Are Home Delivered Meals Worth It? A Blue Apron Review

November 23, 2016

Are home delivered meals worth the cost? Good question. Recently, I gave Blue Apron a try to determine this for myself. Check out my review here.

I have seen Blue Apron around for some time- having lived in various apartment buildings in Chicago and San Antonio, I usually see these little blue and brown boxes adoring the doorsteps of neighbors and have always wondered if it’d be worth it to try home delivered meals.

This year, I felt the push and pull between my reality and my aspirations.  The reality is that I’m usually busy and learning to try new things in the kitchen falls through the cracks, but I aspire to better at cooking (it’s honestly just a nice skill to have in your 30’s to really feel like an adult).  My attempts to try new recipes this year and stick to a meal plan have usually fallen flat with a few ill-fated Pinterest recipes.

If you’re like me, and you’ve had the good luck of finding Pinterest recipes that don’t pan out or take twice as long to whip up as the blogger indicates, you grow weary of new Pinterest worthy ideas and are vastly critical of recipes with poor instructions. We’ve had a few “30 Minute Casserole” recipes that took well over an hour and a half to prep and cook, even with cutting corners, and a few recipes we found online that were stated as being simple- but were anything but if you suck at chopping. Are home delivered meals worth the cost? Good question. Recently, I gave Blue Apron a try to determine this for myself. Check out my review here.

Why I’m Giving Blue Apron a Go

I was willing to give Blue Apron a try because I was hoping to bridge the gap between my cooking dreams and the dismal actuality of doing the work, especially because I usually forget at least ONE thing the recipe calls for when it’s new to me.  Seriously… every time I try a new recipe, some thing, usually a garnish, gets left behind.  Sigh.

At $59.94 a week for three home delivered meals that feed two people– I knew that a) the recipes would be well vetted and totally complete (no running to the store at the last minute because I forgot green onions) and b) I’d be forced to cook instead of relying on Lean Cuisines, since everything was perishable.

blue-apron-food-delivery-review

Preparing and Cooking with Blue Apron

Our first box arrived on Friday, so as I came home from a busy week- it was nice to know that my cooking explorations for the weekend would already be taken care of with little or no work. After a long day at the office, I strolled up to our front door, and next to my man’s concrete-clogged work boots were our meals for the next few days. Who doesn’t love a happy mail day?

As you open the box, each item included in your meals is labeled, with bulky items sitting in the box freely, and the “extras” are each bundled up in brown paper bags and clearly labeled. So you’re aware- if you don’t know the difference between an onion and a shallot (hey girl, I feel you) or cone of cabbage and lettuce, even the produce was labeled.

Yes, for those of us who aren’t domestically inclined, you can see below- even the carrot was labeled as such. I die.

blue-apron-unboxing

Our first recipe out of the gate were the spiced pork burgers with pickled beets & cone cabbage slaw. Who knew cabbage could come in cones? This girl didn’t. Not even remotely.

blue-apron-unboxing-2016

Even with fumbly hands and clumsy fingers, I was able to get through the recipe pretty seamlessly and within the time estimated provided on the recipe card (a biggie for me- recipe bloggers, stop lying that your casserole takes 30 minutes to prep, it never, ever does!) and I was happy. I messed up the cole slaw-  I dumped in all of the cheese instead of putting it on the burger, but it was still good!

cooking-with-blue-apron

Fool proof, yay!  Even the fella was pleased.  It’s a win. 

blue-apron-blogger-review

So what about the service itself?  For $59.94 a week, you can have some level of customization and you can easily skip a week if you need to. While you do have a somewhat set selection to pick from, you can choose what recipes are included that week- just make sure you make the deadline to skip or switch up your order!

What’d I think of Blue Apron?

I realize that going with home delivered meals isn’t the most frugal of options out there, but if you’re struggling to get over that steep learning curve in the kitchen, or you’re often falling back to bad eating habits because the store is out of the way or you’re working late, it’s nice to have a break in routine that actually simplifies things!

One thing I would say as feedback- is that I wish that the recipes were double batch- yes it costs more to send more product, but if you’re spending that much time in the kitchen and you’re not used to that much of a time investment, it’d be nice to have a bit of leftovers to show for it!

I made a delicious pan-seared chicken with roasted squash & apple, and I really would have loved to make a double batch since it was so good.

I’m honestly not used to cooking three days in a row to get through all the recipes, so there is a time commitment involved- so I couldn’t coast on leftovers between cooking days like I normally would, but it does help to get in the routine of batch cooking on weekends and incorporating it into your days off.

If you’re a solid chef or a pro in the kitchen who is used to meal planning- this might not be the plan for you. If you’re like me, and you still struggle after 5 years of living frugally to bridge the gap between Top Ramen on Wednesday and 3 hours in the kitchen on a Thursday night to make dinner, this might be a good fit.

The recipes were good, the meal delivery service was as easy as it can get, and it makes for a few creative date nights and skills acquired to boot.

If you’re looking for a meal delivery service like this- check out Blue Apron, and give it a spin! It’s competitively priced and a great way to get into cooking if you’ve had a few Pinterest fails like moi.

5 comments so far.

5 responses to “Are Home Delivered Meals Worth It? A Blue Apron Review”

  1. ESI Money says:

    We just got our trial offer in the mail last week — three meals for two for $20. Normal price is $60.

    Thoughts:

    1. Food was good and tasty.

    2. Way too expensive — even if it was a large portion size, but…

    3. The portion sizes were way too small, making the cost even worse.

    No way was it worth it for us.

    Thankfully we got the trial and didn’t re-order at $60 — that would be a killer.

  2. Robyn says:

    We tried four of the different meal services and I honestly liked Blue Apron the least. Two of the meals were acceptable, one was awful tasting. Hello Fresh was probably our favorite. We liked all three meals and they took far less time to prepare than Blue Apron. Home Chef provided the most food per meals and did give us enough leftovers to eat for lunch the next day.

    We honestly wouldn’t continue with any of the services on a regular basis due to the expense. Most of the meals run around $10 per person, per meal. If we purchase a Groupon for any number of restaurants, we can easily enjoy a meal out for around that price. And we don’t have to do the cooking. LOL!!

  3. Cassie says:

    I have neighbor’s that are trying out Blue Apron and have the same sentiments as others, they’re too expensive for what you get. There are plenty of coupons that are found in the weekly circulars or via apps for new restaurants looking for business. You can get some good deals such as BOGO offers or receive half off specials if you just look for them.

  4. jack says:

    Happy Autumn to you, too, Rosemary! Thanks for sharing your tips – pork chops and apples sound delicious. My mom used to make that for us with a side of white rice. Yum!water leak toronto

  5. lisa says:

    Being a pet owner is both an amazing and stressful feeling. It is amazing because, the thought of taking care of another living being is truly fulfilling. It is heartwarming when you see your pet grow up. It is also very stressful, because of the responsibility of having to take care of another. You have to monitor it, you have to feed them, and you also have to keep them beside you at all times. You should give them all the love you can give.tried and true recipes

Welcome!

Get Updates Via Email

Join The Frugal Beautiful Update List!
Get Posts Sent To Your Inbox...subscribe below!



test