Meal Monday: Blue Apron Review

Blue Apron Product ReviewPIN ME!

 

Hey fitness fans!  I’m at it again with a new product review of a premium meal subscription box called Blue Apron.  Before I get too deep into the review let me say Blue Apron was gracious enough to send me a complimentary box to try for the purposes of this review and all opinions and comments are my very own.

First let me say I first heard of this box from a co-worker who raved about it.  He spoke of how delicious the food was and how it made dinner time more predictable after a busy day so I just had to try this out myself.  I went to their website http://blueapron.com to place my order and it was very easy to walk through.

  1. You simply go to their website
  2. click JOIN NOW
  3. choose bewteen a 2 – person plan for $9.95/person or 4 – person plan for $8.74/person
  4. choose whether you are vegetarian or not and uncheck the foods you don’t eat
  5. enter your address and select your delivery date
  6. and POOF…just like that your delicious meal box is on it’s way

Doesn’t get any more convenient than that.

What Is Blue Apron

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Blue Apron delivers chef-inspired recipes directly to your door with the actual ingredients needed to prepare them so you don’t have to worry about rushing out the grocery store to buy the food.  They are available nationwide shipping to over 80% of the country.  They offer 2 plans, either 2-person or 4-person family plan.  The 2-person plan ships once a week and the family plan can ship either once or twice a week.  You choose.  The dishes and ingredients you find in their boxes are rather unique and aren’t typically found in your average grocery store.  They named themselves Blue Apron because apprentice chefs in France wore blue aprons and it symbolizes a lifelong journey of learning new recipes and food preparations.

Here’s a Blue Apron unboxing video I put together sharing what came in my box last week.

 

Now let’s dig in to what you are probably wondering – what recipes did you make and how did it taste?

My box contained three restaurant-quality meals including:

1.  Laotian Larb Gai with sticky rice, peanuts and mint

2.  Dukkah-Spiced Salmon with spring vegetable and oyster mushroom ragout

3.  Sirloin Tip Steaks with new potato, asparagus and radish hash

Everything had meat in it and surprisingly the Laotian Larb Gai was made with ground chicken not lamb.  Not sure why I thought lamb was in it.

Dukkah-Spiced Salmon with spring vegetable and oyster mushroom ragout

The first dish I prepared was the Dukkah-Spiced Salmon.  I pulled out all of the ingredients including the knick-knack pack (which includes additional spices to properly season your meal) and went to town prepping.

Dukkah Spiced Salmon

As previously mentioned, everything needed to prepare this meal came in its own pack which was very easy and convenient.  The recipe cards were also very clear and easy to follow.

Blue Apron Recipes

I followed the instructions to a tee and dinner was served.  They give you the full cooking time on the recipe card and this dish was estimated to take 35 to 45 minutes from prep to plate and I was pretty much on point with that.  I will say, after being at work all day and running the kids around I was hoping to put in a little less effort when preparing food for the family.

Also, the flavors were bit too exotic for the kids so hubby and I chowed down and I ended up making them something else.  No problem MORE FOR US.  My husband gave this dish 2 thumbs up and so do I.

Sirloin Tip Steaks with new potato asparagus and radish hash

The next day I made the Sirloin Tip Steak with new potato, asparagus and radish hash.  Again this was started as soon as I got home from work and took me about 45 minutes from prep to plate.  Again, a little lengthy for me because I was extremely tired on this day.  I couldn’t wait to bite into the steak though because it looks so tender and juicy.  I also was curious about how the hash was going to turn out because I have never made this flavor combination before.

New potato, asparagus and radish hash cooking
This dish was plated and I served it up to the hubster.  Again, the kids were like “what’s that?” so I bypassed them and gave them something separate.  I also made my plate and this was heaven in my mouth.  I give this 4 thumbs up!!!  Hubby agreed.  Said it was definitely restaurant quality and something he never tasted before.  We enjoyed this dish tremendously.

Laotian Larb Gai with sticky rice peanuts and mint

The last dish I prepared was the Laotian Larb Gai with sticky rice, peanuts and mint.  My son is allergic to peanuts so I knew he wasn’t going to eat this and I was very surprised this dish was made with ground chicken.  For some reason I thought it was made with lamb – go figure.

