Blue Apron

[Sad Eyed Lady]

Someone gifted me a box of Blue Apron and it arrived yesterday. Two vegetarian meals for two people. Since there is just me I should get at least 4 meals from this as the servings are large. I made the first one last night, a fettuccine dish with corn and tomatoes. I have to say it was delicious, the recipe easy to follow and every ingredient was there except salt, pepper, and olive oil. I will not continue because of the cost, but can see where it might appeal to someone with no time to shop for meal preparation, easy to follow recipes etc. if you want to spend the money for it. The ingredients seems to be good quality also.

I think another brand is Hello Fresh. Just wanted to see what your thoughts are, if you have tried it and will you continue?

I may take that recipe I tried last night, buy my own ingredients and try it again at a must reduced cost.

[Float On]

I have friends in Miami who are always showing their Blue Apron meals. Granted they feel like they are really saving money because previously in a weeks time they maybe had 2 meals at home.

[SteveinMN]

We tried Blue Apron a couple of times courtesy of friends and "we want you back" offers. That probably was about a year ago. Haven't been back since.

The recipes were good (if a little carb-heavy, but we could adjust that). The recipes largely were easy to follow (though maybe it was a quirk of our menu choices; it seemed every meal was cooked in a large frying pan). The ingredients were of good quality. Everything arrived as it should have.

But we could only get a meal and maybe one lunch out of a recipe. The amount of packaging was appalling; even if most of it can be recycled locally/the box & cold packs returned to them, who's got space for stinky plastic bags and big coolers until they can be shipped back? I was a little peeved that they didn't even mention needing ingredients like olive oil (at the same time they sent along the world's smallest plastic bottle of soy sauce; who does't have soy sauce at home?). And, finally, the price came to about $10 a plate based on "normal" prices (not our discount price); at that price we can eat more authentically prepared dishes locally. That last, however, is not true for everyone; we're aware this is one benefit of living in a metropolis. And we always ended up adding a vegetable on the side, which called for more prep and money.

For someone whose alternative is either fast food or fast casual (Applebee's, Panera), or who lives someplace where the options beyond pizza and sub sandwiches and deep-fried everything are slim, Blue Apron is not a bad deal. For us it just wasn't enough of what they are selling to make it worth our while. It's for someone; it just wasn't for us.

[Float On]

For someone whose alternative is either fast food or fast casual (Applebee's, Panera), or who lives someplace where the options beyond pizza and sub sandwiches and deep-fried everything are slim, Blue Apron is not a bad deal. For us it just wasn't enough of what they are selling to make it worth our while. It's for someone; it just wasn't for us.

For my friends in Miami $10 a plate and liquor from their own cabinet is saving them a lot of money when dinner/lunch sometimes breakfast typically run them 70-120 a meal for just the 2 of them. (2 man couple, no kids, 2 tiny dogs, expensive tastes, huge incomes, etc...) They figured with Blue Apron they'd be able to retire 2 years earlier than planned if they use it 3 nights a week.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Yea I was thinking eating in isn't necessarily cheaper than eating out (healthier though ...). It depends on are you buying organic, do you eat meat, high quality meat etc.? And then what kind of places do you go out to eat at, for me between $10-20 a meal is about what going out tends to be, so ...

[Float On]

I really feel like all these meal box companies and there seem to be more all the time are really geared to people like my friends. Lots of disposable income.
I'm more the type who can spend $50 and have more than enough for a week for two people.

[MakingMunchies]

I've seen the commercials for Blue Apron and some of the others, but have yet to try any of them. Honestly, was a little skeptical. Nice review and thanks for sharing. If the vegetarian meals are good I'd assume the meat/poultry meals are as well!

[Sad Eyed Lady]

or who lives someplace where the options beyond pizza and sub sandwiches and deep-fried everything are slim,

You just described where I live. Fast food rules, "home cooking" restaurants are frozen or from a can and if it can be fried it is. Thankfully I live within easy driving distance of a couple of towns with some good restaurant alternatives when I want to eat out.

[SteveinMN]

For my friends in Miami $10 a plate and liquor from their own cabinet is saving them a lot of money when dinner/lunch sometimes breakfast typically run them 70-120 a meal for just the 2 of them.

Then they're in the target demo for Blue Apron/Hello Fresh/all the rest.

These days I'm getting a bit of sticker shock that breakfast here (with coffee, no "eye-openers" like mimosas or bloody marys) can cost $15-20!

I'm guessing Miami prices are higher than here (though food traditionally is not cheap in our metro area). But $35-60 each for breakfast or even dinner? I don't think I'd consider the meals we've seen for Blue Apron any competition for meals at that price at a restaurant (where you also are paying for meal prep, the room, and cleanup; not covered under my $10/plate BA estimate). But, as I always say, if you don't care about the difference, don't pay for the difference.

[catherine]

I'm a religious expense-tracker, and when I did Blue Apron, while there were many things I loved about it, it was not cheap. My monthly budget blew up about 33%. They tell you the ingredients they send are cheaper than the ingredients you would spend for but that's under the assumption that you would buy an ingredient ONLY ONE TIME. So, sure, if I have go out and buy a whole bottle of smoked paprika for one meal, but they send it in a teeny little ziplock, that will be more expensive, but doesn't take into account that I can use that smoked paprika for months.

What I loved about it:
--My DH and I cooked dinners together. We typically don't get along in the kitchen. For some reason having a third party recipe united us.
--The dinner were almost always delicious. I saved almost all the recipe cards they sent.
--I didn't have to ponder what to eat for dinner 3 nights a week
--I learned some good cooking techniques
--Unlike Steve, I found the portions perfect for DH and I

What I didn't like:
--If we had a very busy week, we wound up wasting expensive ingredients--making dinners and learning recipes from scratch was time consuming.
--It was expensive (see above)

We used it for fall and winter of one year and discontinued when my own garden was offering fresh ingredients. We haven't gone back, and I don't plan to.