Has anyone used Blue Apron? Another service? thoughts??
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We get a box about once a month.... my husband loves it, he feels like a chef on a cooking show. The foods and meals are great and fresh, sometimes the recipes are a bit too fussy for me but its great for those off weeks when i cant get to the grocery store. the customer service is top notch.... I have meals to give out if you want to wall me your email
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I used it for a few months but just the two person version for me and DH since we usually don’t eat dinner during the week with LO.
I liked it but the recipes take way too long to make/prep (one had 9 things to chop). I think they are trying to change this, but some were complicated. That was why I stopped. I did like having just enough ingredients which prevented food waste and not having to meal plan while still getting to try new recipes. I’m the type of person who needs to eat different things. I know that some people leave their Blue Apron meals for the weekends when they have time, but that’s when I least feel like cooking (I do all of the cooking in my home).
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We're having our first delivery next weekend. I'm excited! I just want a change of pace now and again. The grocery store we shop at has limited ingredients (but its cheap and I love it, so I will continue shopping there, ha!), so I'm looking forward to some different flavors for a change.
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We used it for 3 months and then stopped. Loved the food but the recipes take too long to make and our LO wasn't a fan of them so DH and I would spend all this time making these yummy gourmet meals while LO would have pbj. The recipes take longer than they say.
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We've used it. I liked some of the recipes but there were some duds too. Overall I just thought it was too much pressure to cook the meals before the box went bad and I thought it was a little too pricey.
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Hmm, I was looking for something to make life simpler.. this does not sound to be that..
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We use it. Mostly I like the food. I REALLY like not deciding what to have for dinner.
But it is WORK! It'll say 30 minutes, but the directions will say cook Farro in boiling water for 18 minutes, then chop veggies, mince shallots, etc., then roast broccoli for 18 minutes. That's before cooking the salmon...it takes a long time and is easiest with two people or if you prep everything ahead of time.
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I haven't used BA because of the time it takes, but I've used Gobble and liked it. 10 min meals. I'm not sure where you are @BandDmommy: but they are available in California, Nevada and Washington.
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@Mrs Green Grass: LOL I just made this recipe too. It was good though!
We got two boxes (one free and one we paid for). All the meals were good and I enjoyed working with new techniques and ingredients. I am a beginner cook. We stopped because it is out of our budget and takes too long to do it very often but I would love to pick it back up when the kids are older. I may keep making some of their recipes as anyone can see them on the blog.
There was no food waste but the packaging is immense. So many freezer bags! Another drawback is you have to cancel an entire week before your next delivery would come. Our first box was delivered a day late (did get an email from BA ahead of time on that) but the second was on schedule.
If I had to grade it, I would do B+. It was fun but not quite right for our lifestyle right now. Probably amazing for couples without children though!
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I cook a lot...I liked the recipes but found them labor intensive and there were never leftovers. If I'm spending an hour making a meal, it needs to go further than dinner. Also I didn't find them that healthy. A soup I made was 800 calories a bowl!
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@Finfan: agree! Unwrapping everything is more work than just BUYING a pre chopped onion, for example
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I have tried Blue Apron, then Plated then Hello Fresh. Blue apron's recipes might have changed by now but I liked some of their meals. I think I decided to try plated after I got dandelion leaves as a side two weeks in a row. Yuck! I understand trying something new but it as a side was not my favorite. Oh, I was probably on Blue Apron for about a good month. Oh, there were two deliveries where some ingredients didn't look that good (like the lime they gave me had bruises all over it and one time the chicken smelled weird. They did credit me for that meal but I guess it was kinda annoying.) Lastly, when I tried Blue Apron it was probably about 2 years ago... so like I said I don't know if things have changed.
Plated's meals looked amazing on the computer but were just okay. We only tried them once.
Hello Fresh has been consistenly good. If we have time to cook, which we don't because the twins and we are now buying prepared meals... but yeah, if I had to go back to a service like this, I would go back Hello Fresh.
I could try Blue Apron again if they lured me back to try them again for a good deal.
Oh, my reason for getting Blue Apron was to reduce on grocery waste. I used to buy groceries and whatever I didn't use would eventually be tossed. Also, DH wanted to get more comfortable in the kitchen and with me working and him going to be a SAHD, I had less and less time to cook. He could cook and make dinner and have it ready for me when I got home. So yes, having these meal delivery kits, did boost his confidence in the kitchen.
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@bluestriped bee: thanks for the tips!
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@Pumpkin Pie: Washington, D.C.
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@BandDmommy: If you want prepared foods, I have tried Freshly and the meals are pretty good. Not amazing but good enough that I would order from them again.
ETA: They are much better than all the fast food we've been eating so it's worth it to me. Plus, my body is thankful for the real food.
