The first week in the new house we picked up Blue Apron and Plated. I wasn’t happy with Blue Apron the last time around, but my husband had a voucher, so we tried it again. We are always happy with Plated. Briefly, they’re both menu/ingredient subscription services. Blue Apron will send you 3 meals for 2 every week – there’s no meal selection (huge downside) but it’s a bit less expensive. Plated has a set price per meal, plus a monthly subscription fee that if you’re a big user of the service, will help bring down the price. You can try Plated and get 2 free plates with my link (that’s like half off). There are infrequent voucher deals for Blue Apron. There are 2 main things that annoy me about Blue Apron, and my husband independently finds these annoying:
- The recipes are fiddly and time consuming. There are many more ingredients and they require time-consuming preparation methods (like matchsticking). While Tom appreciates my readers’ comments about his knife skills, these menus take too long to prepare.
- Blue Apron sends its boxes with ice on the bottom AND on top. It’s wasteful (even in the hottest heat it is unnecessary – Plated and Hello Fresh are both very capable of shipping food without doing this – and we have both found that it ruins the delicate ingredients (tomatoes, breads) that are always packed at the top of the boxes. (Note I didn’t pick up a HF box only because I didn’t pick one up – it’s probably my favorite!)
Blue Apron Review
Classic B.L.T. Sandwiches with Tomato, Avocado & Cucumber Salad – I didn’t take any photos. I think I had a bacon sandwich. We added cheese to them and Tom ate all the veggies. I dislike raw tomatoes & cucumbers. No meal choice!
Chicken & Snow Pea-Radish Sauté with Candied Pistachios
Really quite delicious although it got a little starchy!
Fresh Cavatelli & Sun Gold Tomatoes with Basil Seed Ricotta & Opal Basil
This was amazing. But let me note – this was a portion size for the ENTIRE MEAL. I had a voucher for 4. Given my experience (I have eaten my way through quite a few weekly food subscription boxes) Hello Fresh serves almost twice as many as Blue Apron.
The flavor of the last 2 meals was great, and the pasta was fresh and not difficult to prepare as usual, so I was happy with that. I have found that usually at least one meal on Blue Apron is a bummer for me though!
Plated Review
This was easily my favorite Plated box ever! I even saved the recipe cards (they are available in your Plated account!). I would make each of these meals again.
Steak with Pear and Radicchio Salad
I loved the seasonal pears along with the steak. It was nice and balanced – sriracha, rice wine vinegar, and honey was the main flavor. This came together quickly.
Pork Chops with Cauliflower, Olives, and Spinach 
Like really, I will make this every week. The olives were bright and briny and perfectly complemented the other flavors, and set off perfectly with the lemon. I appreciated the nutritional profile (lower carb) on all the dishes I picked!
Chicken and Poblano Posole 
FYI, I added the sour cream. I couldn’t help it. My husband cut down significantly on the water to make a thicker soup and it still made a totally ridiculous amount of soup. I loved the hominy (I make a veggie chili that uses it) and I will add this one to my personal recipe book.
As always, I’m happy to answer questions about anything I don’t cover in any individual review. Have you tried one of these? What do you think? Which is your favorite?
Comments
Plated for the win, as always! I’m a MAJOR fan of Plated and always will be. Even my husband LOVES Plated – which really speaks volumes. Blue Apron really needs to step up their game and reevaluate all that extra ice and all the work they make their customers do – like the matchsticking.
As always we are on the same page! We just think they can use the cost of the extra ice & resulting costs and add some more food! We had a WAY better experience with Blue Apron last thanksgiving, but I think really it was because it was a special menu!