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.
This is a review of the 2-person, 2-meal subscription plan ($9.99 per serving, or $47.95 per week).
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: You can choose from a 2 person plan or a family plan:
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 $71.92 ($8.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for the 2 meals per week, $95.88 ($7.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for 3 meals per week, or $119.84 ($7.49 per serving + FREE shipping) for 4 meals per week.
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Save $60 of your first three months of Blue Apron ($20 per box) with this link!
The Products: Fresh ingredients and recipes to make healthy meals at home.
Good to know: Blue Apron offers Weight Watchers meals now! Learn more here.
Ships to: U.S. only
Blue Apron February 2019 Review
Blue Apron ingredients come packaged in a big silver cooler bag that’s a lot like bubble wrap. Along with the plastic-wrapped ice packs in the box, the bubble wrap bag keeps the ingredients cool while they travel.
The produce was packed atop a cardboard divider, beneath which was a nest of ice packs. The beef is right under that divider!
A lot of the ingredients from Blue Apron come in bags, labeled, but you have to check out the recipe cards to know which meal they go to. Smaller items like butter or sauces come in a “knick knack” bag so they don’t get lost in the shuffle, and those are labeled with the meal’s name as well. The plastic bags are the same as the ones larger ingredients come in, and are also recyclable.
Along with a double-sided nutritional info sheet, a booklet on Blue Apron’s egg sourcing came with this month’s box. It included some egg cooking tips, plus a quick recipe for soy-marinated ramen eggs.
With all that said, let’s get these dishes started!
Meal #1: One-Pan Udon Noodle Stir-Fry with Vegetables & Kombu
Calories per serving (as prepared): 610
Total cook time according to Blue Apron: 25 minutes on the site, 20-30 minutes on the recipe card
Actual time: 28 minutes
After unboxing all of the ingredients, I separated each meal into its own plastic grocery bag for storage in the fridge, so nothing got lost or accidentally incorporated into another dish. Because the garlic bulb was to be shared between the two dishes, I left it out on the counter so it wouldn’t be forgotten.
Upon washing and drying the fresh produce, I quartered the sweet peppers after removing the stems and core, peeled and chopped 4 cloves of garlic (as opposed to the recommended 2), and thinly sliced the scallions while separating the white bottoms from the hollow tops. I combined the peppers, white-bottomed scallions, and garlic together in a bowl. Then, I cored and sliced the cabbage.
While prepping the veggies, I heated 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. By the time I was done chopping everything, the pan was hot and ready to go. I tossed in the pepper mixture with salt and pepper for about three minutes to soften.
Then, I added in the sliced cabbage with some more salt and pepper for another three minutes, until everything was cooked to my liking.
While the veggies were doing their thing in the skillet, I mixed together the soy glaze, sesame oil, sweet chili sauce, one tablespoon of olive oil, and 1/3 cup of water in a small mixing bowl for the udon sauce. Easy!
I separated the udon noodles with my hands before adding them into the skillet with the vegetables. Then, the noodles got a nice toss with the veggies until everything was heated through for another three minutes or so.
Then went in the sauce, carefully to avoid splattering.
While all of this was going on, I had two eggs soft boiling off to the side. I read the comments for this recipe on Blue Apron’s site before diving in, and someone had suggested incorporating eggs for additional protein. I topped the dish with the kombu, extra green onions, and soft-boiled eggs. Beautiful, no? The flavor was a brilliant mix of sweet, spicy, and savory thanks to the sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, and kombu garnish. The eggs definitely made it more filling. Overall, it tasted like a takeout-quality dish! I was very pleased.
Meal #2: Korean-Style Beef & Spicy Mayo with Jasmine Rice & Snow Peas
Calories per serving (as prepared): 670
Total cook time according to Blue Apron: 25 minutes on the site, 20-30 minutes on the recipe card
Actual time: 28 minutes
I’m a huge fan of Korean food, so experimenting with the cuisine at home was an exciting opportunity. To start, rather than prepare the jasmine rice on the stove, I employed my rice cooker. So simple!
After washing and drying the fresh produce, I peeled and chopped 4 cloves of garlic (again, as opposed to 2), thinly sliced the radishes and scallions, and combined the latter two in a bowl. Over those, I added half the rice vinegar, half the sesame oil, some salt, and some pepper. In a smaller bowl, I mixed the soy sauce, sugar, remaining vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of water.
As I was preparing the veggies, I cooked the snow peas in half of the sesame oil on medium-high heat for about 4 minutes. When finished, I added them to the bowl of radishes, scallions, and garlic. While the snow peas were going in the pan, I separated the beef and dried each piece on both sides.
Then, I placed the beef in a bowl with salt, pepper, and the cornstarch, then gave it a generous stir.
I cooked the beef in a single layer with a drizzle of olive oil over medium-high heat without stirring for about 3 minutes. Then, I tossed in the chopped garlic, gave it a quick stir for another minute, then stirred in the sauce for another 2 minutes or so. The pieces of beef weren’t all entirely flat, so I had to work to get all sides of each piece touching the pan at some point or another.
As the beef was cooking in the skillet, I mixed together the mayo and the entire pack of gochujang in a small bowl.
Here’s the rice after roughly 12 minutes in the rice cooker. It was ready to go in almost no time at all!
And here’s the finished dish. I layered the bottom with jasmine rice, then added on the cooked beef with some of the pan sauce, with the radishes, snow peas, and scallions on top of that. To finish it all off, I drizzled on the gochujang mayo. This dish blew me away. My boyfriend and I could not get enough of the complex mix of spicy and savory. The snow peas and radishes gave a wonderful crunch. I highly recommend this dish if you see it pop up in your upcoming meal rotation!
Verdict: My experience with Blue Apron this month was excellent. Finishing each dish within the specified cook time was a nice improvement from my previous experience with this meal subscription kit. Both dishes were a win for me, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy they were to put together. As usual, I wouldn’t substitute Blue Apron for a weekly grocery trip, but I will continue to use it to shake up my meal rotation every now and again.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Recipes change every week, so these are gone for now, but popular ones always come back in the future. Sign up today to choose for a whole new crop of meals.
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Save $60 of your first three months of Blue Apron ($20 per box) with this link!
Value Breakdown: At $47.95 ($9.99 per serving + $7.99 shipping), you’re paying $11.99 per serving.
Check out all of our Blue Apron Reviews and find other meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!
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What do you think of the Blue Apron recipes?
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