When a friend of mine sent me a link for a free week of Blue Apron, I figured that I might as well try it out! For those of you who aren't familiar with Blue Apron, it is a company that sends you fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and detailed instructions (complete with pictures!) to create 2-4 meals per week for a family of two or four. The fee is pretty reasonable and the package for the week is delivered for free to your house in a refrigerated box, in case you aren't home when the package arrives. For my free trial week, I received ingredients for 3 dinners. I have to admit that I didn't have high expectations because the cost, while reasonable, is certainly more than I spend at the grocery store on 3 dinners per week. However, by the end of the week I was sold!
First of all, for someone who loves to cook and try out new recipes, this is the ultimate fun experience. It took me out of my comfort zone of the typical types of meals I make, and exposed me to exciting new recipes. I received ingredients for salmon burgers, pork bolognese, and chicken pad kee mao. I have made something similar to the pork bolognese before, but the others were a new experience for me! I also really enjoyed that there were vegetables incorporated into each meal; we try to eat veggies with dinner, but often I just take the easy way out and microwave a frozen bag of broccoli. These recipes made me enthusiastic for eating vegetables. The recipes all took about 30 minutes to make, and had 600-700 calories per serving.
I have always wanted to make Thai food, but didn't want to invest in a lot of unique ingredients that I may not use again. With Blue Apron, I was able to try cooking pad kee mao at home without the major investment - it was a total success. Thai food now feels like a cuisine that I can make on my own whenever I have the craving!
And I have never even ordered a salmon burger in a restaurant because I didn't think I really liked salmon, but I ended up loving the burger! And it was served with a corn and arugula salad that I was very hesitant about, but it was one of the best salads I've had. The recipe was broken down into easy steps, and my husband and I had fun cooking this meal together. I suppose I'll have to stop telling people that i hate arugula.
The pork bolognese was a simple but delicious meal, and we actually ended up making it again (with beef the second time around) the following week. The portions for this recipe were huge, and there was enough for leftovers - my favorite kind of meal.
The only negative that I felt with Blue Apron is that we had to chop our own vegetables - I will do almost anything to avoid chopping an onion! It is a small price to pay in order to end up with 3 amazingly delicious meals that I can easily cook (or let my husband cook!) without having to go to the grocery store. I don't plan to get a Blue Apron delivery every week, but I intend to try at least one delivery per month. I can't wait to see what my next delivery brings!
