review: blue apron

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Ohhhhh, Blue Apron. You make dinners so fun!

What is Blue Apron?
Blue Apron delivers all the ingredients you need for three chef-inspired meals to cook at home. (Enough for two people.) So they plan the menu, they send you the ingredients and you cook some really delicious meals at home.

How does it work?
Each week (that you don’t opt out of) you are sent a box of three meals (for two people, though I’ve heard there is enough for small kids too) and recipe cards to go along with all of the ingredients. They literally send every single ingredient you need (with the exception of olive oil, salt and pepper). Have no fear, it’s all kept cool in an insulated box with freezer packs so even meat and fish are kept cold.

Pros | Blue Apron:

• You can opt in or out of poultry, pork, beef, lamb, fish and shellfish.
• You can also opt in or out of weeks as you like. There is no commitment.
• It comes in a cooler box that keeps things at a safe temperature. My first box arrived when it was over 90 degrees in LA and I was a little worried about the salmon, but it was cold enough and the freezer packs were still frozen solid.
• Every meal has a fresh vegetable component, which I love.
• Ingredients are all ‘mise en place’ meaning everything you need is either ready to go or needs only a small amount of chopping or prep.
• No waste: because you are receiving the exact amount of ingredient needed, there is nothing extra that can go bad in the crisper drawer.
• It brought us out of our dinner comfort zones and was so fun to just spend time cooking in the kitchen.
• I wouldn’t ordinarily buy numerous fresh herbs for one meal, but they make such a huge difference!
• Oh, and everything was absolutely delicious.

Cons | Blue Apron:

• Lots of packaging. I know there really isn’t away around it, but I cringed at the amount of packaging that was used. I was able to save a lot of the baggies and I’ll reuse them, but I still felt a little guilty.
• The meals take some time. These are not 15 minute meals. We tried to embrace the multiple steps and pans by cooking together and making it an event, not just a chore. (Which worked pretty well!)
• Price: $9.99/person/meal seems like a lot, but it actually helps us not eat out as much so in actuality it might save us money? We’ll see.
• I would love to see the exact nutrition facts. Or at least something a little more specific. They give estimates, but they seem a little on the low side to me.

Would I like it?
If you are someone who is new to the kitchen or needs some new cooking inspiration, I think you would love it! It’s also a great way to have date nights at home – you and your love can cook together!

What did we eat?
The first week, I opted for only vegetarian + fish meals only and loved them, but felt like it was a better use of money to opt into the meat options as well so in our second week we had a chicken, salmon and a vegetarian meal.

Sample Meals:
These are the meals we received our first week.

Pizza Panini with Green Lettuce Salad:

This vegetarian meal was so cheesy, comforting and filling! It’s definitely not something I would normally make (Richie says that I never buy bread…) so it felt like a treat. The fresh oregano added so much pizza flavor and though our paninis were a little soggy, they were still delicious!

Coconut Curry Salmon Steaks with Celery & Bok Choy over Barley:

I was a little nervous about this meal…only because we had recently returned from Thailand, and I just figured it wouldn’t compare. I was wrong. Was it the best curry I’ve ever had? No. But it was so good. The salmon was crispy, the sauce flavorful and the barley chewy, it was a fun departure from rice.

Braised Heirloom Carrots & Crispy Goat Cheese:

I’m sorry that this is the worst picture (late dinner) …because it was one of our favorite meals! Every component was better than the last, it’s definitely something I want to make again.

This week was another Blue Apron week (yay!) and we had Salmon Rolls with Baby Beet and Pea Shoot Salad, Chicken Supremes with Sautéed Ramps, Sugar Snap Peas and Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Fried Green Tomatoes with Cajun Rémoulade Sauce and Boston Red Leaf Salad on the menu. So far, the salmon rolls left us both saying, “So good!” no less than seven times throughout dinner.

Want to try Blue Apron?

Sign up here for two free meals!