This dish was the quickest dish to prepare with an estimated prep to plate time of 15 to 25 minutes but it still took me about 35 minutes total.  Again, too long for me.  I need dishes I can prepare in 30 minutes or less.  This dish was amazingly delicious.  I strayed a little from the beaten path and recipe by lightly steaming the cabbage.  My husband never tried this dish because he had to travel out of town but I certainly gobbled all of this up in no time.  I give this 2 thumbs up.

Rating

The Blue Apron box was a hit with my husband and I as far as the taste.  All of these dishes tasted excellent and like something you would eat in a restaurant.  Some of the ingredients looked strange like the celeriac but once you prep them according to the recipe – magic!  Because of the lengthy prep time (I needed a sous chef for real) I give this box an 8 out of 10 which is very good.   I think this box would be perfect for couples without children or singles looking to impress a date.  If they make the meals quicker to prepare I would recommend this for families.  Either way you can’t go wrong with this meal box.  The value is definitely worth it.

Pros:

  • Restaurant-quality recipes
  • Variety of dishes and ingredients
  • Comes in a well-packaged refrigerated pouch to keep all the food fresh
  • All ingredients are provided for you including spices and condiments
  • Affordable considering the quality of the ingredients and food

Cons:

  • Takes too long to prepare the food

I hope you enjoyed this review.  Now tell me, are you going to try the Blue Apron box?  If you are still on the fence let me give you a little motivation.  Blue Apron is giving my first 100 readers who sign up a 30% discount on their first order.  Just go Blue Apron to sign up.

Which dish would you like to try the most?

33 Replies to "Meal Monday: Blue Apron Review"

  • comment-avatar
    CARLA May 18, 2015 (5:26 am)

    I wanna try anything salmon 🙂
    and for me the TIME isnt a CON when I have all the stuff at hand!

  • comment-avatar
    Deborah
    Twitter:
    May 18, 2015 (9:06 am)

    The variety of the meal and flavors sounds great. I do like cooking so I don’t know if the time to prepare would bother me. Nice review

  • comment-avatar
    Antionette Blake
    Twitter:
    May 18, 2015 (10:29 am)

    This seems like a great plan for a special dinner date night. Great share.

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 18, 2015 (12:31 pm)

      Exactly Antoinette.

  • comment-avatar
    Julie
    Twitter:
    May 18, 2015 (11:24 am)

    What great meals! I would love their service. I don’t have any picky kids though– haha!

  • comment-avatar
    Wendy May 18, 2015 (12:45 pm)

    Larb does look like lamb at first glance…lol

    I wouldn’t do this, because I shop every week anyways..I could see why it would appeal to a lot of folks, tho. No excuses to have a good meal, if you have all the ingredients, right?

  • comment-avatar
    Courtney
    Twitter:
    May 18, 2015 (6:53 pm)

    I recently tried Blue Apron but wasn’t sold. While the food was good, I don’t spend that much time cooking during the week (each of my meals took at least 45 minutes) and I like meals where we can have leftovers – we had none w/the Blue Apron meals. For the price, it’s much more convenient for me to actually go to the grocery store and just cook!

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 19, 2015 (3:58 am)

      Courtney I agree it was too time consuming for me. Every meal took about that amount of time which is long just coming home from work. My co-worker who turned me on to it agrees but his wife loves it so they get weekly boxes.

  • comment-avatar
    Farrah
    Twitter:
    May 18, 2015 (9:04 pm)

    Ahhh, all of that looks so good! :[ I’d like to try this out at some point in my life when I have money and time (hah). I’m not going to have an address after next month, so it’s gonna have to wait a while, unfortunately. I want all those in my life! (Salmon is one of my favorite things ever.)

  • comment-avatar
    Sam
    Twitter:
    May 18, 2015 (9:50 pm)

    Thank you for sharing your review! I had heard of this service and was curious. It sounds like the quality is good.

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 19, 2015 (3:56 am)

      It’s very good.

