Blue Apron Subscription Box Review + Coupon – March 2018

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). Since I cook for myself, my husband, and our (picky) toddler, this plan works better for us than the Family Plan (which serves 4).

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: $8.74 to $9.99 per serving, depending on which plan you choose.

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 March 2018 Review

Delivery was right on time this month! I know Marne and I have both had some issues with our Blue Apron deliveries, so I was happy to see that it's hopefully resolving itself.

Unboxing

If you're new to meal kit boxes, here's what you can expect from Blue Apron's packaging. If you already know the drill, scroll down to find the first recipe!

When you first open the box, the recipe cards are usually right on top.

Under that, your ingredients are packed in a foil-lined bubble wrap type bag that keeps everything cold.

Produce along with non-meat ingredients are typically packaged on top (everything in its own bag).

Underneath,  you'll find a cardboard separator...

Which helps keep your meats right up against the ice pack to ensure they stay fresh.

Here's a quick summary of current recycling recommendations:

• The cardboard box can be recycled with the rest of your cardboard
• The foil liner is recyclable in some areas, with the #7 icon for "other". (Our area does not accept #7.)
• Ice packs should be thawed and the contents drained into the trash, and the plastic bag may be recyclable in your area.
• Other items you receive include: bottles and caps (#2/#5), plastic cups (#5), clamshell containers (#1), and baggies (#4). Check your own municipal guidelines to see if these are recyclable where you live.
• Check your account in Blue Apron for the most up to date information, as their packaging may change over time.

Ready to dig into the recipes?

Jalapeño Cheeseburgers with Carrot Fries

Calories per Serving: 700

Prep and Cook Time, According to Blue Apron: 25-35 minutes

Actual Time to Table: About 30 minutes

My husband had just asked for burgers the night before we got this box, so this was an excellently timed recipe! I was dubious about the idea of "carrot fries" (aka, roasted carrots) but these spicy pepper and goat-cheese topped burgers sounded delicious anyway.

There are only 6 steps for this recipe, all neatly illustrated. I started off by preheating the oven while I unpacked everything and got my pantry staples out.

Blue Apron changed since the last time I reviewed, in that they now package their "knick-knacks" in clear plastic instead of brown paper (not shown– I've opened up the bag to show the items inside above). I really liked being able to see into those bags so I could see what was included, so I prefer this change.

While the oven preheated, I got to work prepping the veggies and slicing the buns (which were mostly pre-sliced already).

Then, I prepped my "carrot fries" with olive oil. salt, and pepper on a baking sheet and popped them into my pre-heated oven.

The next step is to marinate the jalapeno peppers in a mixture of honey and vinegar. I've never thought to quickly marinate a raw veggie like this, so I thought this technique was pretty interesting (and it was super fast, you just stir it all together).

Then I got those burgers on the stove! The patties are just seasoned with salt and pepper I used my cast iron pan since it gets the best, most even heat on my electric stovetop.

I did slightly overcook these as we prefer them to be more medium, but they were fully cooked through. I think I added a couple minutes compared to the instructions because I nearly always undercook burgers and have to put them back on.

Once the burgers are done, you toast the buns in the pan and soak up a bit of that yummy frond.

Not super toasty, but it really does add something special! Then (not pictured) you slather a prepared creamy mustard sauce on the bottom bun.

The fries came out of the oven around the same time, and we got everything plated up:

These really hit the spot. The peppers sadly were not spicy at all, but I liked their honey/vinegar marinade against the goat cheese, and the mustard added a nice but subtle punch. All in all, this was a solid burger and I'd totally make these again. They also came together so fast! I never think of burgers as a quick meal, but they really are. This was on the table in 30 minutes.

The carrot fries were, well, roasted carrots. They were good but they definitely weren't fries! I gotta say though, I do feel like the meal didn't weigh me down as much as a serving of french fries would have, so in the end, I was still satisfied.

