The other day I was on my tablet, reading an article from Bon Appetit about the “new” Blue Apron. If you’ll recall, Blue Apron was the one that started the whole meals-in-a-box thing. Anyway, Blue Apron was reinventing themselves.
Single serving meals, no more weekly subscription required, a once-monthly shipping charge. Most of these outfits charge $15-20 a box to ship. Blue Apron will now charge a flat $9.99 a month, regardless of how many boxes you have delivered.
I’ve been wanting to try one of these services for awhile, where the meals are mostly prepared. I’m sorry but I just don’t have it in me to learn how to cook more than hamburgers or chicken, but I still need healthier options in my diet and more variety. So it was either this or start flirting with 70 year old Dee next door. Now that woman can cook!
When I visited the website, I saw they still had their traditional dinner kits, new “Bake in a Pan for Two” meals, and lower calorie single-serve “Dishes”. I signed up for a one month trial that included free shipping and 30% off my first couple orders.
I got this box with 5 single serve meals and a pizza kit. With the promotional discount, this wound up costing me $36.00.
- Four-Cheese Enchiladas
- Creamy Red Pepper Fettuccine & Uncured Bacon
- Cavatappi Beef Bolognese
- Southwestern-Style Turkey
- Chipotle Cheddar Pork Sausage & Potatoes
- Truffle Honey White Pizza Kit
The pizza kit smelled delicious, I could really smell those loose ingredients. The other meals were airtight, under 600 calories. Not a lot, but I’m trying to cut back anyway. You have 5 days to eat them or freeze ‘em.
You can either microwave or bake in the oven; I baked the red pepper fettucini with asparagus & uncured bacon first
I do plan on ordering one or more of the “Pan Meals for 2” next time. They claim to serve 2-3, have more traditional components, and those pan meals (baked in an oven) should be enough for a couple dinners.
Here’s my first Blue Apron “Dish”, which I served with a small salad & garlic bread. I think I baked it a few minutes longer than necessary, but I’m not taking any shortcuts via the microwave. It was very tasty (and very spicy) and did fill me up.
Here’s the second “Dish” I had, the Southwestern Turkey. It contains turkey, brown rice, guajillo chili pepper sauce, corn, peppers & onions, black beans, monterey jack cheese, jalapenos. I added a dollop of sour cream, which pretty much made it perfect.
It may not look pretty, but this was also filling and I was surprised how delicious it was. (Very, very hot—but delicious!)
Finally, here’s the Truffle Honey Pizza—strangely, it cost the same as one of the single-serving Dishes, but was more than enough for two people. It did take a lot of prep, but was worth it. The crust was puffy and soft, the cheeses and toppings were aromatic and fresh, and that black truffle zest gave it a real gourmet taste.
If I order from Blue Apron again, you can be sure I’ll include another pizza kit.
I don’t think I can bring myself to pay $10.00 per single-serve meal after my 30% discount runs out though. Are these single-serve meals worth $5-6.00? Absolutely. $10.00? Nope.
Maybe this will be a “once a month assortment box thing”, but I’m not doing more than that. Oh fudge, I better learn how to cook!
It looks like a great idea and pretty cheap, too. Keep those pictures coming!
ReplyDeleteThank you DJan 🙂
DeleteThe meals look delicious and inspiring too. Now that you've had a chance to sample them, you can purchase the ingredients and make your own. :)
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I think it is a good option occasionally to use a service like this, and it is certainly less expensive than ordering in or eating out.
The only thing that might be concerning is the sodium content but I'm sure you would have checked that. Enjoy!
Thank you Maebeme and you are spot on, I was just telling my friend the other night that these are different from packaged foods from the store because the sodium count is so much lower. I do like them, but I just can't justify that price on a weekly basis. So, monthly it is.🙂
DeleteThe pizza looks fabulous. $10 a meal is not bad at all. We have a local eatery that prepares meals you can pick up, once a week, on Fridays, that are pretty much like home cooked. Most of her meals are really delicious and for the first few years they were $10, but now are $12. Labor costs, as well as food costs, are through the roof.
ReplyDeleteThanks dkzody, the pizza really was awesome and worth the price. The thing is, you live in a much more expensive part of the country than I do! Still, if I could pick up prepared meals like you, I might be willing to pay that but not for these little cardboard containers. They're still better than Frozen foods in the supermarket, so I'm still going to get a box a month.
DeleteThose meals look great! You know how much I love your food posts. I've never had the nerve to try one of these services but I've read a bunch of reviews on other blogs and always find them interesting. Here's a list I found of the most popular ones. Maybe you could try all of them and review them for us. https://www.forbes.com/health/l/best-meal-delivery-services/
ReplyDeleteI would really like that!😁
Bobi, thanks very much and thank you for that link too--I'll be sure to check it out, I'm curious about the other ones too (like Everyplate which claims to be cheapest and Factor which claims to be the most popular). Hmm!