  • comment-avatar
    Kathryn
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (9:17 am)

    The amount of prep time is what is turning me off from Blue Apron. During the week I don’t have time to spend 45 minutes cooking my meals.

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 19, 2015 (10:05 am)

      I agree Kathryn – me either. If they can keep the meals fancy but shorten the prep it would be more desirable for me to stick with because this helps us change up what we eat if we are bird.

  • comment-avatar
    Ivanna
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (9:33 am)

    Thanks for sharing Diatta like I mentioned on your video this seems like a great service. I’m going to have to talk to the hubby about it

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 19, 2015 (10:04 am)

      I think it wouldn’t hurt to try. Use the discount code to get a discount.

  • comment-avatar
    Lora
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (11:17 am)

    That salmon looks GOOD!! 🙂

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 19, 2015 (11:21 am)

      Lora it was fantastic!!!

  • comment-avatar
    Ange
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (11:58 am)

    What awesome variety in the types of meals you can pick with Blue Apron! I’m impressed just with that!

  • comment-avatar
    Nicole
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (1:00 pm)

    All of these dishes look amazing!! I keep wanting to try Blue Apron, but I have so many food allergies it makes me nervous.

  • comment-avatar
    Marcia
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (3:53 pm)

    Sounds like some really creative, exotic menu ideas! Bummer the prep was so long. I too like something quicker to whip together on weeknights.

  • comment-avatar
    Jenn
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (4:06 pm)

    That salmon looks delicious.

    I have heard mixed reviews on Blue Apron. It’s nice to have some new recipes, but I have heard that there are a lot of extra and unnecessary steps to get to the end result.

    Either way, I’m so glad you enjoyed!

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 19, 2015 (4:09 pm)

      I agree like wipe the pan clean you just cooked with just to pour more olive oil in it – unnecessary.

  • comment-avatar
    Sandra Laflamme
    Twitter:
    May 19, 2015 (4:54 pm)

    This is the second Blue Apron review that I have read. Now I am thinking I definitely need to try it. The meals look soooo tasty!

  • comment-avatar
    Lindsay at Fit & Awesome
    Twitter:
    May 20, 2015 (2:04 am)

    I haven’t tried Blue Apron but I’ve tried similar services and agree it takes too long to make the meals. It’s fun for a date night or girls night activity but not really feasible (for me) for a weeknight meal.

  • comment-avatar
    rachel May 20, 2015 (9:49 am)

    They all look great! I am a veggie/side dish fan… and the tir fry potato/veggie dish looks great! 🙂

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 20, 2015 (10:57 am)

      Rachel I can send you the recipe – I believe I kept the recipe card.

  • comment-avatar
    Tamieka
    Twitter:
    May 20, 2015 (9:53 am)

    I have heard such good things about Blue Arpon but…I don’t have time for all that prep and stuff. Maybe for a special occasion. The food looks DELICIOUS though!

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 20, 2015 (10:57 am)

      Tamieka – the food was awesome!!!

  • comment-avatar
    GiGi Eats
    Twitter:
    May 20, 2015 (1:18 pm)

    That salmon looks delicious and super fresh!!! I would love to try it out. Anything salmon and I am drooling – ha ha.

    • comment-avatar
      Diatta
      Twitter:
      May 20, 2015 (1:22 pm)

      Gigi it was really good.

  • comment-avatar
    The Frugal Exerciser
    Twitter:
    May 20, 2015 (3:49 pm)

    I would love to try them but even as a single the prep time so to long for me. I think I would be great for a date night meal once in a while. #wowlinkup

  • comment-avatar
    Janelle
    Twitter:
    May 20, 2015 (10:29 pm)

    Nice! This box program sounds great and the meals look really good! I wonder if this would work my boyfriend and me. #wowlinkup

  • comment-avatar
    Serena
    Twitter:
    May 22, 2015 (9:05 am)

    LOL you bypassed the kids and gave them something separate. You sound like me. Thanks for this review! I was thinking of trying it out, too, until I saw the con, which is the one reason why I would have tried it out in the first place…to save time. #wowlinkup