Anybody here use Blue Apron? I have to admit it sounds tempting.
Little Miss Lurkin was an early user of their services and liked them. She and the second Mr. Lurkin also enjoyed some “together time” fixing the product’s meals.
I looked at Blue Apron. Hubby has fish allergy and they have too many fish dishes for me to pick alternates to come up with 3 meals we would want each week. We do use Hello Fresh. Just a different variety of recipes. I really like not having to think about what’s for dinner - it’s in the frig with everything I need. AND, we generally get 4 meals from each of the 3 meals sent each week - makes the per meal cost $5 per.
I tried a similar one (Hello Fresh) for a couple of months. It was pretty good, but we got tired of it after a while.
More laughable than tempting. From their site, meals start at $8.99 and that’s with cheapo pasta and rice. Who can’t open a can of spaghetti sauce and throw some pasta in boiling water? Ok, fine, it’s delivered but for how much more - can’t tell because they have it blocked for non-members. Sure, I spend time and gas going to the grocery store but I can make that $8.99 stretch for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and the next day’s breakfast and lunch. And that was before the current diet and tiny portions.
The prices on their utensils is ridiculous. Mixing bowls starting at $16.99. Snort, my 5 piece set of metal mixing bowls were $5. $13 measuring spoons? Oh, woo hoo, their measuring cups are on sale for $23. What a joke. Their $30 salad spinner is 3 times one at Walmart. Unless it goes out and grows the lettuce and picks it for you, 3 times the price just doesn’t do it for me.
My wife and I tried it for a few months. We do not like to cook and were hoping it would be a solution for cooking together. Out of about eight dinners, we both liked about two of them. We also found the directions somewhat lacking on the steps to follow on the recipes as far as the preparation.
I started it a couple of weeks ago. I like it. I opted for the 2 person plan. you get 3 menus with all the ingredients and precise recipe instructions. About 60 bucks a week. comes to 10 bucks a meal. The only thing is there send you the meals for the week. You don’t have much choice to change a menu selection. But you can skip weeks. The 3 meals I made for this week were Seared Steak and Fingerling Potatoes w charred Onion & Butter Lettuce Salad, Shrimp and Fresh Fusilla Pasta w summer Squash, Olives and Parsley, and Cajun Spiced Chicken with Potato salad & Red Cabbage slaw. From beginning to plate takes about an hour for each recipe. So far I have no complains.
I’ve been using Blue Apron for several months. I can’t praise it enough. Pretty much every meal is of restaurant quality. The ingredients we receive are of excellent quality. Count on 45 minute average for prep and cooking. You do have to have some cooking skills but even a novice cook can easily follow the instructions and quickly develop their skills. The “pop in microwave, open a can of spaghetti” crowd might not like it because it requires work but I find the results well worth the effort. And I think I’m much healthier for it as the veggies and meats are fresh and wholesome.
I’m late to the party on your comment, but we’ve been using Blue Apron 2 person meals since last Fall. We very much enjoy it! I would say that we give their recipes 5 stars 8 out of 10 meals, and the others are usually a 3 or 4 star. We have only had one meal that I didn’t like at all, but my husband thought it was much better than I did. We are empty nesters and are enjoying cooking together. It’s nice to not have to think about a meal plan each and every day, each and every week. We have skipped weeks, and changed delivery days, doing whatever was most convenient for us. We have had a crazy schedule since January. Cooking has become fun for us with the Blue Apron recipes. I’m pretty sure you can cancel any time, so I think you should give BA a try.
I’m sure it’s fine for people who want to get into cooking and need a little mentoring. I’ve cooked professionally and I love to cook so I don’t want to be held back nor is it price worthwhile for feeding six people. With different dietary needs. So while I would never buy it, it sure beats eating out all the time or fast foods. I hope it helps people get the courage to plan ahead and whip up easier meals all by themselves with recipes they find.