Blue Apron Subscription Box Review & Coupon – September 2016

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2016-03-25 13.13.05

Blue Apron is a subscription box for making great meals at home.  If you’re like me, you periodically find yourself in a serious cooking rut.  You make the same things every week, but the thought of researching a recipe and acquiring all of the ingredients is just too much work.  Blue Apron is the solution!  Each week, Blue Apron sends you a refrigerated box with all the fresh ingredients you need to make the included recipes.  You can select the 2-person plan–3 meals a week of 2 portions each–or the family plan–2 to 4 meals a week of 4 portions each.  The menus are set, but you can ask Blue Apron to avoid ingredients you don’t eat–shellfish and lamb, in my case.

Pricing:  2-Person Plan – $59.94 for 3 recipes. Family Plan (serves 4) – $69.92 for 2 recipes, $139.84 for 4 recipes.

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We got the Family Plan for 2 meals.  I set the delivery date and it arrived right on time, securely packaged in a heavy-duty box.  All of the ingredients are wrapped in an adorable insulated blanket and cooled with ice packs.  Mine took a day to arrive and sat on my porch for 3 hours, and everything was perfectly cool inside.

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The meat is at the bottom, surrounded by still-frozen gel ice packs.  We had a bit of trouble last month with leaking meat, but this month the meat was in good shape, and also in an additional ziptop bag.  No leaks!  We did, however, get some produce in poor shape.  Moldy green beans and fermenting tomatoes are not exactly appetizing.  Off-quality produce has been an ongoing problem with Blue Apron.

Because this box was sent for review, we didn’t have the opportunity to ask for a replacement – but would have expected compensation if we had paid for this box.

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The first recipe in our box was the Francese-style Chicken with Arugula and Green Bean Potato Salad.  The whole family was excited about homemade chicken on a Sunday night.  I subbed out some snap peas and tomatoes from our garden for the compromised produce that came for this recipe.  As you can see, everything was included, even a wee bottle of mustard (how do they fill that thing?).

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Blue Apron does a great job of sending you just the amount you need for the recipe, so you don’t waste anything; nor do you have to think about how much to add to the recipe.  Easy peasy.

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Each recipe comes with these easy-to-follow instructions.  Even if you are new to knife skills, you will be able to do everything on this list.  I think the prep time on this recipe was a bit understated–it took a good 45 minutes to make this one, which was fine because I had planned ahead.  Nothing complicated here–this recipe is very much something you could do from memory at a later time, which is a nice thing to put in your cooking arsenal.

This all came together pretty well, though we had to hustle at the end when everything finished at the same time.  The chicken had a nice crust from the eggs and flour, and the potato salad was really tasty.  The lemon dressing for the arugula was simple and delicious.

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This was straightforward, tasty, and everyone liked it, including the kids.  There was plenty leftover for lunch during the week.  Two thumbs up.  On to the next recipe!

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Our next recipe was Monterey Jack and Spiced Pepper Quesadillas.

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The recipe card had straightforward instructions that were easy to follow.

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This recipe had a ton of knifework.  The produce was all in good shape and came up beautifully.

I have found all of my Blue Apron recipes to be thoughtful combinations of main dish and sides.  This recipe didn’t quite meet that standard, as the corn on the cob and romaine salad sides seemed like afterthoughts.  We ended up not even making the salad, because it just didn’t appeal.  And, to be honest, this felt like a ton of work for what was essentially cheese quesadillas, something that I make routinely on weeknights in a quarter of the time it took to make this dish.  The flavors were good, however, and everyone thought the meal was delicious.

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Everyone enjoyed the meals that came in the box this month.  The ingredients, with a couple of exceptions, were in good condition, and it’s nice to not have to decide “what’s for dinner” all the time.  Overall, Blue Apron has been enjoyable, and gets us out of our boring dinner routine.  Honestly, you can forget how fun cooking can be.  Interesting ingredients, easy recipes, and delicious food.  We can’t wait to see what we get next time!

Visit Blue Apron to subscribe or find out more! Save $30 on your first order! Use this link – no coupon code required!

The Subscription: Blue Apron
The Description: Get healthy delicious ingredients ready to be made into a meal! Each meal is 500-700 calories per serving and takes about half an hour to prepare. Each box has 3 meals per week for 2. Blue Apron only assumes you have olive oil, salt and pepper, and basic pots & pans.
The Price: $59.00 every week
See Blue Apron in the Hello Subscription Box Directory!
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The Reviews: See all our Blue Apron Reviews.

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