While I doubt most of my political views are a secret, that is not a subject I desire to focus on in this blog. And really, there is no need, as seemingly hundreds of thousands of other bloggers have it covered. But that left me with little to write about. I mean really the coverage has been so wall to wall that Kim K being held at gun point could hardly remain a top story in a 24 hour news cycle. And no matter how we feel about Kim K a woman being held at gun-point in a hotel for her jewelry is headline news. Add to it that the woman is a celebrity and a damn near created social media, and this is big news and terrible news. But alas, no time for digging into that these days.
Food to the rescue! Thank you food. I decided to be a blogging guinea pig and try out one of the meal delivery services. I received a $30 off coupon from Blue Apron via snail mail. At the time, I was both bored with cooking and tired of doing it. Plus, I’d been struggling with hip pain which made the idea of standing around to cook, well, unsavory.
But as luck would have it, I got the good meds, just as my first box arrived (about a week and a half after I’d set up my account). Duckie was the most excited to see the big box on the porch. Why? I guess even now cardboard boxes are still the best toys in town!
If you’ve never tried it, here’s how it works: You go to their website and sign up. Then enter some very basic preferences like, meal plan (2 person or 4 person – I chose 2 person), # of recipes per week (I chose 3), dietary preferences (I chose not to receive beef or pork) and it defaults to Sunday as your deliver day but this can be changed. I was not however able to set a preference for gluten-free or dairy-free.
On my first order I was able to use the $30 discount, and received a $12.50 rebate from E-bates. However, since it’s a subscription, the following orders were regularly priced at $60 (a 4 person plan is double). I have participated for 3 non-consecutive weeks (based on if I liked or couldn’t eat the things on things the menu). Here are some of the dished I made (shown based on nothing other than me remembering to take a picture):
Ratings (5 Yums = Great; 1 Yum = Yucky)
- Cripsy Catfish (with kale-faro salad and warm grape relish) - 5 Yums
- Five Spice Chicken - 2 Yums
- Thai Red Curry & Rice - 3 Yums
- Crispy Catfish (with yellow curry and bird's eye chile sauce) - 4 Yums
Other Meals:
- Caramelized Onion Kale Quiches - 5 Yums
- Pan Seared Chicken - 4 Yums
- Blackened Chicken - 3 Yums
- Crispy Salmon - 5 Yums
- Brown Butter and Thyme Gnocchi - 4 Yums
My Review:
All of the meals were good. My least favorite was the Five Spice Chicken. But that was the fault of the five spices. It’s just not a flavor I crave. My most favorite was the Catfish with the Grape Relish. Yumm. But everything in between was delicious and satisfying.
Let’s talk prep. Each recipe comes with an estimated prep and cook time. The cook times were always accurate or a little more than needed because my stove puts out a strong flame. The prep times always took me 10-15 minutes longer than what was indicated. But I’m not sure I can blame Blue Apron for that. I’m a bit of a paranoid recipe follower. My constant reading and re-reading (and yet some-how never reading far enough ahead) must account for a lot of the time difference. Also I don’t/can’t speed chop. I’m too in love with my fingers. But I would expect that all but the most skilled, would require a few additional prep time minutes.
What do you get? Pretty much everything you need. The only ingredients of my own I had to use were olive oil and salt and pepper. Everything else was included, down to the 2 tablespoons of butter!
Is it enough? Yes, if you eat like an actual human should. Because there are three of us, but I’m cheap I ordered the 2 person plan instead of the 4 person plan. Duckie likes to eat, but dinner is often her least favorite time to eat. She’s too busy talking, standing, playing with the remote control, reading, trying to talk us into watching tv, etc, etc, etc. Eating is just not a priority at that time unless it’s one of her favorites. And she loads up on snacks after school and before swim practice. Any who, that means I don’t need to give her a full serving. Most days I gave her ¼ of my meal and that was plenty. But she did like some meals so much that additional sacrifices had to be made. And since I was only cooking 3 Blue Apron meals per week, I also had leftovers from other meals which she had the option of choosing. Hubby says his portion was just right and my ¾ of a meal was great for me too.
Will I continue? Yes, but sporadically (ah, missing Brittany Murphy from Clueless). I love not having to think about or shop for dinner. I also love only getting the amount of raw food I need. My refrigerator is not currently filled with produce that will go bad before I find a second or third use for it. And, I love that not one of these recipes would I have come up with on my own. I don’t love that I can’t always select dairy or gluten-free options. And though a local ABC new report priced it out as just the same as going to the market, it feels like I’m over-spending.
What’s next? I tried Hello Fresh once and didn’t fell those were meals I wouldn’t have done myself and done better. There are other plans I’d like to try also. But last night my lil’ bro told me about an app called Mealime (its also a website, but its 2016 people). This app lets you set up all the same preferences as Blue Apron and a lot more (including gluten and dairy-free) and then suggests meals to you for the week. After you finalize your selections, it creates a grocery list for you and then provides the recipes. While this option obviously requires me to o to the grocery store, it still eliminates the thought and planning on my part. So I’m intrigued and will report back.
I’m done with all my Blue Apron meals for this week. Which means I’ve got to go and pick up the kid and get started preparing my uninspired dinner of baked chicken, potatoes and random frozen vegetable. Talk soon … BMK
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