Review: Blue Apron Meal Subscription Service

A friend gifted us a free one-week subscription to the do-it-yourself meal service,  Blue Apron. Blue Apron delivers all the ingredients and recipes for delicious, relatively easy and quick (allegedly under 35 minutes) meals to your door.

Our delivery arrived on Friday and we were able to enjoy our meals together this week - savoring the last of my maternity leave. I will be reviewing this service in the following categories on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being excellent and 1 being awful:

1. Plan options - Does it suit my family?
2. Pricing - Can we afford it? 
3. Cooking - Is it unique without being cumbersome?
4. Eating - Are the meals delicious?
5. Overall enjoyment

PLAN OPTIONS - Rating: 4

First, we chose a plan. Options included three meals for two people or two meals for four people (two additional meals from leftovers!). We could also use some "credit" from the free offer and use a higher-priced plan for four meals for four people (which would make eight meals for us but would require some payment instead of being fully free). I appreciated being able to choose the amount of meals I could get, especially when one option would provide leftovers. Despite the math yielding us more food with a two-for-four, we opted to receive the three meals for two plan. 

You are able to choose a diet/preferences - they have meals for pescetarians, vegetarians, non-red meat eaters etc. Because all items are packaged at the same facility, they do not recommend using this service if you have severe allergies. We aren't food sensitive and are trying to be more adventurous (read: eat more fish), so we didn't indicate any preferences. 

Then the fun part - which proved to be incredibly tedious for me - choosing our menus. You're able to view a calendar listing all the meals of each particular week. The three meal plan has six+ options, while the two meal option has four. Because I'm incredibly indecisive, we perused all available menus (there are usually four weeks' available at a time) and options for each plan. Many of the entrees are featured on all of the plans (at different times) with different sides; but there are several meals that are unique to a particular subscription. There are a wide variety of options from somewhat familiar creations to things I would consider exotic or unusual for our kitchen. This breadth of recipes is a great plus for Blue Apron; but I will warn you, it makes deciding difficult! 

However, the shortcoming is that you can't always select individual recipes that you like; many are bundled. For example, if you select that you want Roasted Pork Steam Buns, it may select your other two meals instead of letting you choose each one. I assume this has something to do with the packaging process. This worked to our benefit because we chose a "safe" recipe that was bundled with one new, but not unheard of dish, and one "bizarre" meal which I might not have chosen on my own. Since I couldn't pick every meal we got, I really had to play around with the calendar to make sure the meal plan we'd selected plus the delivery week worked well with the pre-arranged bundles. Seriously, I put at least an hour into this. #IHaveNoLife


PRICING - Rating: 3

Our subscription was free. YAY! And honestly, that's probably the only way we'd have ever tried this. We've done monthly subscription boxes before (now defunct Goodies, and Skoshbox), but they were in the $7-15 range and I wasn't upset if a box was lame. However, at these price points I'd be hesitant to blindly try it out. The plans are priced as follows:

The Blue Apron four-for-four plan is $8.74/serving ($139.84/week).

Blue Apron falls right in the middle of the price points for two other comparable plans, Hello Fresh and Plated. Hello Fresh allows you to get more meals per week, which lowers the per serving price, but with a similar three-for-two plan you'd be shelling out $11.50 per meal or $69 per week. Plated has both smaller and larger plans (two and four meals per week). Their three-for-two plan is slightly cheaper at $48 per week (apparently marked down from $72). 

Obviously, this may not be the thing for you if you have a larger family and you intend to feed them all. It could still be a fun date night option for you and your partner or good "bonding with the teenager."  And despite my annoyance at picky eaters paired with my determination for our baby to have a sophisticated palate, I don't think many kids would go for these things anyway. What kiddo is pumped for cod and radishes? 

Overall, $9.99/serving isn't necessarily outrageous considering what we might spend if we went out to eat, and I'd argue that it is of $9.99/plate restaurant quality; but it is considerably higher than what we budget per homemade meal. It's certainly do-able here and there as a fun activity (with food!) but we could never do it every single week. It would certainly have to be put into our budget and we'd have to give up something else. 

Or we could steal the recipes and make them at home with things we already have on hand or can buy for cheap...


COOKING - Rating: 4.5

The heavy box arrives with almost everything - save olive oil, S&P, and water - you need for all three recipes, including spices and items like vinegar or sesame oil.

