Wouldn’t it be great to be make a home cooked meal without having to plan or shop? And if the food could magically arrive at your door? Well it can! There are several meal delivery services 
What is Blue Apron?
It’s a meal delivery service with recipes created by their in-house chefs. Premium seasonal ingredients are used and meals are never repeated in the same year. You can select your dietary preferences including vegetarian, pescetarian, regular diet with meat, or no shellfish, no fish or no pork. You choose the delivery times and if you want meals for 2 or 4 people. Meals are delivered 3 times a week packaged in refrigerated boxes so food stays fresh. They come with easy-to-follow recipe cards for all cooking levels and take approximately 35 minutes to prepare. On average the meals are 500-700 calories per serving. It is available in many parts of the U.S. – not just NYC.
Cost of Blue Apron
The 2 person plan is $59.94 a week. You get 3 meals a week and it comes out to $9.99 per person per meal. Delivery is free. There no long term commitment – you just need to cancel 6 days before the next delivery date.
So – I tried it … and here are my thoughts!
The pros of Blue Apron
– You can choose if you want vegetarian, meatless, no fish, etc.
– No long term commitment. You can opt out for some weeks as long as you give notice 6 days in advance. I would suggest checking out the menus for the following week ahead of time so you can cancel that weeks delivery if the recipes don’t appeal to you. 
– Love the way the food is delivered neatly wrapped, labeled and packed on ice right to your door. Every ingredient is included so no need to do any shopping. Each ingredient is packed separately with a label.
– The preparation and cooking directions were so clear – even someone who never sets foot in a kitchen can do it. It’s a great way to get your feet wet if you are interested in learning how to cook (see the 2 recipes cards with directions at the bottom of the page)
– Most of the recipes were something I wouldn’t have normally cooked. Variety is great
– The ingredients were fresh and seasonal. Most of the dishes included fresh herbs and spices – some that I would have never thought of using.
– Overall, the dishes were quite tasty. My favorite was the Salmon and Tomato Chutney.
The cons of Blue Apron
– Aside from checking off a few preferences, you don’t really get a choice in what meals you get. I would have liked some lower carb options or being able to select whole grains over white. I didn’t know to check out the recipes for the following week ahead of time. So in the two weeks I did it, I had 3 meals of foods I didn’t really care for – white pasta, grits with cheese and a large white hoagie sandwich.
– You have to get 3 deliveries a week (2 servings per delivery). So that’s 6 meals a week if you are cooking it for yourself. I actually got a little stressed when I saw all the food sitting my refrigerator and knew I had no time to cook it.
– The prep/cook time was longer than what I had expected. You have to slice and dice all the ingredients (ok – so I am really lazy). I don’t mind doing some of this but 2 dishes took over an hour to prep/cook.
– You can’t freeze many of the ingredients to cook at another time. If you have a busy week and get home to late to cook, the meals may go to waste. Out of the 6 meals I got, 3 went to waste.
Sample Meals
What I made:
Seared Salmon and Tomato Chutney with Cranberry Bean & Spinach Stew (650 calories/serv). It was very good!
Southern Style Shrimp and Grits with Zucchini, Corn and Cherry Tomatoes (700 calories/serv). Tasty but too rich for me.
Fresh Cavatelli & Sun Gold Tomatoes with Basil Seed Ricotta & Opal Basil (535 calories/serv). Tasty but needed to add my own vegetables as the dish was only pasta.
Other meals
Flat Iron Steaks
with Ramps, Fingerling Potatoes & Shaved Asparagus Salad
Orecchiette Pasta
with English Peas, Pecorino Cheese & Mint
Turkey Kibbeh
with Cucumber Salad & Mint-Yogurt Sauce
Rice Flake-Crusted Hake
with Sauteed Daikon Radish & Yuzu-Soy Sauce
Vegetable Bibimbap
with Asparagus, Shiitake Mushrooms & Fried Eggs
*Unfortunately my iPhone died with all my meal pics on it that I had saved for this blog post. The photo credits are from Blue Apron!
My verdict: I would definitely recommend this service for someone who has the time to cook 3 nights a week. It would help if there were 2 people in the household. If you are watching your weight, keep in mind that not all the dishes are that low in calories, so take smaller portions and maybe add in more vegetables of your own and eat less of the carbs. I probably would probably use Blue Apron again, but not on a regular basis. 
Have any of you tried Blue Apron? What did you think?