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@bluestriped bee: I don't mind cooking. But having a 3 year old, 14 month old and soon to be newborn plus working,, I don't have ton of time to cook. I'm cool with 30 mins but more than that isn't possible.
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@BandDmommy: I think prep time with Hello Fresh is usually 30 minutes and then whatever cook time is. Try it out. I think they all have a deal for new members.
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I really want to try/like these services, but I still haven't. I think I mainly just can't justify the cost, vs cooking my own meals? I love the inspiration to try different foods & cooking styles, and I *hate* grocery shopping, but it feels like throwing money away. Maybe if I lived somewhere with a really high cost of living it might make sense for me...
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You should look into personal chefs in your area! You could have someone come 1-5 days/weeks and do 1-3 meals/day.
I did a quick Google search and there are a ton in your area. this one looks good!
http://www.chef-bernard.com/services.html -
@Finfan: I'm a beginner too. And at least the directions are clear enough that I actually fee like I've accomplished something at the end!
All of our ingredients have always been good/fresh. I don't love all the packaging...
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I've used Blue Apron almost every week for the past couple of years, so I guess you could say I'm pretty into it! However, there is a lot of prep involved, and it never makes enough for leftovers, so I'm not sure how will fit into our lives post-baby. I just heard about a local place that will deliver already-prepared vegetarian meals to me for the same price as BA, so I think I'm going to give them a try.
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@peachykeen: we don't use it all the time, but here and there when I'm in a food rut, or don't have time. I get ideas on what to make at home, and how to prepare, so its good for that.
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@bluestriped bee: glad to hear positive experiences with Hello Fresh....our first delivery is today and I'm kinda excited
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I've used HelloFresh and thought the meals were really good! All meals were relatively easy to prepare and things that I would eat again--of the two boxes I've gotten, I've made 4 out of 6 recipes at least twice since. The ingredients were high quality.
There wasn't enough to make leftovers, which is too bad because that's usually what I try to bring for lunch.
Check groupon, as they have offers right now for both HelloFresh and Blue Apron.
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@BandDmommy: I have tried Blue Apron (last year) and HelloFresh (recently). Here are my thoughts:
Blue Apron - clear instructions, easy enough techniques, recipes were a little on the fancy/unique side (good for me bad for DH); cooking time usually was under estimated.
HelloFresh - nice clear instructions, easy techniques, simple/good recipes, cooking time was again usually underestimated.
My overall preference was HelloFresh. The recipes were a little more up our alley and the experience has caused me to try out some their styles in my own menu. (Like why didnt I realize simple roasted veggies is a great and easy side?)
I think the price of these meals are also a bit cost prohibitive for us. I dont think they are outrageous but they are definitely on the expensive side for what we can get in our grocery store.
For example - our last meal was pork and apple burgers, brioche bun with roasted potatos and a mixed greens salad. The box is retail $69 (I used a promo and got it for $29) - so each two serving meal is approx $23. I figure the ingredients in my grocery store would cost around $12 if nothing was on sale. So there is a convenience upcharge for sure (and that is reasonable).
For us - we plan to stick with HelloFresh and use it when 1) life is just too much and we need the convenience - like maybe when DD2 arrives in March 2) When I see recipes I really like and/or want to try a new cooking technique 3) just to spice it up once a quarter.
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I did HelloFresh for about 4 months, averaged out to about every other or 2 of 3 weeks. I haven't done it again since we moved.
I don't think it made things that much easier, so if that's what you're going for, then meh.
Pros: new recipes, new cooking techniques or ideas that can be applied to other recipes/meals.
Cons: it's only 3 meals/week, so you still have to meal plan and grocery shop for the other nights; rarely had leftovers & some meals I would end up cooking another side; some of the prep was truly only 30min, but often it was longer than that -- and like someone else mentioned, if i'm cooking that long, i want at least 1.5meals out of it! And we are kinda picky eaters, so some weeks the recipes all sounded blah to me.
I also had several boxes that came missing a key ingredient. Which was not fun when I realized it at 5:30, since no way in hell was I packing up kids to go to the grocery for one thing at that point. I learned to check everything earlier in the day to make sure it was all there!
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You might also look into Washingtons Green Grocer. I think they do meal boxes now too, but I've used the for years just got their produce boxes.
I like that it's local (greener since there's less shipping), and it's not subscription based. They send a weekly email letting you know what's available, and you order it if you want it. No need to cancel.
And with produce boxes, you can make substitutions if you don't like any of the items
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We use a local company that preps the meals for you. All we have to do is hear them up. They're all healthy and pretty good considering everything is precooked. We order twice a week and get 3 days at a time to ensure everything stays fresh. It's $8-10 a meal, which is less than what we spend when we eat out (which we did a lot of before using this!)
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