Three meals-worth of ingredients, delivered straight to my door.

It's a ton of stuff in adorable, but absurd packaging (see: below). I'm a sucker for all things dainty (you should see the tiny champagne vinegar bottle!), but this does feel a little wasteful.

Thankfully all packaging materials are allegedly recyclable.

You have exactly what you need, it's all fresh and good quality, but you do have to prep some things. For example, we received a single carrot that needed to be shredded for slaw and a block of cheddar instead of a baggie of grated cheese. And that is why this cooking subscription can appeal to all levels of chefs - YOU have to do the work. You're responsible for your own mis en place and preparing everything, but nothing is difficult and their instructions are very clear. They even offer tutorials online to help you with things like knife cuts and prep demos. It would be a great learning experience for a new (or young!) chef, but interesting enough that pros would enjoy it.

Even the worst cooks can make these recipes!

The techniques are relatively simple and quick. Plus, the recipes don't require fancy equipment or lots of dish washing.

And just like the commercial, the cooking experience provided by Blue Apron is a lot of fun for families. We were able to make our first meal while Baby napped, and we got in some quality Mama & Daddy time helping each other cook. We fell in love cooking for each other, so finding a product which delivers that experience straight to our home is a blessing. But you could totally cook these on your own without being overwhelmed - unless you're on your own and have a screaming baby flailing in their jungle swing, or ahem I assume it would be difficult and you might just burn some breadcrumbs while leaving the middle of the chicken almost under-done...ahem. 


EATING - Rating: 4.5

Our menu included Fresh Pimento Cheeseburgers with Collard Green and Carrot Slaw, Chicken Milenaise with Warm Potato and Brussel Spout Salad, and Cod with Udon Noodles. The pictures on the recipe cards are deceiving - the food looks good, but with TINY portions - and they all sounded just a little out there. But whoa. They all tasted great. 

The pimento cheeseburger was made from high-quality beef and served on delicious buns covered in more sesame seeds than I've ever seen! I will say the pimento cheese stuck out to this Southern girl as a version designed by a non-Southerner. There was little mayo, and it sure as hell wasn't Duke's (the King of all Mayos), so the texture wasn't what you'd like on crackers or finger sandwiches, but it was melty and so flavorful. The recipe included a great tip, too: put the pimento cheese on the bottom toasted bun AND on top of the hot burger, double the gooeyness!

We were both AMAZED by the cod dish; we totally expected this to be unique, but not something we'd order or even try to make again. But whoa! It was flavorful, full of unique textures and well-balanced. So, be sure to try something a little out-of-the-box in your delivery box! 

And of course, you can't go wrong with breaded chicken cutlets (unless you have that hypothetical baby meltdown experience). Plus, the quirky side dish of warm potato and brussel sprout salad with mustard vinagarette was great, too! 

OVERALL- Rating: 4

Despite my inability to choose what I wanted to order, the service itself is incredibly easy to use. I was able to easily navigate their website and explore all available options. I also appreciate how easy it is to change your mind (see:inability to make decisions). You can view your scheduled deliveries and skip, change the delivery date or choose different menus at the click of a button. As a mom whose calendar is quickly filling up, I can't emphasize enough how important that sort of flexibility can be. 

But we have canceled our membership since our trial ended. They will, of course, automatically charge your card for the next delivery and we will have to plan better if we're going to put forth this expense. It's completely do-able once a month, but I'd die if my card was charged $60 more than once per pay period.

I highly recommend pressuring your friends who have free passes to share them with you, and even if you didn't have a freebie, consider giving this a go once. It's a great activity to do as a family and a fun way to try new recipes without having to buy the obscure ingredients (togarashi spice blend, anyone?). 


STAY TUNED... we're planning to try another subscription box soon!  

Wholesome - But Quick & Easy - Breakfast

First, thank you for humoring me and my very infrequently updated blog. Momming ain't easy and blogging while momming is near impossible; I appreciate your patience and long attention span. Don't give up on me!

My First Mom Meal

Since our sweet boy was born a month ago (yes, I'm crying on the inside), we have been blessed with an outpouring of meals from our friends and family. This has saved us from having to cook the majority of the time. I'm still on maternity leave; but with J back working nights, preparing meals while watching/soothing/changing/feeding/entertaining a newborn is low on my priority list. I think the most ambitious thing I've "cooked" since his birth is a batch of ranch party mix for Book Club.

