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!
This is a review of the 2-person, 2-meal subscription plan ($9.99 per serving, or $47.95 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! In addition to their standard 2-Person subscription plan, Blue Apron also offers a Family Plan that features kid-friendly recipes and family-style meals for four.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Blue Apron
The Subscription Box: Blue Apron
The Cost: You can choose from a 2 person plan or a family plan.
For the 2 person plan, it's $47.95 ($9.99 per serving + $7.99 shipping) for 2 meals per week or $59.94 ($9.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for the 3 meals per week.
Family plans start at $69.92 ($8.74 per serving + FREE shipping) for the 2 meals per week, $104.88 ($8.74 per serving + FREE shipping) for 3 meals per week, or $139.84 ($8.74 per serving + FREE shipping) for 4 meals per week.
The Products: Fresh ingredients and recipes to make healthy meals at home.
Ships to: U.S. only
Blue Apron February 2018 Review
Once again, my delivery was a day late this month. I hate to complain because they emailed me and it did come the next day, but I plan out my dinners around social plans and travel, so when it's a day late, I get behind on things. I have also been sick this week, which didn't help my timeline. Ugh. *shakes fist at Lasership*
Moving on...
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.
You'll see the recipe cards right on top when you first open your box.
Blue Apron ingredients come packaged in 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. A lot of the ingredients from Blue Apron come in bags, labeled, but you have to check out the recipe cards to know which meal they go to. Smaller items like butter or sauces come in a brown paper "knick knack" bag so they don't get lost in the shuffle, and those are labeled with the meal name.
If you choose recipes with meat, you'll find them all the way at the bottom, under this cardboard divider against the ice packs to stay cold.
Beef Medallions & Scallion Salsa Verde with Potatoes & Broccoli
Calories per Serving (as prepared): 740 calories
Total Time According to Blue Apron: 34-45 minutes
Actual Time: 50 minutes
Beef medallions have a soft spot in my heart and are my favorite way to ingest red meat, so choosing this recipe was a no-brainer. This recipe also happens to be a part of their "Whole 30 Approved" collection of recipes. (Check out our recent review of the Whole 30 meal kit!)
Nothing in the instructions seemed too daunting, and I was excited to use my new zester!
After washing all of the potatoes, broccoli, and onion, I cut them up according to the instructions and tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and spice blend before arranging them in a single layer on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Those went into the oven at 450 for 27 minutes.
Next, I combined the sliced scallions, garlic, the juice of 2 lemon wedges, and the lemon zest in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and ALL of the red pepper flakes (you can choose to use less).
Here it is all mixed up.
I then turned my attention to the last part of the meal and put the beef medallions that I had salt and peppered on both sides into a hot pan of olive oil. I cooked them about 3 minutes on each side since I like them on the rarer side.
By this time, the roasted veggies were done and ready to come out of the oven. They look such a lovely golden brown!
Here is the entire meal together on a plate, with the scallion salsa verde garnishing the beef.
I sort of pushed the raw scallion off and the rest of the sauce left behind was still lovely and full of flavor. The veggies were perfect, but the beef was a bit tough for my liking. I always jump to blame myself, but since these were cooked so little, I think it had to be the cut of beef. It tasted great but was just a little hard to cut.
Greek Chicken with Olive Tapenade & Creamy Orzo
Calories per Serving (as prepared): 750 calories
Total Time According to Blue Apron: 20-30 minutes
Actual Time: 40 minutes
This recipe has a lot of ingredients I love (tapenade, brussels sprouts, and orzo), so I jumped on choosing this one to be included in my delivery this month.
I've never made olive tapenade and now I know how easy it is so I can make it on my own in the future!
This recipe starts with halving the brussels sprouts and tossing with olive oil, salt, and pepper. The instructions say to do it on the baking sheet, but I find it coats better in a bowl (even though that adds to the dishes I have to wash later).
Here they are arranged on the baking sheet before going into the oven. The recipe card left out the oven temperature, so I jumped on the Blue Apron website to see if they had it listed there. They did! (It was 450)
Next, I patted the chicken breasts dry and seasoned them on both sides with salt, pepper, and the included oregano.
By now, the orzo I had cooking was done (boiled for 9 minutes) and ready to be strained and returned to its pot. I covered it to keep warm.
I was a little worried because the chicken was slightly too large to go into my trusty smaller Teflon-coated pan, but this uncoated one worked just fine! I cooked the chicken for 6 minutes on each side to achieve this beautiful browned color. After they were finished, I transferred them to a cutting board.
While the chicken was cooking, I took the time to finely chop the olives, chop and smash the garlic, and then mix them in a bowl with the lemon zest, some olive oil, and salt and pepper to make the tapenade!
Just as I wrapped that up, the brussels sprouts were done!
They were thrown into the orzo.
I was then instructed to add some olive oil, the feta (crumbling as I go), the creme fraiche, and all of the juice from the lemon.
Once I sliced up the chicken, it was all ready to be plated! I am really enjoying how this looks!
I'm going to use a word I normally wouldn't to describe the chicken because no other word will do: succulent. There, I said it. The chicken was amazingly juicy and succulent and I am totally obsessed with the yummy orzo mixture and homemade tapenade! This meal was truly terrific and I can't wait to make it again! It was also really filling.
Verdict: Blue Apron hit the Greek chicken recipe out of the park while the beef medallions didn't end up being as good as I wanted them to be. Using my new zester for both recipes brought me great joy and I am so glad I now know how simple making tapenade is. My friends better watch out, I'm gonna bring tapenade to all the future potlucks now!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Since Blue Apron menus change weekly and you must choose them ahead of time, you won't be able to order these dishes unless they are offered again in the future.
Coupon – Get three free meals on your first order! No code needed, just use this link
Value Breakdown: At $47.95 ($9.99 per serving + $7.99 shipping) for this box, you're paying $11.99 per meal.
Check out all of our Blue Apron Reviews and find other meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!
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What did you get from Blue Apron this month?
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