In the Kitchen with Blue Apron

Meal prep can be a daunting task.  It seems that mealtimes roll around all too often and cooking (or figuring out what you are going to eat) is one of those ongoing daily tasks that happen day after day after day. Right?

I’m back today with a couple of meals from Blue Apron, the meal delivery service I’ve shared with you a few times before.  Blue Apron takes out the grocery shopping step for you and all the ingredients for 3 meals are shipped right to your door in ice packs, ready for cooking.

I can see older folks using this service who want tasty and delicious meals, but don’t want the hassle of going to the grocery store. Or a busy working mom, who wants to keep meals on the table for her family. Or really for anyone who needs a break from the chore of grocery shopping, but doesn’t want to resort to eating out all the time. I know many families get in the habit of grabbing food out on the go and that can really add up in expense too. Not to mention, most of that food isn’t good for you.

Plus, half the battle of cooking at home is figuring out WHAT to prepare and then going to the grocery store for all the ingredients.

I love the fact this this is fresh ingredients, made from scratch and it’s not hard to prepare at all. If I can do it, anyone can do it!

I was really impressed last year when I tried out this Blue Apron service for the first time.  All the ingredients are packed in a super cold box on ice with everything you need for 3 meals that week.  You can choose from a selection of meals offered for that week online and get those things that appeal to you.  And you can choose meals for 2 or 4.

Each menu is between 500-700 calories per person, so these are healthy well-balanced meals too.

Ingredients are super fresh and sourced from quality local suppliers and artisans.

All meals can be prepared in 40 minutes or less. (love this part!)  As you can see above, all the ingredients are well marked for each recipe and the bags have handy tags on them identifying what goes with what.  The only thing that is not included is oil and salt and pepper. They figure you have that in the pantry.

Once you try a few of these meals, you’ll then feel more confident to get out of the same old dinner rut you’ve been in.  Or go out to eat less often.  I can definitely relate to that. I need to clean out my old recipe folder and get rid of recipes I’m never going to make!

The first meal I made was Seared Salmon and Panzanella, which is a side salad for the salmon of all fresh veggies with toasted croutons, but I did a little different version with my bread.

I love how they mark all the packages with their cute Blue Apron labels, making no mistake on what is what. The recipe card has the finished meal on front, with a list of all the ingredients needed to make the recipe and on the back of the card, all the steps to make a delicious meal. Everything was included except olive oil and salt and pepper, which we all have on hand. Any of the specialty ingredients for the recipes was included.

Fresh vegetables waiting to be prepped.

Cutting up the veggies is the most time consuming part of the meals, but once that is done, things move along very fast and you have a meal on the table in no time.

Everything is ready to put together now.

The Panzanella salad was really flavorful with all those fresh veggies, oil and vinegar as the base. Fresh basil tops it off. The salmon was pan seared.

Instead of toasting the bread for croutons to add to the salad, I decided to make bruschetta with mine, an Italian appetizer of tomatoes, garlic and basil on grilled crusty bread.  This is one of my favorite summer treats!  Since I still had dad’s tomatoes on hand, it was so good.

The finished meal of Salmon and Panzanella was really flavorful and delicious.  My roommate and I enjoyed it very much!

Another of the dishes from Blue Apron was a Stir-Fried Ginger Basil Chicken.  It had some small peppers that I’ve never used before, Tinkerbell peppers, but it too was a flavorful meal.

The meal cards are easy to follow with step by step directions.

Everything is included for you.

Simmering in the pan and almost ready to eat.

My girlfriends and I went to an outdoor movie on the lawn over the weekend and I packed up the Stir-Fried Chicken dish in my casserole pan (complete with hot pack and carrier) for us to enjoy for our picnic.  We all loved it!

Here are some things to note about Blue Apron if you think you’d like to try it out too:

• I really like the fact that Blue Apron lets you create good, chef-designed recipes at home.
• I can’t tell you how much food we have to throw out that doesn’t get used in time. Blue Apron sends just the right amount of measured ingredients with no waste.
• You get your choice of 2 types of plans, for either 2-people or the Family Plan.  Each plan sends one delivery a week, each with three tasty meals for either 2 or 4 people.
• The chefs at Blue Apron are always working on new and delicious menu items and create 6 new recipes a week for the plan.  You will be sent 3 recipes chosen for you based on your meal preferences.
• The price for the 2 person plan is $9.99 per person per meal.
• Feeding a family of four?  The Family plan is either one or two deliveries per week and the price for this plan is $8.74 per person per meal.
• You never have to worry about shipping, it’s always free!  And the box is refrigerated so it stays fresh even it it sits on your porch for awhile.
• Adding new dishes all the time to their menu, Blue Apron has something for every palette.

They even share their recipes online, so check out Blue Apron recipes for some good meal inspiration and you can get an idea of what they offer.  This Stir-Fried Ginger Basil Chicken sounds delicious to me.  And I love anything Thai, so this Thai Spiced Salmon would be right down my alley.

If you’d like to try out Blue Apron for yourself, the first 50 readers will get 2 free meals on your first Blue Apron order.  Just click here!

There’s no commitment – you can skip or cancel the service at any time!
Always free shipping.  

Note:  This post is sponsored by Blue Apron. All the pics and sharing of the products is all my own.