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 recently, 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.
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. The meat was double-bagged in a zip-top bag, keeping errant meat juice inside.
It’s October! It’s fall, finally, even here in the South. I was happy to see some seasonal ingredients in this month’s recipies. All chicken all the time in this box. First up was the Stir-Fried Curry Chicken & Vegetables over Creamy Coconut Rice.
As usual, all of the ingredients were included. The chicken breast was already chopped into pieces, which was a terrific time-saver.
The meals come with nutrition info and ingredients. Know what you’re eating!
All of the produce looked great this month. Unfortunately, my can of coconut milk was dented. Loyal readers know that I don’t play with botulism, so this went in the trash. Irritating and easily avoided. I had a can of coconut milk in the pantry that I subbed in.
The directions are straightforward. This month, it didn’t involve much prep at all. Smash up those peanuts inside the bag instead of making a mess of your countertop.
The mis-en-place was just some easy chopping. We chopped a lotta bok choy. (I also added in some steamed brocolli to up to veg content). And, yes, that’s a Blue Apron wine subscription bottle over there.
I had to read up on the vadouvan curry powder–it’s sort of a Frenchy curry mix, usually with a base of garlic and onion instead of cumin. I can’t say I noticed much of a flavor difference between this and supermarket-shelf curry powder, but I’m not exactly an expert. It was tasty and yellow.
This was really good! The meal came together quickly, and the flavor was mild and tasty. (I would have liked it a little spicier, personally, but the 11-year-old liked it as-is). delicious. The coconut rice added a dimension to the flavor that we all appreciated. Plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. Thumbs up!
Our second recipe was the super-seasonal Chicken & Fall Vegetables with Garlic Pan Sauce.
Everything was in good shape for this meal. There was more vegetable matter than is often included, so I didn’t feel like I needed to add a salad or starch to feed everyone.
No big deal to chop some veg for this meal. You don’t have to peel the delicata squash. Win!
The directions are straightforward–just roast your veg and pan-cook your chicken.
I love this delicata squash–it’s so stripey and fun. I’ve actually never used this ingredient before (it’s waaaaay easier to deal with than butternut squash, btw). That’s one of the cool things about Blue Apron–I get the chance to try ingredients I might be intimidated by in the grocery store.
My chicken took forevvvvver to cook–way longer than the 12-14 minutes suggested in the recipe. I pulled the veg out when it was done and covered it with foil to keep warm while the chicken finished.
Nutrition facts are good for you, as is this meal. No guilt here!
This was fine. Nothing fancy, but a solid, healthy meal on a Tuesday night.
Onward to November! My team is already excited about what we’re getting next month.
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 delicious white blend we had with the curry.
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 fall meal? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments