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| My Spinach and Butternut Squash Pizza |
Cooking is something that I am learning to enjoy.
However, I like to get things done quickly, so I’m impatient with recipes that
require any more work than grilling or roasting. I also tend to stick with salt
and pepper and one or two “go to” herbs for seasoning. Rarely do I go outside
of my comfort zone any time besides a holiday meal.
When I started reading about some of the subscription
meal prep delivery companies, I was curious. Was it worth the money? Would I be
able to make the recipes? Would I like the food? I finally settled on Blue Apron, and tried
some of their meals last week.
According to a 2014 article in Forbes Magazine, Blue Apron was founded in 2012 by Matt Salzberg, a Harvard
M.B.A. with venture capital experience, and Ilia Papas, an engineer and former
consultant, and chef Matt Wadiak. The company creates meal kits: precisely
portioned ingredients and specific instructions needed to cook exactly three
dinners a week and sold on a subscription basis.
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| Portioned ingredients |
Blue Apron’s approach, the meal kit, offers the
convenience of delivery while keeping home cooks in the kitchen. The precisely
portioned dinners minimize waste and allow consumers to try ingredients they
might not otherwise buy, at a price they can afford–about $10 per meal per
person.
Originally named Part & Parsley, Chef Wadiak
insisted that the new name be based on the traditional garb worn by French
chefs in training: blue aprons. He wants home cooks to learn new techniques
and get comfortable with “different cultivars.”
I tried two recipe kits that served
four people, and one kit that served two. (The kit for two, Asian Cod, belonged
to my daughter who does NOT like fish). They contained all the ingredients
needed to cook the meals, complete with recipes and step-by-step photos.
The meals came neatly packaged in a
cardboard box lined with ice packs to keep the contents fresh for a few hours.
The meats, fish and chicken were vacuum-sealed, which gave me an extra week or
two to use them, just in case I couldn’t be home to cook one of the nights.
Each recipe was well explained and included all ingredients needed,
so making dinner was almost as easy as ordering carry-out, without the guilt.
The photos included with the
recipes showed the major steps in the process with instructions below the
picture of how to prep and cook all the ingredients.
They post the upcoming two week's
menus on the site, so you have the opportunity to make sure the menu looks good
before ordering. Nutritionally balanced, each meal
comes out to around 650-700 calories per person. In a restaurant, you have no
idea how much oil, butter, salt or other secret calories are going into your
meal, so you definitely have more control.
Although Blue Apron is a
subscription service, you can opt out of any week or skip a few weeks depending
on your food preferences or eating plans.
And even if you don’t order one
week, the recipes are free to anyone browsing Blue Apron's website and aren't
restricted to paying customers. So you could potentially pick up the necessary
ingredients at your grocery store (But that kind of defeats the purpose of
having everything you need right at your fingertips).
So my take on the meal kits:
Packaging: I’m obsessed with food
freshness and tend to buy the food I’m going to cook that same day, so I was a
little wary of the “packaged” produce and proteins, but I was pleasantly
surprised. The kale and spinach were bagged, but still tasted delicious. The herbs were
plentiful and free of any spots. Vacuum sealing the proteins made them taste
like I had just purchased them at the store and the quality of the cheeses, and
condiments was superb.
Variety: You can list your
preferences and dislikes when you sign up, so they won’t send you something you
are allergic to or don’t eat. But, there are six choices for three meals and I
don’t think you can pick the exact ones you want delivered.
The ingredient variety was
outstanding though. I used spices, marinades, herbs and veggies that I haven’t
cooked with or tried before. Tamarind on the cod, jasmine rice, kale in a
casserole and squash and spinach on a pizza; I never would have considered
those combinations.
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| Cod with tamarind over jasmine rice |
Convenience: Delivered to my front
door, everything I needed, and exact instructions. What could be better?
Taste: Ok, this is the most
important and the meals didn’t disappoint. Blue Apron uses high quality
ingredients and the flavor combinations are outstanding. I never would have
thought to mix honey, ricotta cheese and black pepper and dollop it onto a hot
pizza, but the flavor was incredible.
Lime zest in jasmine rice, freshly
grated white cheddar and Amish chicken in a casserole. Yum!!
It’s really like going to a new
trendy restaurant in your own kitchen.
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| Chicken and Kale Casserole with White Cheddar |
Will I subscribe to the meals? I’m
pretty sure I will try a week of meals from time to time. I’d be more likely to
subscribe if I could choose the exact meals I wanted delivered from the week’s
menu.
If you are looking to cook more at home in the new
year, or, like my friend Sarah, who cooks like Martha Stewart, but is tired of planning and shopping for meals. Or, just looking for more interesting ingredients, check
out their website, www.blueapron.com for
information and sign up for their emails to get the weekly recipes and delivery
choices.
