Monday, June 15, 2015

Blue Apron: A Review

I was introduced to Blue Apron by a colleague and after receiving a discounted offer (thanks Zulily!), thought I'd give it a try.  As you know from one of my recent posts, I am all about making life easier through online shopping. And my parents were in town this weekend so I had a captive audience.  I got home Thursday after work and a cute Blue Apron box was waiting at the door. I unpacked immediately and all food was still cold (impressive).

I tried two recipes over the course of the weekend and here are my take aways in a quick pro/con list:

Pros
Super easy to order online 
All ingredients are measured out 
Meals took less than 30 mins to prep
Instructions were super easy to follow (with pictures!) 
They were delicious
Different (or variation) of meals we would normally eat
Not having to answer question "what's for dinner?" 
Gave me confidence in preparing a meal (I hate to cook!)
You can skip weeks or sub out meal choices


Cons
I found it to be a bit pricey
We only had a few or no leftovers (which might be a pro for some)
I ended up preparing a few additional sides to have enough food (but easy things like fruit or extra veggie)
If you have a picky eater, this is not the meal plan service for you
One of the meals we got was BBQ chicken (which is something I already make) 
I spent more time in the kitchen than I thought I would prepping and then cooking 


While the cons list was smaller the pricing and picky eater issue outweighed the pros. I might consider doing it again if we had guests or a crazy busy week. 

My advice would be to give it a try (especially if you have a promo code. On their website you can get two free meals with your first order!) and let me know what thou think.

I have to share my proudest moment...salmon with noodles and long green beans. So pretty and so good!