(Note: This post was sponsored by Blue Apron. Read our disclosure policy here.)
Last year I had the opportunity to try out Blue Apron — a subscription service that ships farm-fresh ingredients right to your doorstep, in exactly the right proportions so you can make home-cooked dinners for your family.
Since I’ve gotten so many questions about Blue Apron since then, they asked me if I would be willing to do another unboxing and review on my blog for those of you who have yet to try out the service and are curious if it would work for your family or not.
When I first tried out Blue Apron, I was a newbie and didn’t know that you could go in and change what meals they would send you and when your box would arrive. This time around, I got smart and went in to my account and looked at the different meal options and chose two meals that I thought my family would really like.
(Some of their meals are ones that I know we wouldn’t like at all and that some in my family wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole because they are just too different than our usual simple meals.)
I also changed the delivery date so that the box would arrive on a day that would be better for our family instead of the pre-scheduled date.
When I was in my account, I also discovered how easy it is to see what meals they are going to be sending to you (if you are signed up for the subscription service), how simple it is to skip deliveries, and how it only takes a click of a button to see and/or change what meals they will be sending you.
I chose to have them send us a box of ingredients for two recipes: Sweet & Sour Salmon with Bok Choy, Carrot, and Ginger Fried Rice and Mushroom and Swiss Cheeseburgers with Roasted Rosemary Potato Wedges.
I made both recipes this week and both were winners at our house! Yay for going in and choosing which recipes I thought my family would love best!
{all the ingredients for the Sweet & Sour Salmon recipe}
If you are unfamiliar with Blue Apron, they are a meal subscription service and they send you a box of all the ingredients you’ll need to make 2-3 meals, including sides.
The box includes pretty much every single thing you’ll need to make the recipes. The only extra ingredients the recipes called for this time were olive oil and salt & pepper.
Blue Apron's goal is to make it easy for you to create delicious, nutritional recipes at home and I think they do a really great job of that. The service is definitely on the pricey side for a frugal person like me, but it’s really fun and the meals we made this time were SO delicious!
I also love that they send you everything you need to make the recipe and very detailed instructions on how to make the recipe. Even if you aren’t an experienced cook, the instructions are so detailed (and include lots of pictures!) so that it feels so doable and simple.
I also love that they tell you exactly how long it’s going to take to make the meals — so you can know how much time you should plan to make dinner.
(Note: Some of their meals take quite a bit of time and prep. They can all be made in 40 minutes or less, but as someone who rarely spends more than 15 minutes making dinner, spending twice or three times as long in the kitchen making dinner is a big difference! I love cooking, but I rarely have time at dinner for a bunch of steps and a lot of time-intensive effort.)
For me, one of the huge benefits to this service is that you literally don’t have to think about planning a meal or buying the ingredients for that meal. You just choose the recipe and open the box and it’s all there for you!
As always, though, I encourage families to do what’s best for them. All of us are on different budgets and in various seasons of our lives, and Blue Apron may or may not be a great fit for your family.
If you are thinking of trying out this service, here are some pros & cons to consider:
Pros
- The ingredients are very, very fresh. The ingredients were delivered in a refrigerated box and I was impressed with how fresh they were for being sent by UPS!
- You get a choice in the kinds of recipes you want to receive (meat, fish, vegetarian, etc.)
- There’s a fun variety of recipes and an opportunity to try new foods. Some of the ingredients that we’ve received in our boxes have been outside our usual fare. If you like to try new things, this is a great way to keep your meals fresh and varied!
- There is no wasted food. They send you the exact amount of everything you need to make the recipe — so you don't end up throwing out the extra food because you don't have another recipe that calls for that ingredient before it goes bad!
- They offer a large selection of different recipes — all that are between 500 and 800 calories each. They are always adding new recipes to their line-up and do not repeat any of the same recipes for at least a year.
- All of the recipes can be made in 40 minutes or less. This seems like it’s pretty much right on.
- They offer two types of plans — the 2-Person Plan and the Family Plan.
- You can choose which day of the week your food is delivered to you.
- There's no long-term commitment once you sign up for Blue Apron. You can cancel your subscription or skip weeks at any time.
- They are working to develop a sustainable food system and use high quality ingredients. Check out their vision page here.
Cons
- To keep the food so fresh, there is a LOT of packaging waste, in my opinion. Gratefully, however, they do offer a recycling program and you can return your packaging for free to Blue Apron via USPS. This made me feel better about all of the packaging!
- The meals are more time-intensive than I’m used to. Blue Apron specializes in more creative recipes that are geared toward foodies and those who love to spend time in the kitchen. While I love to cook, I don’t always have 30-45 minutes to spend in the kitchen making dinner.
- Not all of the meals are things our family would really enjoy. When I was choosing which recipes to have them send in our box, I saw a number of recipe options that I knew would be things my kids (especially) would not go for. This is why I think it’s so important that you go online and choose which recipes they send in your box. Don’t just let them choose for you or you might end up spending money on a meal that you won’t like at all.
- Personally, I think the prices are really expensive — especially if you usually cook from scratch and make simple meals like we do. (However, if you love to buy expensive and unique ingredients or you typically go out to dinner multiple times per week, it's very possible you could save money and eat more healthfully by using Blue Apron. Plus, it could also save you time and effort when it comes to grocery shopping and meal-planning.)
Would you like to try out Blue Apron?
The first 50 readers to sign up through this link will get three free meals with their first Blue Apron order. Just click here to sign up!
After your first Blue Apron order, there's no long-term commitment. You can cancel your subscription or skip weeks at any time!
Have you tried Blue Apron before? If so, I'd love to hear what you thought of it!