Our "Hungry Caterpillar"

Tuesday night was our last meal delivery and we finished the leftovers off this afternoon. The end of the lifesaving gravy train, a desire for some of our old pre-pregnancy normalcy, my breastfeeding-induced need to eat EVERYTHING and a killer issue of Food Network magazine, pushed me to actually cook dinner tonight. Although making a hearty salad isn't what I'd normally consider difficult "cooking," this was quite an adventure and lead me to create a list of tips for mamas and daddies reentering the kitchen.

1. The grill is your friend. Especially in summer, you want to avoid overheating your house or yourself. Moms, I know you feel me; our internal thermometers are all out of whack and standing over a hot stove isn't ideal. But perhaps even more important than keeping cool, is avoiding dishes. This salad didn't make a big mess with prep or presentation, but anything you can toss on the grill - especially in foil packets - will make your life exponentially easier. The same goes for your Crock Pot.

2. Plan your meals. You should seriously consider making a weekly meal plan that covers what your family is eating at every meal. We've always made vague plans to help with grocery shopping, but when J completed the Whole 30 this summer we had to make very specific calendars which really helped organize our shopping, cooking and eating. This month, we mapped out our meal deliveries and planned accordingly for breakfasts, lunches and weekends; but now we have to consider what's actually doable when I'm home with baby. Knowing what you're eating each night relieves a lot of stress, especially if you're like us and are constantly in a passive-aggressive battle of "I don't know, what do you want?" But it will also save you time and money, two things you're sure to be short of with a newborn in tow.

3. Read your recipes thoroughly...twice. When you've picked what you want to cook/eat, read the recipes all the way through, double-check the pantry for ingredients and make a detailed shopping list. As we learned today, it's a real pain in the rear to have to go back to the store for a forgotten ingredient, especially if you have to load up baby. When you're making something new (like I tried to do for some reason), make sure you know what you'll need to do ahead of time - like marinating etc.- and do any pre-prep that you can do while your partner is at home or baby is napping.

4. Avoid the "high risk" cooking until your mom-brain is cured (or you get used to it). From the moment sperm hits egg, mommy's brain begins deteriorating. My memory, ability to talk without stumbling, and attention span have all suffered since I became a mom; but apparently it will get better or at least I'll adapt. So bear in mind that now - while you're sleep deprived, stressed and lost in motherhood - you shouldn't use dangerous cooking methods or tools/techniques that require finesse.

Here's a hypothetical example: if you're attempting to make delicious grilled surf and turf salads with Dijon vinaigrette, don't overdo it by trying to make crisp garlic croutons, too. You may just forget them under the broiler, fill the kitchen with smoke, burn yourself reaching in the oven and end up leaving the scarred pan on the porch to finish smoldering...hypothetically, that is. But while we're on that subject, maybe now's the time to freshen up the batteries in your smoke detector.

5. Be kind to the cook - yourself or your partner. Being a new parent is hard. You are trying to keep a small creature alive while running on no sleep; you think you're doing everything wrong; and if you're a mother, your body and mind are probably fighting you, too. But every day that you get up and take care of that little critter is a victory. And I know that deep down, but I forget it a lot and end up beating myself up that I'm not being a good enough mom to him or wife to J. So, focus on what's important - your family - not the (allegedly) burnt bread, bland burger or ugly, fallen cake. My dad sent me this video a week or so ago, mocking my mom's meatloaf, but the sentiment is true. It's not about the burnt toast, it's about the person who tried to put something on the table for you. Don't be so hard on them/yourself; it's just dinner.

And here's a bonus tip for the folks wanting to support new parents:

Please organize meal delivery. This was seriously a lifesaver for us. Having one less thing to worry about, especially a "thing" that makes a mess, costs money and requires sanity to complete, made our days so much easier. Our church and friends organized themselves using Take Them A Meal's service, which is free and doesn't require a log-in, but allows participants to create a calendar, list directions/requests from the family and include information from the donors. This helps parents know when guests are coming - especially important to mommies with their boobs out - and prevents the delivery of eleven lasagnas in a row.

And even beyond the delicious (free) food, it's really nice for the parents to have scheduled visits with people who care about them. I have had a serious case of cabin fever but knowing we'd be having company, even just brief visits to drop off a casserole, was a helpful glimpse into the outside world.