Blue Apron Subscription Box Review & Coupon – July 2018

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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.

The Blue Apron website got a redesign this month, and you now have more options from which to choose for your meals.  It’s easy to switch up or add meals to your box.

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 even in the 90+ heat here in the Southeast, and everything was perfectly cool inside.

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

This summer, Blue Apron is bringing you recipes that work on the grill or the stove, plus the normal assortment of Mediterranean and celebrity-inspired meals.

DEAL: Save $30 on your first order! Use this link – no coupon code required!

The meat is at the bottom, surrounded by still-frozen gel ice packs. All my meat was double-bagged in zip-top bags, keeping meat juice inside.

I always like the fish recipes from Blue Apron.  Our first meal was the Miso-Honey Salmon with Vegetable and Udon Stir-Fry. 

As usual, all of the ingredients were included, even a tiny pouch of honey that I’m sure was a delight to fill. The miso was a bit puffy in its container, but that’s just a result of natural off-gassing from a fermented product. Miso is aliiiiiive!

The meals come with nutrition info and ingredients. Know what you’re eating!

This prep was pretty quick to put together on a relaxed Saturday night. The produce was in good shape, though an extra veg (carrot? snap pea?) would have been nice to balance out the carbs.

Not much in the way of mis en place this month, just a bit of chopping.  I like to grate the ginger to avoid those hairy strings it sometimes has.

The salmon was in great condition, as usual. No pin bones this time, but it’s always a good idea to check. My team prefers skin-off, but it’s better for you and easier to cook if you leave the skin on. The cook time was spot-on.

The miso-honey sauce was tasty and looked amusingly like an egg before we mixed it up.

This was really good! The ponzu sauce on the stir fry/noodles wasn’t too overwhelming, and I liked that you could add however much of the miso-honey you wanted to your dish.  (Lots for me, none for the 8-year-old).  Udon noodles are fun and they cooked right in the stir-fry, so no need to get out another pot and wait for the water to boil.  Thumbs up for this meal!

Our second meal was the “great for the grill” Seared Pork Chops and Peach Salsa with Pimento Cheese Mashed Potatoes. All of the “grill” recipes have stovetop directions, as well, for the grill-less among us. (Or, try using your broiler as a grill). I admit that I picked this recipe entirely for the mashed potatoes.

Everything looked good for this assortment.

Consider the tiny house for the peach.

If your peach is a little firm, you could pop it into a paper bag (with a banana if you have one) for 24 hours, and you’ll be good to go. But don’t overdo it–you want it a little firm for the salsa, and you cook it, so don’t stress.

Each recipe comes with these easy-to-follow instructions. There was a fair bit of chopping for this recipe.  Remember to start that water for the potatoes boiling right away. And, yes, that’s a Blue Apron wine subscription bottle over there.

I changed up the peach salsa recipe a bit, because I am a jerk and because I am the boss of my kitchen. I had an extra zucchini that needed using, so I put it in with the scallions to marinate, and I punched up the peach flavor with a spoonful of peach jam.  (I also skinned the peach, because fuzzy salsa is not my thing. Just dunk it in your boiling potato water for 30 seconds and it’ll come right off).

Nutrition facts are good for you.

Loyal readers will know that pork chops are my nemesis–even when I’m standing right there with a meat thermometer, I manage to overcook them.  Did I win the battle this time?  Um. . .  Remember, pull those guys off the heat when your thermometer hits 145 degrees.

The doneness of the pork notwithstanding, this turned out an old school meat-potato-veg meal on a Monday night that we all enjoyed.  The summery peach touch was welcome, and who doesn’t like mashed potatoes with cheese in them?

That was our month! Seasonal, tasty, and filling. What else do you need from a meal? Thumbs up all around.

Hey, did you know that Blue Apron has a wine program now? It’s super easy to match your wine to your meal, like the tasty Monastrell we had with the steak.

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!

What’s your favorite summer grilling item? Let us know in the comments below!

Visit Blue Apron to subscribe or find out more!

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