Blue Apron Review

Based in New York and launched in 2012, Blue Apron is a highly successful company that has long been one of the best meal kit delivery services in the United States. Its pre-portioned ingredients are fresh and natural, its recipes are both simple and innovative, its subscriptions are flexible, and its prices are more than affordable. Keep reading our Blue Apron review to find out exactly what you get with this industry leader.

Our Blue Apron order has reached our doorstep! Judging by the state of the box, it seems to have been handled with care.

What Is Blue Apron

Blue Apron is a popular boxed meal delivery service that caters to busy home cooks. It aims to make healthy eating easier by delivering sustainable, pre-measured ingredients and easy-to-follow dinner recipes that take about 20-40 minutes to prepare.

When it first entered the market, it was one of the few services of its kind in America. In spite of the concept being new to US customers, the service gained a lot of attention and its customer base grew rather quickly. Nowadays, it is a well-known brand with a good reputation and it remains one of the top choices among meal kit fans.

Everything in our Blue Apron box is fresh, cool, individually packed, and properly labeled. There are no missing ingredients, broken seals or squished produce. These groceries can surely last for days in a fridge.

The idea behind Blue Apron is simple. Since most contemporary Americans have little free time but still want to enjoy homemade meals at least a couple of times a week, this service offers to help by handling the most time-consuming aspects of home cooking. It acts as a personal grocery shopper and meal planner and offers convenient doorstep delivery.

If you choose to cook with Blue Apron, your only job is to decide how much food you need, pick the recipes from its ever-changing menu, and once the desired recipes and the required ingredients reach your home, roll up your sleeves and get cooking. If you are not an experienced cook, there is no need to worry, as Blue Apron meals are designed for novices, not award-winning chefs.

Thus, if you value convenience, want to eat better, and do not mind spending about half an hour in the kitchen every now and then, this service may be a pretty good fit for your needs.

How Does Blue Apron Work

Blue Apron offers 4 meal plans and 4 corresponding weekly menus. You can choose the plan that suits your needs and decide how many meal kits you want to receive per week, how many servings you want to get per meal, and which recipes you want to make.

The meal plans come in 2 variations, including 2-serving and 4-serving options. At your disposal are the 2-Serving Signature plan, the 2-Serving WW Freestyle (Weight Watchers reimagined) plan, the 2-Serving Vegetarian plan, and the 4-Serving Signature plan.

Look at those well-thought-out steps! Blue Apron chefs have made sure every part of the process is explained thoroughly and chronologically. After reading the instructions, we know exactly what we need to do and when. The lovely and accurate photos certainly help.

The standard Blue Apron menu is divided into 4 sections, one for each of the meal plans. It features 22 new recipes every week,: 8 of them are available in the 2-Serving Signature section, 6 of them in the 2-Serving WW Freestyle section, 3 in the 2-Serving Vegetarian section, and 5 in the 4-Serving Signature section.

You get to pick 2-4 recipes per week, depending on the meal plan you choose. Once you decide what you want to cook that week, the Blue Apron team sources and pre-measures all the ingredients, packs them into insulated boxes, and brings both the ingredients and the recipes to your doorstep.

When everything arrives, all you have to do is follow the clear and simple step-by-step recipes. From the exact kitchen utensils, pots, and pans you need to use to the proper way to prepare each of your ingredients, everything is covered in the interactive instructions written with beginners in mind. Blue Apron even has a handy mobile app to assist you and a nice selection of how to videos that can show you what to do if you’re feeling stumped.

However, that is not all. In Q1 2020, Blue Apron expanded its offer beyond its standard menu and meal plans. It launched Meal Prep, which lets you prep 2-4 meals for 2-4 people in just 90 minutes, so you can spend even less time cooking your meals and have them ready when you need them. Meal Prep is an optional service that you can opt in and out of anytime straight from your account. Your Meal Prep kits come with all the ingredients you need, some of them pre-cooked, plus special instructions that streamline the process and fit multiple meals into a single cooking session.

If you don’t have all the necessary cooking utensils and/or dishes, you can order anything you need from the Blue Apron website. The market page offers a selection of high-quality cooking gear that you can use to prepare Blue Apron (and other) meals. In addition, if you don’t want to bother with choosing and then buying a wine to go with your meal, you can subscribe to the company’s monthly wine delivery plan and have a box of carefully selected wines delivered to you every month.

Finally, it is important to know that Blue Apron meal kit and wine subscriptions and perfectly flexible. You can skip or reschedule your delivery whenever you want and you can cancel your subscription at any time, no questions asked. Just be sure to make the desired changes before your order is processed or shipped. You can check the status of your order directly from your Blue Apron account.

