Blue Apron Review – March 2017
Blue Apron is a meal kit subscription service that sends pre-portioned ingredients and recipe cards. All you need to do is cook! There are a variety of these services now available (including Hello Fresh, which I also reviewed here). However, when a co-worked offered me a $30 off coupon, I jumped at the chance to try Blue Apron.
The regular price for 3 meals (2 portions per meal) is $60. At $10 a portion, it’s still a bit less than going out to eat, but not feasible for me on a weekly basis. However, the coupon brought the price down to $5 per plate. Plus, I used Ebates and received an extra $7.50 in cash back from my order!! Now we’re talking : )
When you sign up, you can choose 3 meals from their recipe list for the following week. The selection includes meat, fish, and vegetarian options, so I picked two meat and one vegetarian. The ingredients and recipe cards are delivered on a specific day (that you select) in an insulated box and the meat or fish is packed separately and surrounded by ice packs.
The first meal we tried was Ground Lamb and Beef Shepard’s Pie. I had no idea ground lamb existed, so I was eager to find out how it would taste. After some prep work chopping the ingredients, I started the recipe.
The recipe cards are easy to follow and include helpful pictures of the steps along the way. This meal was fairly simple. The only cooking required was roasting potatoes and browning the ground beef/lamb mixture.
Jay and I were both surprised at how much we loved the dish! It was extremely flavorful and filling. We’re actually going to keep an eye out for ground lamb at the grocery store so we can try it again. It also held up well in the fridge, so I had leftovers the next day!
The second meal was Seared Chicken with Couscous. Jay ended up cooking this one and said the recipe wasn’t exactly helpful. The chicken took longer to cook than expected and the ingredients provided for the sauce weren’t sufficient.
The meal turned out pretty well despite all that. One of the new-to-us ingredients was capers. I wasn’t a huge fan of their flavor, so I painstakingly picked them out : ).
Our third selection was Udon Noodle Soup (the vegetarian option). I was eager to try this since it’s certainly not something I thought I could make at home. The soup was extremely easy to prepare. It only involved a few steps including sauteing the vegetables, adding water / sauces to create the soup, and finally adding the noodles. The hard boiled egg and chopped peanuts added delicious finishing touches.
Overall, Blue Apron is very impressive. The meals were fairly easy to prepare and the ingredients stayed fresh for almost a week. At $60 a box, I won’t continue a regular subscription. However, I may request a box here or there when we’re in the mood for something adventurous!