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Blue Apron Subscription Box Review + Coupon – August 2017

Marne Orenich
ByMarne OrenichAug 11, 2017 | 7 comments

Blue Apron
4.5 overall rating
27 Ratings | 18 Reviews

Blue Apron is a subscription meal delivery service. Every week, they send seasonal recipes created by their culinary team and the pre-measured ingredients you need to make them at home.

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

Blue Apron ingredients come packaged inside a big silver bag that's a lot like bubble wrap. Along with the plastic-wrapped ice packs in the box, the bubble wrap bag keeps the ingredients cool while they travel.

In addition to their standard 2-Person subscription plan, which features three weekly seasonally-inspired meals for two, Blue Apron also offers a Family Plan that features kid-friendly recipes and family-style meals for four.

This is a review of the 2-Person subscription plan ($9.99 per serving, or $59.94 per week). I normally cook for myself, but having meal kits delivered to my home has given me a way to lure friends over to help and enjoy the recipes with me. It's so much more fun with a buddy, if you can spare one. No buddies? You'll have some leftovers then, so this doubles your value!

Blue Apron really cares about sustainability, high-quality produce, responsibly raised meats, the success of smaller farmers, and reducing food waste—which is all important to consider when choosing a meal kit subscription to go with.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Blue Apron

The Cost: $59.94 for 3 recipes on the 2-Person Plan, $69.92 for 2 recipes on the Family Plan, $139.84 for 4 recipes on the Family Plan.

The Products: Fresh ingredients and recipes to make healthy meals at home.

Ships to: U.S.

Check out all of our Blue Apron Reviews and find other meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

Blue Apron usually sends some type of booklet with your meals, and this time I received one that tells you all about tomatoes!

Mmmm- there's nothing quite like a fresh off the vine tomato!

Now, LET'S GET COOKING!

Shrimp & Fresh Gnocchi

Calories per Serving: 730

Total Time According to Blue Apron: 25-40 minutes

Actual Time: 30 minutes

Each meal card has the ingredients and an explanation of the dish on one side and the step-by-step directions on the other.

When you receive the box, all three recipes are thrown together, and you have to read each recipe card to figure out which ingredients are needed where. They also have small paper bags full of the “knick knacks” labeled for each recipe.

I can't get enough shrimp, so I was able to choose this recipe before I received this shipment (right now I have 8 different meals to choose from for my next delivery). I also am a huge fan of gnocchi since it's like potato-y pasta- two wonderful things!

There is a lot of corn in this box, so this is the first meal in which I had to de-cob. I had never done that before, so this was an adventure. It wasn't too hard, but the corn did kind of fly all over the place.

After doing all the boring stuff like washing the veggies and chopping everything up, my next direction was to "blister" the tomatoes. Sounds horrifying, but I think they liked it.

I cooked the corn first, and then added the shrimp. Cook my lovelies... COOOOOKKKK.

While they were doing their thing, I plopped the gnocchi into boiling water for only a few minutes (until they float).

I then added the cooked gnocchi to the pan with the shrimp and corn. The party is really getting started now.

After that, I immediately added the blistered tomatoes, some reserved gnocchi water, and half of my basil.

Mmmm- look at that big pat of butter...

Once everyone was in the pan, I cooked a few additional minutes, and we were good to go. Quite a pretty array of textures and colors, despite it being a pile of food in a bowl.

This meal was really easy and I liked that everything ended up in one giant pan. The prep work probably took longer than the actual cooking. The gnocchi was done really well and all of the flavors really complimented one another. I ate this meal on my porch while looking at the Pittsburgh hills, and it was a great summer meal.

Spicy Beef Tacos

Calories per Serving: 720

Total Time According to Blue Apron: 35-45 minutes

Actual Time: 40 minutes

In a lot of meal kits, they urge you to read over the entire recipe first, before you start. I rarely do that because usually by the time I'm cooking, I'm so hungry and just want to get everything going! Once I get going, I'm usually busy flying around the kitchen the entire time. It does pay to do a read through though, so I recommend it!

I love tacos so much that I have a taco tattoo. I bought my house based on its close proximity to a taco stand. What I am trying to say is: this was an easy choice for me to make. I just had some tacos with my last Plated box, but these are beef instead of fish. Gotta mix it up!

After prepping all the produce (more de-corning), I made the "salsa", which is really just some tomatoes, lime juice, and a jalapeño pepper hanging out, getting to know one another. You drizzle in olive oil, and salt and pepper and stir it every once in a while, as you're cooking the rest.

Next, I cooked the corn that I cut off of the cob, and I set it aside.

The next step was to warm the tortillas, which I thought was a bit early. They have you put them in foil to keep warm, but it seems easier to just wait til the end to do this step.

Now they have you go back to make the creamy corn, which could have been done without being interrupted by the premature tortilla-warming. Here, I added the sour cream, lime zest that I had carved off the lime, and half of my cilantro (plus salt and pepper). Speaking of zesting- it was hard to shave off just enough without getting the white part. I figured this step wasn't the most crucial of the meal, so I did my best.

Finally, we got to the meat. I started by seasoning with salt and pepper.

Once the meat was browned, I added tomato paste, chili paste, and some water to finish it up.

