Every foodie in the world at least once desired to become a home cook. But we give up pretty early due to the sheer ocean of intimidation and fear.
One of the ways to perfect your cooking skill is to try a meal-delivery service. They are great because they come with all the ingredients and unique recipes. The problem is, which one should you choose?
Blue Apron is a really popular meal-kit delivery service that not only gives you healthy, hearty Mediterennian flavours at home, but also allows you to be ethically conscious with your choices.
In this Blue Apron review, i will discuss all the ins and outs of one of the most environmentally friendly meal subscription services in the world!
What Exactly is Blue Apron?
Blue Apron is a meal-kit delivery service specially designed for those who love cooking but do not have much time to do so. What most people fail to understand is, cooking is not just one single activity.
It takes planning, time, grocery shopping, recipe hunting, experimenting and much more to end up with a delicious dish. All of these are fun as long as you do not have to do them daily.
Blue Apron makes it really easy food for the busy home cooks out there who still appreciate home cooked meals over anything from the outside.
If you are new at cooking, this can be a really fun way to learn. You get everything prepared for you with a recipe card. All you have to do is follow the directions you end up with a restaurant-style meal at home. They also provide video tutorials to make the whole process informative and helpful.
The best part is, you do not have to peel any garlic or onions! Sometimes peeling or dicing takes so much more time and effort than the actual recipe. With Blue Apron, you will get the chance to try two brand new recipes each week. This is a great service for those who love to experiment with their food.
How It Works?
Blue Apron offers two different types of meal plans:
- signature
- vegetarian
Each of these meal plans include 2 servings for two per week. They also have a 4 servings option for families or to get togethers. These meal plans include a wide range of unique and delicious recipes and flavors.
These meals are great if you have some specific preferences when it comes to food. For example if you do not eat red meat, fish or pork, you can personalise your meals based on your dietary preferences every week.
How Much Does It Cost?
Blue Apron is a really good option if you are looking for a customisable meal delivery service with ethical ingredients. As you can understand, ethical food production is not inexpensive. You can whether you are looking for some delicious meat and gravy or some mouthwatering vegetarian meals, there is something for everybody.
For their Two-servings menu, you get:
- 2 recipes a week: $47.95
- 3 recipes a week: $59.94
From their Four-servings menu, you get:
- 2 recipes a week: $71.92
- 3 recipes a week: $95.88
- 4 recipes a week: $119.84
Those of you who are vegetarian know how expensive it can be to sustain on a vegetarian diet. The great thing about Blue Apron is, you do not have to pay anything additional for vegetarian options.
Is Blue Apron a Healthy Choice?
Blue Apron does not follow your usual meal options. It strictly follows a Mediterranean diet which is a popular cuisine among the health conscious.
The Mediterranen diet is a style of diet that’s usually derived from countries like France, Spain, Italy and Greece. Studies have found that these countries have a lower rate of chronic diseases and obesity compared to the United States or other parts of Europe.
Blue Apron follows the guideline of Medeterrenian diet which means they use healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes and whole grains. These are the key components that give you energy while lowering your caloric intake everyday.
Blue Apron collects all of their ingredients from local farmers which makes the vegetables and meat products totally chemical and GMO free. Their meat and fish is WW approved, diabetes friendly and ideal for heart patients.
What Makes Blue Apron One-of-a-Kind?
There are so many different meal delivery services out there that the process of choosing one becomes difficult. Blue Apron comes with some special features that you might not find in any other subscription services.
Delicious, Chef Curated Recipes:
One of the reasons why we ended up making frozen pizza every week is because we get too intimidated to actually cook something by ourselves.
We do not try unique recipes because we are afraid to make a mess. Blue apron allows you to experiment with unique recipes and cuisines without having to worry about the end dish.
You get chef-tested and curated recipes that are easy to follow and complete in a short amount of time. After trying Blue Apron, you will be amazed by how fun and easy cooking can be.
Ethical, Quality Ingredients:
The global food system is built for mass production, not ethical farming. As a result it becomes hard for the average people to make good choices. Blue Apron dedicates themselves to deliver quality, sustainable ingredients straight to you. For that they partner with local farmers to create a direct link between the farms and the consumers.
Of course this is not fully perfect yet as building a new food system requires a lot of time and effort. Blue Apron believes, with a dedicated set of consumers by their side, they can make this decades-long dream a reality.
Well-Portioned Amounts:
Blue Apron is very precise with their portioning. You do not get a lot of food wastage due to their easy portion control. This also makes the cooking process relatively mess free and spacious. All you have to do is open the box and follow the directions on the recipe card. You will end up with something flavourful and delicious.
Recyclable Packaging:
One of the problems with meal delivery services is their non-reusable packaging with too much paper and cardboard. Once you open the box, you end up with a mess of unnecessary plastics and foil papers.
Blue Apron understands the necessity of recycling. One reality is, insulated packaging can never be 100% recyclable. Blue Apron cuts down the wastage significantly by using a rigid plastic container that you can reuse. Blue Apron also packs all the small ingredients together. This means after each cooking secession, you do not end up with 30 different plastic bags.
Who is It Good for?
Blue Apron was created to bring ethically produced ingredients straight to your doorstep to help you get the best home-cooking experience.
Blue Apron is an ideal meal service if you are:
- on a low-calorie diet
- a vegetarian
- into medieterennian flavors
- trying to live healthy
Each recipe from Blue Apron is chef-curated to give you the best taste within a short amount of time. Everyone thinks if you lead a busy life, home cooking is not possible. Blue Apron is here to demolish those stigma.
Every week you get a chance to rey something you have never tried before. You won’t believe that you’re the one who cooked the deliciousness in front of you. If you have a big family, their family sized options are perfect for it.
The Pros:
- Ethical and organic ingredients straight from the farms.
- Delicious Mediterranean recipes that you won’t think of making at home.
- Nutritionally balanced meals, ideal for a low-fat diet.
- If you are intimidated to cook different recipes, Blue Apron is great for learning.
- Their recipes are ideal for heart and kidney patients.
- Ideal for diabetes and high blood pressure patients.
The Cons:
- They can be quite expensive if you compare them to just buying your own groceries. But these kinds of services are meant to make your life comfortable. You are not paying for the ingredients, you are paying for the service. If you can afford it, it’s a great experience.
The Takeaway:
Blue Apron is a great stat for anyone who is trying to get better at home cooking. Most of us desire to start meal prepping and cooking every week. But we ended up not doing that either because of intimidation or lack of time.
You can try Blue Apron for a month to see whether home cooking is ideal for you. This is great because you don’t have to dedicate a significant portion of your life to get quality, effortless meals at home.
For those of you who have a risk of diabetes, Blue Apron with their Medeterennian style menau can help you maintain that blood sugar level without compromising on the flavor. This just shows healthy food doesn’t have to be bland and boring.
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