If you choose to cook with Blue Apron, your only job is to decide how much food you need, pick the recipes from its ever-changing menu, and once the desired recipes and the required ingredients reach your home, roll up your sleeves and get cooking.

What Makes Blue Apron Different

What makes this service stand out from countless others is its focus on responsible food growing practices. Blue Apron is very selective when it comes to partnering with suppliers. It works with fisheries that source sustainable seafood recommended by Seafood Watch. It partners with local farmers so it can get all the fruit and vegetables when they are at the peak of freshness. It does not source GMOs and takes serious measures to ensure that its ingredients are natural and good for you. The meat comes from over 100 family-run farms across the US that employ the best sustainability practices, grow their animals with care, and oppose to the use of added hormones and other growth promoters.

Why is this important? Well, favorable deals with suppliers make sure everybody benefits from the deal. The farmers have a guaranteed buyer, Blue Apron has a steady supply of produce, and the customers get high-quality ingredients to cook with.

Another part of the Blue Apron mission is to combat food waste and unsustainable food growing systems. Fruit and vegetables are grown with minimum pesticide use and using regenerative soil practices, allowing the land to remain healthy for years to come.

Blue Apron ingredients may not be organic 100% of the time, but they are always sustainable. They have that natural look and smell that we seek. As you can see, the fish is not unappetizingly watery and the produce looks like it has just left the farm.

Every recipe you get from Blue Apron comes with a wine pairing. If you don’t feel like picking out your own wine or just don’t want to go shopping for anything, the service has you covered there, too. By signing up for Blue Apron’s monthly wine club, you get a nice box with six 500 ml bottles of wine along with a story behind each wine, some tasting notes, and pairing tips. You can choose to receive all whites, all reds or any combination of the two, in accordance with your monthly menu.

Last but not least, if you need to send someone a thoughtful gift on short notice, Blue Apron is an excellent solution. You can send your friend an electronic wine or meal gift card and decide on the card’s value. Alternatively, you can pick up something useful at the Blue Apron market.

Blue Apron Meals and Recipes

Like we mentioned earlier in this Blue Apron review, the meal kit delivery service offers 4 meal plans. With the 2-serving plans (Signature, WW Freestyle, and Vegetarian), you can select 2 or 3 recipes, each suitable for 2 adults. If you opt for the 4-Serving Signature plan, you get to choose 2, 3 or 4 recipes designed to feed a family of 4.

Blue Apron recipe cards are beautifully designed. Be sure to keep them and revisit your favorites whenever you lack inspiration.

The standard menu is quite diverse and features something for nearly any taste, with plenty of meaty, seafood, and veggielicious options. The recipes are inspired by various world cuisines and there are always at least a few meal ideas for those who love the Mediterranean cuisine. Blue Apron is particularly well-known for its healthy and creative renditions of street food favorites from around the globe.

However, the standard menu does not offer too many special diet options. The Vegetarian plan is there to satisfy the needs of home cooks who steer clear of meat and fish and the WW Freestyle plan is great for maintaining a healthy diet and weight by following the basic Weight Watchers principles.

When it comes to the Meal Prep menu, it is divided into 4 sections for different dietary needs. You can opt for Signature, which is the meal prep version of the 2-serving Signature plan and brings you 4 dishes for 2 people per week. The second option is Carb-Conscious, with 4 dishes for 2 people, each with no more than 42 grams of net carbs per serving. The third Meal Prep solution is Pescatarian, bringing you 4 seafood and veg dishes for 2 persons. Finally, you can opt for the family-oriented Multi-Cooker, which lets you cook 2 omnivore dishes for 4 people in less than 2 hours.

Patrons with specific tastes can customize their preferences prior to checkout and select or rule out beef, poultry, pork, lamb, fish, and shellfish, depending on what they (do not) want to get in their deliveries. Customers with food allergies need to check the allergen info included in the recipes since allergen-free items are not clearly labeled or categorized as such. The menu does not cover other popular diets, like vegan, keto or Paleo.

Delicious fregola sarda with za’atar veg prepared in the Blue Apron kitchen (on the left) and our test kitchen (on the right). Not to brag, but we think we’ve nailed it! Still, do you notice one important difference? If the plate on the left seems richer, that’s because it contains 2 portions instead of 1. Just something you should know – the servings are satisfying, but Blue Apron makes them seem bigger than they actually are.

