Today’s post is sponsored by Blue Apron.
Over the last year, I’ve had several opportunities to write about my experiences with Blue Apron meal kits. I’ve shared how I used them to be a good houseguest, how they helped me avoid take-out while preparing for a conference, and how they bumped me out of my weeknight dinner rut.
This time, our box of three meal kits (we get the plan designed for two people. Bigger households might like the family plan better) made all the difference during a week when I down with a rotten cold. Here’s why. Most of the time, when I make dinner, all the information lives in my head. I don’t follow a lot of recipes and often simply improvise with what we have.
This is an approach that works well for us when I’m functioning at the top of my game. But on those nights when I am sick, tired, or have to teach a class, keeping everything in my head makes it hard for Scott to step in and make dinner happen.
However, when we have a Blue Apron recipe to make, the hand-off is seamless. We’ve already got all the high-quality ingredients necessary, so there’s no shopping necessary. Then, I can start things, tell him exactly what I’ve done, and he can simply pick up where I’ve left off. Being able to surrender dinner responsibility to him without worry made all the difference for me this week. It was magical.
Another really exciting thing that happened for us with this Blue Apron box was the fact that one of the recipes helped push the boundaries of Scott’s culinary comfort zone. The chef-designed recipe for Chicken Tagine with Cherry Tomatoes, Dates, and Couscous initially did not speak to him (he’s not typically a fan of dried fruit in savory dishes). But after his plate was clean, he said he enjoyed it and would happily eat something like it again. Score one for Blue Apron!
In addition to the Chicken Tagine, we also had these Heirloom Tomato, Lamb, and Beef Burgers with Loaded Cheesy Potatoes (the burgers were really good, but those potatoes were amazing!) and the Fairytale Eggplant and Mozzarella Pizza (another winner).
One of the worries that people often have about Blue Apron is the amount of packaging involved. I continue to be impressed with how the amount of packing materials seems to reduce with every order I receive (and most of it is recyclable). If you can’t recycle the materials in your area, you can also opt to return the packing materials through the mail for reuse and recycling.
If you’re intrigued by my experience with Blue Apron, they’ve got an offer for you, too! The first fifty readers to use this link to sign up for the service will get three meals for free on their first Blue Apron order.
Oh, and if you want to take a peek at more of the possible meals you’ll get from Blue Apron, check out their recipe page.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Blue Apron. They sent me a 2-Person box, containing three meals for two people. They’ve also compensated me for my time and attention. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely mine.
Glad to hear this is working for you guys.
Hi Marisa, I’m so sorry to hear you have been ill 🙁 I am a relatively new canner and your recipes have brought much happiness to my home in such a short time, so I thank you & hope you recover soon!
Thanks for taking time to post this! A dear friend of mine gave me a Blue Apron gift card for my birthday and I waited to use it until I found menus that seemed to push my food exploration zone just a teeny bit. Actually, it was right at that time you first tried it and I agree, that smoked trout was really great wasn’t it? Anyhow, reading your post helped me answer a question my husband throws at me every time I rave about Blue Apron. He wonders why anyone who can cook decent meals would ever use them. I’m at a loss as to what to tell him (somehow saying I feel lazy sometimes just doesn’t feel right here) and you just perfectly summed it up. Blue Apron has taken the guesswork out of having to visualize everything we’ll need and they’ve timed it all. He thinks services like Blue Apron are just for people who don’t know how to cook or don’t like to cook– I tell him nothing could be further from the truth! Looking at your kitchen tool arsenal, I’m guessing you like to cook. So I will show him your post and hopefully he will understand a bit better where I’m coming from. But then again, it may be a losing battle; he wonders why I need more than one set of measuring cups since his 80 something mom did fine with one … *sigh*
Again, wishing you a speedy recovery!
I get it. But, I also despair to see all of the people who were newly beginning to support their local food sheds abruptly stop in favor of a centrally distributed corporation. Sigh.