What I've Been Cooking: Blue Apron Review

I'm sure many of you have heard of Blue Apron or their competitors Hello Fresh and several others. If not Blue Apron is a company designed to allow families to eat fresh, healthy and conveniently from your home. You can sign up on their website and they offer a variety of different packages to meet your family's needs. Such has how many people you need to feed, how many times a week and if you have any food allergies or preferences. The company prepares six meals per week and they select three for you based on what your preferences are. If you would like to switch meals out for the others offered that week you can. You select what day is best to receive your delivery and they will deliver your meals straight to your home.

 

I have been wanting to try Blue Apron for a little while and was just on the fence about it for a few different reasons but really just cause I hadn't pulled the trigger and ordered. That's when Kyle's customers and our friends offered us a free trial. I was super excited and immediately took them up on it and ordered right away.

 

Just for reference Kyle and I ordered the package of 3 meals for 2 people for 1 week. This would have normally cost us $60 if we weren't reviewing the service. Not too bad when you break it down to $10 a meal/person.

 

 

The meals are not precooked and prepared. How the program works is Blue Apron sends you all the ingredients you need for your meals besides salt, pepper and olive oil. They also provide you with full recipe cards with picture instructions included that make it super easy to follow. The ingredients provided are the exact amount that you need for each meal. All items are organic and fresh. They arrive to your doorstep in a refrigerated box that ensures all items stay cold and fresh. 

 

 

Once I unpacked our box I loved how everything was measured out and individually packaged. This made the weeknight dinners go much faster. All the meals are designed to take between 20-35 minutes total to prepare and cook.  

 

We received the following meals for our week's trial: Maryland-Style Cod Cake Sandwiches with tarter sauce and red cabbage slaw, Peruvian Roast Chicken and Potatoes with green beans and creamy jalapeno sauce and Beef Arepas with pickled onion, avocado and radishes.

 

 

The first night I made the Maryland-Style Cod Cake Sandwiches. I was really unsure about this dish since I am not a fish fan at all. I love shell fish but not fish. Kyle really wanted to try fish so I went ahead and selected to receive the cod. I thought well it was free so why not give it a try. I'm glad I did because I couldn't taste the fish flavor at all! Kyle and I both agreed that the sandwiches were good but had too much spice in the recipe. If I made these again on my own I'd do half the amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. You can find the recipe for the Maryland-Style Cod Cake Sandwiches here.

 

 

The next night we had the Peruvian Roast Chicken and Potatoes. This was my favorite of our three meals. It was super easy to prepare and cook and it was delicious. I will definitely make this meal again on my own. If you are looking for an easy weeknight dinner that is packed with flavor and delicious check out this recipe. You can find the Peruvian Roast Chicken and Potatoes recipe here.  

 

 

Our last Blue Apron meal was the Beef Arepas. This was Kyle's favorite of the three. The Arepas were loaded with flavor but they were a little too greasy for me. The bread cakes are similar to Indian fry bread if you are familiar with fry bread, so it is delicious! You can find the Beef Arepas recipe here.

 

All in all I was pleased with using Blue Apron. It did make our weeknight dinners quick and easy and everything we made was good! However, for the price of $60 to continue I just don't think I can justify it. As $10 a meal sounds really good I can still cook a full meal with leftovers a lot of the time for less than $20. I loved the break of a week off from the grocery store but after our trial I found myself comparing on Sunday after I got home from the grocery store. For only $10 more I purchased a TON more food than what I received with Blue Apron. Plus the only other down fall was the meals are mostly between 650-800 calories per serving and that is WAY more than I am used to. However it was fun and a great trial, I do recommend the service to at least try! You can snag discount codes on their website as well if you want to try it yourself.

 

Have you tried Blue Apron or Hello Fresh? If so what did you think? We are going to also try Hello Fresh next but so very appreciate of our Blue Apron experience we receieved!