Week 2 is Blue Apron
Biggest Perk: Blue Apron is BIG on flavor.
On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor: *****
Price: $
Portions: *****
Variety: ***
Prep (Difficult to Easy): ***
Website: *****
Sustainability? BA uses non-gmo, hormone free, antibiotic free, sustainable proteins. They plan their menus seasonally with consciousness about what's best for the farmers.
Promo used: They offer a trial directly through their website which is what i used.
Other codes? I'm sure friend codes exist, but i don't have one to offer you. The internet didn't really turn up any coupon codes better than the one they regularly offer on their website.
 |
| This is one of their promotional photos, but it's very reminiscent of a farm crop share box. |
Shipping: It shipped to our door in a cardboard box. Items are packaged grocery-style with produce bags and paper bags. It has a very artisan feel to it which is quaint. I would say their packaging is definitely more eco-conscious than TK. There were multiple components to keep track of with this one too, but all the little seasonings and sauces were packaged in a brown paper bag labeled for the recipe they went to.
The Recipes: All of the recipes come on card stock, but without hole punches. We tried a tangelo-honey salmon, chicken yakinuku, and smoky pork burgers. Each meal includes a protein and a side. They also offer a separate wine subscription to pair with your meal subscription if you'd like.
Prep/Time: Obviously, from the photos, nothing is prepped ahead of time which adds a little more effort to the process. I am a big fan of kitchen cheats- like personal blenders/choppers and electric kettles for boiling water. These recipes run you 40-60 minutes instead of 20-30 of TK. Our first meal took 45 minutes. Their recipe cards are laid out largely with a "prep" list first, and they try to minimize your dishes by using the same pan and timing cooking. Timing was important with this box. It kind of put a damper on the "date night" feel we had with the TK box, and made it difficult to divide the tasks and work together. They also have you add salt at every stage of cooking, which just felt overkill.
Portions: Every dish came with a side, and sharing with our toddler still left plenty for us.
 |
| This is prep for a single meal: Smoky Pork Burgers with Roasted vegetables. It was delicious and took ~45 minutes start to finish. |
Portions: Every dish came with a side, and sharing with our toddler still left plenty for us.
Price: This is one of the more affordable boxes, and the trial price was $30. Regularly priced ~$60.
Variety: The variety here is a little more limited. Recipes change weekly, but there's only 6 to choose from each week and they limit the combinations to maintain price point. I like being able to just pick the 3 i like best, and Blue Apron doesn't let you do that. One of the future menus had my food allergen as a main ingredient, and i was really bummed that to knock out a recipe i can't eat meant not getting to try others i was interested in. Our first box had 2 asian influenced dishes and 1 latin influenced, which i like but others might not.
Variety: The variety here is a little more limited. Recipes change weekly, but there's only 6 to choose from each week and they limit the combinations to maintain price point. I like being able to just pick the 3 i like best, and Blue Apron doesn't let you do that. One of the future menus had my food allergen as a main ingredient, and i was really bummed that to knock out a recipe i can't eat meant not getting to try others i was interested in. Our first box had 2 asian influenced dishes and 1 latin influenced, which i like but others might not.
Cancelling: This was easy to cancel online: https://www.blueapron.com/account#cancel. There's a button under "Manage my account" for cancelling your subscription and they also have live chat if you need help.
Overall: The first recipe (Pork Burgers) was something bob said he would happily make for guests and definitely eat again. It's a good price point and great flavor, even if the variety is a little lacking. The second (Tangelo Honey Salmon) was also great flavor. Bob didn't have high hopes for the (Asian) "Chicken and Rice" dish, but was pleasantly surprised. All were dishes we'd totally make again. The price point is great at the low end of subscription boxes.
Cons: We both felt like the instructions were a little more complicated than necessary- definitely moreso than Terra's Kitchen, and that it lacked the bonding activity feel offered with the TK box.
Extras: They include a nutritional info packet for each meal, and we also received a bonus recipe for a maple-sherry vegetable hash, as a way to use up leftover vegetables which will come in handy with our crop share. We used it as a side dish for a non-service meal later in the week!
Cons: We both felt like the instructions were a little more complicated than necessary- definitely moreso than Terra's Kitchen, and that it lacked the bonding activity feel offered with the TK box.
Extras: They include a nutritional info packet for each meal, and we also received a bonus recipe for a maple-sherry vegetable hash, as a way to use up leftover vegetables which will come in handy with our crop share. We used it as a side dish for a non-service meal later in the week!
Next Week, we'll be trying out Hello Fresh!
No comments:
Post a Comment