Blue Apron

[Georgia]

Has anyone tried one of these home delivery meal services? My BIL got us a two week subscription to Blue Apron for Christmas. I've really enjoyed the meals and they have been easy and fun to cook. We even decided to continue the deliveries. I'm a decent cook but usually stick to our favorite dishes. Since we don't eat out much, Blue Apron has given us a nice variety at dinner time. On the menu this week is Korean Tteok and spicy Pork Ragu, Buffalo chicken sandwiches and seared salmon and salsa verde. I'm trying to figure out which meal to cook tonight. The deliveries come with every ingredient you need to make your dish except for salt, pepper and olive oil so you don't even have to go to the grocery store. BIL is trying Plated to compare. Plated costs a bit more but you can choose your meals. Blue Apron sends you meals based on your preferences so it's a surprise.

[arentspowell]

My friend sent me a link to do a free trial of Plated. My box arrives Tuesday and I'm excited to try it. If we end up liking it I might try Blue Apron as well.

[Maxx&Emma]

That sounds like a really fun thing to try. I hate deciding what is for dinner, lol! Sticking with the same things can be boring.

[Labradorks]

I love this idea, but it's a little spendy. However, I find that I do make a lot of waste (veggies and fruit that never got eaten or meat that is past the expiration date -- oops!). Now that I have chickens and my dogs eat raw meals occasionally, at least I can give them the stuff that is too far gone for me to eat yet not "poisonous". I should do a cost comparison...

For a bit I tried a subscription service for cooked meals. I absolutely loved it! It was a certain number of calories per day (lose weight or maintain - your choice), you got to be picky (i.e., I don't really like chicken and there were plans for low-carb or diabetic), it was all local and in-season when available, and it was delicious! However it was a few hundred dollars per week and I just could not justify it long-term.

Do you find that there is enough in one meal to make lunch the following day? I suppose a person could order for a family of two and have dinner and lunch. I almost always make more than enough so I have something to take to work the following day.

[Georgia]

We do the two person plan and get three meals a week and it's $60. The first order we got we thought there wouldn't be enough food but it's perfectly fine and filling. I get Groupon emails every day and I saw this morning they have a Groupon for Hello Fresh which is the same idea as Blue Apron. You could get one week's worth of meals for $29 with the Groupon.

[BogeyBaby]

I love Blue Apron. My DD gave me 3 free meals to try and we're hooked. I order at least 3 times a month. It takes a lot of guess work out of my meal planning! And I don't think $10 per meal per person is too high for the quality of what they send. Granted, I could do it cheaper on my own, but then I have to go shopping as well as plan out the meals and the shopping list.

[smartrock]

We got it for our daughter and her husband for an anniversary present last summer and they loved it. It looked like they had a choice of 3 out of 5 possible entrees each week, including some vegetarian meals, some fish, some meat. I tried a couple of meals and thought they were fun and tasty- you get to try things you normally wouldn't cook for yourself and you're not left with half a box of something you hadn't heard of, thought you'd try, and didn't really like. I've got a few boxes like that in my pantry. They request gift cards to that at any opportunity.

Our other kid got them Purple Carrot for a month as a Christmas gift. It's a vegan subscription plan. I don't know if they've tried that yet but since my son-in-law is definitely NOT vegan, we'll see how that goes. My main observation is that getting every ingredient individually measured and packaged results in a lot of little plastic packages to throw out and some of the vegetables were not exactly beautiful or very ripe specimens. Once chopped up and cooked though they were fine.

[KLR625]

I've been doing Blue Apron for about 2 months. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!! So does my husband. The meals are amazing and the nice part is when I come home from work it is a no brainer what I am making for dinner. The start to finish time is about a half hour. Also we are always watching our weight and this is a good way for portion control. We have never finished a meal still hungry either. It also gives us a chance to try new things that we never would have otherwise. Everything seems to be healthy. I find even though I spend $59.99 a month for the 2 of us I am spending less per week because I'm not going to the grocery store as often. The first time we got a delivery I wasn't home and my husband brought in the box not knowing what it was. He put it on the counter and forgot about it and didn't tell me it came. The next morning I saw it and panicked because it had been sitting out all night. When I opened it I was shocked that the packs they use were still almost completely frozen. The food was cold and well preserved. We decided we are staying with it because we like it so much. we started out with a free week we got from my daughter, she does it too. I would definitely recommend it.