DeleteThose meals do look delicious! My daughter and her husband tried a one month subscription for a meal service and loved them. She felt it was worth the money to save the shopping and prep time as they both have busy jobs. Unfortunately she also has 3 children and they aren't going to eat them, so she also had to prepare the standard burger, mac and cheese and stuff they eat. Once they graduate, she plans to go back to meal delivery kits.
ReplyDeleteThank you Miss Merry, and thank you for sharing your daughter's story. They are tasty, definitely better than the frozen meals you buy in the supermarket, but they're so pricey. I think I'm going to try EveryPlate too, as they advertise they are half the price of Blue Apron.
DeleteDug, the Blue Apron meals look good and I'm sure taste good. I've never tried (or maybe I did once years ago?) My problem is that sometimes I just don't feel like eating what was sent (I guess if you can freeze them, that would work). I've also never used door dash or grub hub, etc. We still shop. But if I'm not in the mood to cook, DH will go out to Arby's, or Popeye's. Last night I made Salmon with garlic butter, brown sugar, and honey for me (boys don't like Salmon) and Cod with lemon pepper and butter for them - along with a strawberry spinach salad with amaretto pecans. Easy stuff and good. But I do look forward to your meals... home-made or Blue Apron.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rian and my gosh your salmon dinner sounded so good! I need to learn how to whip up things like that. I've never done GrubHub or doordash or those things either, I'm still just a supermarket shopper, I just needed some new food ideas. By the way, I had no plans on freezing these meals, but I'm glad I was able to. I still have three in the freezer.
DeleteI go out to my local shopping centre or to Prahran or South Melbourne market to obtain fresh provender, then cook the meals for myself (and several times a week for the A.M.).
ReplyDeleteI know that that’s not an option for you with the long covid or the problem with your feet, so that seems a reasonable alternative (rather than endless burgers, tacos and pizzas).
It’s good that you doctor these a little (the sour cream). I’m sure you’ll do more of that as time passes.
I learned to cook both from my mother who was a very good “ordinary” cook (ordinary as there were few fancy dishes, what she turned out was far from ordinary) and from my sister who was a brilliant and creative cook, better than 90% of restaurant chefs.
Thank you Peter, and that's wonderful you learned so much from your mother & gourmet sister. I'm sure the assistant musicologist appreciates it too. :^) Well, this is not going to be a regular thing--but you're right, until I'm back to my old self it's a good alternative. :^)
DeleteYum yum! We tried blue apron and hello fresh…even though it was good..not worth the price..
ReplyDeleteand when we tried lue apron m mom went into the hospital and when we tried hello fresh my dad went in so now we say both are jinxed and banned from our house
And I just always love your pictures of your meals..makes me hungry
Beth
Thanks for sharing Beth, I'm glad you like my food pics but so sorry about your own experiences! I actually have read a few people say they got food poisoning from these meal deliveries, so that is one thing I worry about- - and the price. A lot to think about.
DeleteThose are delicious looking meals and I love the variety and trying new things. It seems like with the price of groceries, the effort to get them and how much the individual ingredients would cost that it's a very reasonable alternative. I did Hello, Fresh when I was in New York visiting the kids and they were fairly easy to prepare. I liked having all the ingredients there except when my son-in-law forgot to take the chicken out of the trunk. So, I had a vegetarian meal that time and it was yummy.
ReplyDeleteThank you Margaret, you know you do make a good point.. these last couple years, grocery prices have risen so much, these don't seem so ridiculous in price as they used to. I'm still on the fence with this stuff, we'll see!
DeleteDoug, I suggest you check out the recipe book section of your local public library. Every library has HUNDREDS of them—good ones. And, there are many with easy healthy recipes you’ve never seen. Most are not complicated or time consuming. I am the cook for my wife and me and I enjoy it. But every now and then I, too, get in a rut and need new ideas. I always head to the library. Healthy eating is essential. Simple, easy (and healthy) meals are not difficult. You can do it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Don, you made a very good point here. That's awesome that you're the cook for you and your wife, I never thought about heading to the library but that's a really good idea. Just when you live alone, it's easy to let yourself get in a rut and eat the same things over and over.
DeleteI have always wondered about those meals. Thanks for that. Here's my question though. If you get a meal kit, does it come with directions? Could you not use the kits to get comfortable with cooking, to discover your likes and dislikes and then just save the instructions to recreate the meals you like from ingredients you purchase on your own?
ReplyDeleteThanks Debby and you make a good point; the meal kits come with very detailed cooking instructions, the pizza kit l got had the same. They're just so expensive compared to the single serve dishes that are prepared and come with nothing. I'm very tempted to get one meal kit a month maybe, if I did I will keep the instruction cards.
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