To build the taco, I slathered the creamy corn on the tortilla, then the beef, then the salsa. I also squeezed the rest of my limes all over these babies.

The beef seasoning was a bit tomato-y for my taste but was something I normally wouldn't have tried. Since I added all of the chili paste and used the whole jalapeño, these tacos were nice n' spicy! Yum.

Coconut & Lemongrass Wonton Noodles

Calories per Serving: 760

Total Time According to Blue Apron: 35-45 minutes

Actual Time: 45 minutes

I've never made anything like this before, so I was super excited to prepare different ingredients (like lemongrass and baby bok choy) that I don't normally use. I've gained so much new cooking experience through meal kit subscriptions!

Behold all of the lovely ingredients I get to use! Coconut milk!!

The first thing I did was take 1/4 of the wonton noodles and fry them up in a pan with olive oil, then set them aside (they're going to top the meal).

I then had another big veggie party in my big nonstick frying pan. Mushrooms went in first, and then came the lemongrass, ginger, and assorted peppers.

After they cooked a while, I added the baby bok choy and cooked until it wilted a bit. So much color!

Next was my favorite part- adding the coconut milk!

I then added the "golden mountain sauce", and the sugar.

I then cooked the rest of the fresh wonton noodles that I hadn't fried in the first step and strained them. They only took 4 minutes!

By this time, all the veggies in the sauce were done!

I finished by plating this lovely meal by placing the wonton noodles in a bowl, then adding the veggies and sauce overtop, and garnishing with the fried wonton noodles, peanuts, and some mint!

This meal felt super fresh and summery! I love all the great vegetables that were included here, and the fresh mint at the end was a perfect garnish. This was really easy to make and something I would feel comfortable doing on my own next time!

Verdict: Blue Apron stepped it up for me this month. I didn't love the meals I got last month, but I don't think I realized back then that I could choose what I received. This time I actively made choices and really liked what I got. I have to give Blue Apron credit for being the "O.G." meal kit, and also being one of the cheapest out there at $9.99 per serving. As I said previously, they give you quite a few choices as long as you're into all sorts of meats and seafood, and the directions are really clear and easy. The only slight downfall from this particular kit is that they don't split up or color code the ingredients per meal, but that's really not a reason to hate. It's just a minor inconvenience. 

What did you get from Blue Apron this week

Starting at $60.95
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Blue Apron (starting at $47.95 per week) is one of the most well-known meal kit delivery service subscription boxes. Blue Apron creates bistro-inspired recipes (for 2 or 4 people) and sends members the pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions they need to complete up to 4 of them... read more.

Marne Orenich
Marne Orenich
Marne is a lipstick connoisseur, record collector, and twice over cat mom. She loves discovering new clean beauty brands and has quite the collection of beautifully packaged serums and moisturizers.

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7 comments

Wendy

I’ve tried a couple of meal delivery services, but I always go back to BA…Well priced, they allow you to have a choice in your meals, and everything generally is very fresh and tasty! P.S. My husband does some woodworking and I stole his Microplane – the most AMAZING zester ever! We own the actual woodworking tool but bought another one under “Microplane Grater” from Amazon for a relative…once you try it, there’s no going back 😉 I put lemon, lime & orange zest in everything now as it’s so easy! (PS – best burger I ever made included garlic + lemon zest in the ground beef…thanks for the tip, BA!)

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Katie

Be wary of their cancellation process. Prior to cancelling, I verified that no future orders were listed as ‘pending’ or ‘shipped’ in my account and cancelled fully assuming that I wouldn’t be charged. The cancellation confirmation also said I wouldn’t be charged for any future boxes.

Imagine my confusion when I WAS charged for another box and only found this out because I got a shipping confirmation!

I contacted customer service (and included all the supporting evidence) and their response was, literally, ‘Maybe you can give your box to a neighbor?’

They eventually did spell out their billing cycle but this wasn’t disclosed anywhere in my account or the email confirmation I received upon cancellation. If a company has to keep their billing cycle so buried in fine print…I don’t know. It didn’t do anything to garner good will from me.

The product was good but I was really disappointed in their disclosures and the way CS handled the situation (or, rather, didn’t handle the situation).

Buyer beware.

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Marne Orenich

Thank you for sharing, Katie! I haven’t had to contact customer care yet for anything, but I will be sure to keep this in mind!!

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Renee

I’m sorry you had trouble. BA’s CS has always been awesome for me. I have used them for 2 1/2 years and like them better than any of the others we’ve tried.

I’m very particular about sourcing and ingredient quality, and BA is really spot on most of the time. When there is a glitch, they are quick to make it right.

This has enabled me to take back hours of grocery shopping time each month and put really good food on the table. My husband is happy not to see pasta or chili every time I’m too tired to be marginally creative, and we order a lot less delivery. 😊

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Carrie

Best way to zest citrus is using a grater on the smallest hole size. The pith is really bitter, so it’s worth taking a little care to avoid it!

Food looks good 🙂

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Marne Orenich

Thank you, Carrie! I will file that one away. I wish Blue Apron mentioned that, instead of telling me to use a peeler, which did NOT work well.

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Carrie

You *can* use a peeler – but it can definitely take some practice. OTOH as long as you keep a light touch with the grater, you’ll be fine.