Chicken Tetrazzini with Brussels Sprouts

Calories per Serving: 800

Prep and Cook Time, According to Blue Apron: 30-40 minutes

Actual Time to Table: About 35 minutes

I think this is the first pasta casserole type dish I've gotten from Blue Apron. As expected, the cook time on this one is a little longer at 30-40 minutes, but I found it took me about 35.

As with all Blue Apron meals, this comes together in 6 big steps. Just from looking this over, I could tell it was going to make more dishes than the burgers did.

I am definitely capable of putting away some pasta, so when I first saw this tiny 10 oz bag of noodles, I was skeptical this meal would be filling enough. I'm a brussels sprout fanatic though, so I pressed on optimistically.

I turned on my oven to preheat and got some water boiling on the stove for our pasta.

The first step is to rehydrate the included dried mushrooms in hot water. I'd actually never worked with dried mushrooms before, so this was pretty cool! My husband generally isn't a fan so I don't cook them often anymore, even though they were a staple of my vegetarian days.

While everything was heating up and the mushrooms were getting all cozy, I prepped the rest of the veggies as instructed. I found myself wishing for double the amount of brussels sprouts already!

Then, I browned the chicken on the stovetop in olive oil. I almost lost some of this to the sink gods because I opened the package over the sink as I usually do, and didn't realize it was already precut! Huge time saver, but it almost all spilled out of the bag as a result.

Around this time, I also drained and chopped my mushrooms, which were nicely rehydrated by now.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I added the brussels sprouts. By this point, my pasta was already well on it's way too. Garlic and the white part of the green onions came soon after along with pretty much continuous seasoning with salt and pepper at every step.

With the pasta finished, I returned it to the pan and mixed in the finished chicken and veggies, quark cheese, some of the asiago cheese, and the cream. The pan was still warm enough that everything combined really easily, and I dumped it readily into a small casserole dish:

This was already looking pretty good, but I topped it with the rest of the asiago cheese and put it in the oven for just a few more minutes.

And voila! Out of the open and topped with green onions and just a bit more black pepper, and this pasta dish was smelling divine!

My husband ended up going out with friends on the night I made this, so I got to enjoy it for dinner and lunch the next day. I really needn't have worried about there not being enough pasta, because this was sooooo filling! I actually found myself wishing there had been more veggies and less pasta to help make it a bit lighter... if I had done this recipe from scratch, I'd probably have doubled the number of brussels sprouts.

The greenery and mushrooms paired really well together; I don't think that is a combo I've had before. The green onion also really set it all off with that crunch and brightness. This is also the first time I've had quark cheese, which is soft and reminded me a bit of a cheesier version of sour cream or creme fraiche. It was so easy to stir into this dish that I'd definitely like to experiment with it in the future.

My toddler, sadly, was not a fan of this one. I did get him to eat a couple pieces of chicken but he made a lot of faces at me, so I think he probably didn't like the cheese as much as I did. 🙂 He got some chicken nuggets that night instead.

Verdict: The two Blue Apron recipes we received this week were both crowd pleasers, at least for the adults in our family! I was pleased with the quality of everything this time around and felt like I easily handled the instructions, plus everything came together in the time indicated. I'm honestly planning to recreate both of these recipes again soon because I liked them so much! I'm also glad to see the delivery issue seems to have been improving.

One of the things that is interesting to me about boxes like Blue Apron is that, as someone who cooks dinner at home 6 nights a week, it really helps reset my expectations about serving size. I tend to cook more than we need so we have leftovers for lunch and dinner, but these meals almost always leave me feeling satisfied but not overly full– they're a good reminder of what a good amount of food on your plate can look like. I also like having less food waste on weeks when I add Blue Apron to our dinner rotation; it's definitely a lot different than cooking from grocery-sized ingredients.

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. (You can add a third meal per week to get free shipping, which gets you the $9.99/serving price.)

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!

What did you get from Blue Apron this week? Have you tried the new Mediterranean diet options?