch the next day. So I’d say it’s a little less than that. But let’s see what the actual cost to fix one meal would be.
| Steaks w/ Lemon Salsa Verde | Cost (Kroger) |
| Sirloin Steaks (2) | $13.39 |
| Sweet Potato | $0.78 |
| Brocolli | $1.89 |
| Garlic | $0.50 |
| Lemon | $0.89 |
| Parsley | $0.79 |
| Shallot | $0.37 |
| Crushed Red Pepper Flakes | $3.39 |
| Total | $22.00 |
$22.00 is pretty close. Once you add in convenience, it’s a no-brainer.
Delivery
Delivery is the #1 feature that Peter loves. He hates going to the grocery store one meal at a time. So having it delivered to our door is a huge convenience. We have picked our meals to come on Thursday (so I usually fix them over the weekend when there’s more time). Each meal comes in a box and wrapped in a super-fancy cold bag. There’s a large frozen ice pack to keep everything cold. If there was one negative about the whole thing is I do feel like there’s a lot of waste involved. But we reuse the boxes for storage and recycle as much as we can.
Preparation & Instructions
Another great feature – cooking time! This is the first thing I check when figuring out what meal to fix. They give decent estimates for each meal and have a few that are under 30 minutes. Each recipe comes with a photo and instructions that are timed perfectly as you cook. I do usually salt and pepper about half of what they recommend. Other than that, I usually follow their directions. Except for meals with beets. Beets are just the worst, so leave those out.
Overall Thoughts
So many of the meals I’ve made with Blue Apron have been great, and there are only a few I wouldn’t make again. Before we started on the plan, I was a very picky eater. I avoided tomatoes, onions and don’t even think about weird vegetables like leeks and endive. I’d eat American, Mexican and Italian. But that’s about it. Since then, I’ve fixed Thai, Indian, African, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, German and so many more. I’m much more open to trying new things (as long as it’s not fish – that’s a bigger step) and have found that I have a weird love for cauliflower and baby bok choy. I’ve even started a binder of over 40 recipes that were a success and that I fixed or will fix again.
So I say go for it. It’s too easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to cooking at home. Let someone else do the hard work so you can enjoy the cooking process (which is always better with a glass of wine) and try new dishes from all over.
Let me know what you think! Have you tried a meal service yet? Are they’re any new ones out there I need to try? I really want to hear about Martha’s new service.
Love,
Sara
Leave a Reply