I Tried Blue Apron’s Meal Delivery Service and Here’s How It Went

Stephanie Barlow
Stephanie Barlow
Stephanie is a home cook in NYC where she enjoys exploring the city's best food and re-creating meals in her tiny kitchen. Visit her vlog at City Cookin'
updated May 2, 2019
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(Image credit: Stephanie Barlow)

Service: Blue Apron
Price: $65.94 for three meals serving two people each
Overall Impression: Great for busy weeknight meals and to shake up your cooking routine.

There are some weeks I just don’t have the time to meal plan ahead of time. And then those weeks turn into days when I just don’t have the time to think about what to make for dinner. Enter: Blue Apron.

After hearing rave reviews from friends, I finally decided to try Blue Apron, the pre-portioned, ready to cook meal delivery service. Here’s how it went.

What is Blue Apron?

Blue Apron is a (for the most part) nationwide delivery service that sends you a box of pre-portioned meal ingredients, with recipes. I was curious whether this was a truly helpful innovation in shopping and meal prep, or simply the worst of both worlds — expensive take-out food you still had to cook yourself.

The Review

Characteristics and Specs: The kit contained all the ingredients needed to cook three meals, each feeding two people, complete with recipes with step-by-step photos. Blue Apron also offers plans to feed four people, as well as a choice between the meat and fish or vegetarian meal plans. Delivery times range daily from 8am to 8pm and 6pm to 8pm, the latter of which suited my work schedule the best.

Blue Apron posts the following week’s menu on the site a week in advance so I had the opportunity to make sure the menu looked appealing before ordering. My week’s dishes included ginger beef stir fry, turkey chili, and salmon with fennel and cauliflower steak.

My meals came neatly packaged in a cardboard box lined with ice packs to keep the contents fresh for a few hours. I arrived home at 6pm to find my box had already been delivered, but the ice packs kept everything cool. Also, the steak and chicken in my pack were vacuum sealed, which meant I had an extra week or two to use them, which helped as last-minute plans came up and I had to push one of the dishes to the following week.

(Image credit: Stephanie Barlow)

Each recipe was well explained and every single ingredient except for olive oil, salt, and pepper was included. Tiny container of soy sauce? Check. One tablespoon of chili powder in a tiny bag? You bet.

This was helpful; however I found myself wishing I could have had the entire head of cauliflower and more than one stalk of celery so I could stock my fridge at the same time.

Favorite details: I liked being able to preview the menu first to make sure I’d actually want to cook the dishes on it, and to know what I was going to cook for dinner a few days later, a rare occurrence for my usual spur of the moment cooking schedule. Bonus: I liked the look and sound of lots of the meals on offer!

(Image credit: Stephanie Barlow)

Although the recipes included weren’t especially creative, I still enjoyed trying a new take on dishes I’d cooked before. I loved the salmon coated with ground fennel seed, and the turkey chili with its jalapeño kick and bright lime flavor won a spot in my regular recipe rotation. The ginger beef was nothing outstanding, but it added variety to the week.

The step-by-step color photos included with the recipes showed major steps in the process and each started with instructions to prep all the ingredients before cooking.

Blue Apron automatically enrolls customers in a weekly delivery plan with the option of skipping as many deliveries as desired at no charge. While I thought I would want to just try the service once and cancel, I’ve kept with it, skipping any weeks with unappealing dishes or when it doesn’t fit my schedule provide allergen information. I often skip a week, but I know it’s available when I’m in a bind or a menu looks particularly delicious. Also, the recipes are free to anyone browsing Blue Apron’s website and aren’t restricted to paying customers.

Potential problems: As of now, Blue Apron doesn’t offer specific dietary plans and they’re not able to cater to specific allergies (they do provide all the necessary allergen information). There is a vegetarian option (only for the two-person plan) and, if you pick the meat and fish plan, you can say which proteins you do and don’t eat.

Some of the dishes don’t quite add up to the price point, either. If I made turkey chili on my own, I would end up with quite a bit more for $22 (at $10.99 per serving) than enough for two people. To be fair, the portions are generous and some of the dishes would have been enough to feed three people, but you’re paying for convenience. Leftovers are unlikely.

Although I loved having everything I needed for the recipes at the ready, I’m not sure I could justify the packaging used for such small amounts of spices and other ingredients on a weekly basis.

(Image credit: Stephanie Barlow)

To sum up: Overall, Blue Apron impressed me with its organized packaging, clear recipes, and menus. While I won’t be using it as a weekly meal service, I enjoy checking out what’s on the menu, browsing the recipes, and periodically ordering.

Sign up: Blue Apron Meal Delivery, $65.94 for three meals for two people (other plans available)

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