Home cooks with a hearty appetite might be happy to hear that Blue Apron meals generally come in ample portions. While the service frequently features recipes under 500 calories, some of the dishes on the menu may contain up to 1,000 calories per serving. Therefore, if you are watching your weight, be sure to check the nutritional information before ordering, even if you opt for the WW Freestyle plan.

In your package, you receive all the needed ingredients in pre-portioned amounts, along with step-by-step recipe cards to guide you through the cooking process.

Blue Apron takes care to inform you about the details of your ingredients, so nutritional and calorie labels are provided with each order. The labels include information about nutrients, daily values, possible allergens, sugars, and fat. These values might vary only slightly depending on other ingredients you may add during cooking, such as oil.

Another culinary success! Like with the previous dish, we were surprised by how easy it was to achieve perfect results. This aromatic miso-roasted cod with mushroom broth, carrots, and snow peas took us just 22 minutes to make.

If you are interested in cooking something not currently on the menu, you can check out Blue Apron’s cookbook, which features all the recipes that were on offer so far. You can prepare these meals on your own if you wish.

As we mentioned previously in our Blue Apron review, another interesting option that the service provides its customers with is wine delivery. If you decide to order wines to go with your food, you will receive 6 wine bottles per month, 500 ml each – just about enough for two people.

By signing up for Blue Apron’s monthly wine club, you get a nice box with six 500 ml bottles of wine along with a story behind each wine, some tasting notes, and pairing tips.

How Much Does Blue Apron Cost

Blue Apron charges $7.49 to $9.99 per serving. The price is determined based on how much food you order every week. By increasing the number of meals and servings in your order, you get your meal kits at a lower price and also save money on shipping.

You can choose between whopping nine different preferences and personalize your meal kit however you want. The choices are: Chef Favorites, Wellness, Family Friendly, Fast & Easy, Veggies, Seafood, Meal Prep, Special Menus, and Try It All.

No matter which 2-serving meal plan you choose the price is always the same. You pay $9.99 per serving regardless of whether you choose 2 or 3 recipes per week. That means that your weekly orders cost $39.96 if you order 2 recipes for 2 people or $59.94 if you get 3 recipes yielding 2 servings each.

However, it is important to know that if you opt for one of the 2-serving plans, shipping is only free if you order 3 recipes per week. If you get 2 recipes per week, there is a $7.99 shipping fee.

The 4-Serving Signature plan is more affordable than the 2-serving options and it always comes with free shipping. With this plan, you pay $8.99 per serving if you order 2 recipes, $7.99 per serving if you order 3 recipes, and $7.49 per serving if you order 4 recipes per week. Since each recipe yields 4 servings, the weekly total is $71.92 with the 2-recipe option, $95.88 with the 3-recipe option, and $119.84 with the 4 recipe option.

If you are interested in Meal Prep, you can get your kits for $8.99 per serving. The universal price per 8-serving Meal Prep box is $71.92 per week and shipping is free of charge.

Finally, if you decide to order wine from Blue Apron, you pay just $65.99 for your 6 bottles per month, with shipping included in the price.

With Blue Apron, you pay less per portion if you order 4 servings per meal instead of 2. Consider this if you are cooking for 2 and find yourself needing more than 6 servings per week. You may save cash in comparison to shopping on your own.

Where Does Blue Apron Deliver

Blue Apron delivers its recipes and meal ingredients throughout the continental United States. It does not ship to Alaska and Hawaii. Depending on where you live, you may be able to choose the desired delivery date and change it at your convenience. You do not have to be at home to receive the delivery – unless you are ordering wine, in which case an adult signature is required.

The food is transported in insulated packaging in order to preserve freshness. Furthermore, the company offers its unique Freshness Guarantee. If you notice that there is an ingredient missing or your food arrives damaged or not in an acceptable cooking condition, you can get in touch with the Blue Apron staff within 7 days after delivery and receive a replacement, refund or credit that you can use for future orders.

Blue Apron Pros And Cons

To make sure Blue Apron meets all your standards and expectations, it is important to know its biggest advantages and disadvantages. With a short overview of its pros and cons, you can easily decide if Blue Apron is the right meal kit service for you.

Sample Dishes

If you subscribe to Blue Apron, you can easily prepare culinary masterpieces using only the ingredients and recipes found in your meal kit box. You may not be a pro chef just yet, but with Blue Apron, you can easily make restaurant-grade meals. You don’t have to take our word for it – check out the images below to get a better idea of the types of dishes you can enjoy with Blue Apron.