A Blue Apron Review

Have you ever wanted to try a food delivery service like Blue Apron?

When I first saw this idea floating around about a year ago, I called my Hoosier son in Indiana and told him about it. John likes to cook, and this looked like something that would really appeal to him. He did a little research on his own, tried it for a while, and eventually suspended the service.

So imagine my surprise when this Blue Apron box appeared at our doorstep last week!

I immediately texted John and asked "Did you send us a present?"

"No," he responded.

"Then who sent us this box from Blue Apron?"

"Oh no!" John answered. "I meant to send that to my house, not yours!"

Ha ha ha!

Lucky for me, John picked some really good meals to try!

The box comes with fresh organic produce, organic meats, and small portioned sizes of spices, oils, honey, vinegar, rice...just about everything you'd need to make a meal, save for the olive oil and salt and pepper.

The recipe sheets had very good instructions, too. Simple to use.

For the first meal, we opted for the beef and mushroom stew with roasted potatoes. I decided to alter the recipe slightly, dredging the beef in flour before cooking (it always thickens the sauce better), and adding a bottle of beer instead of a cup of water. It was St. Patrick's Day, and I thought the stew needed to be a little Irish.

When Blue Apron says "serving for two" they mean it. We had just enough for two bowls. It was delicious! We wanted seconds. Too bad!

The addition of roasted potato slices on top was interesting. We liked it!

The second meal was Mexican spiced roasted pork, served over rice and collard greens with a citrus salsa. This one was my favorite!

The roast cooked quickly in the oven, and was moist and tender. But the salsa? Oh my word. It was so good! Chopped orange, combined with a little sweet (honey) and hot (chopped jalapenos) for a perfect pairing to the pork. So good!

The final meal: Pan fried chicken with vegetables.

When I prepared each recipe, I pre-chopped ingredients and had them ready, just like the photo instructions. I think it helped production of the meal go smoothly.

The chicken was dipped in buttermilk, then coated in the flour spice mixture, and then fried in a pan in olive oil. I would normally skip all that coating, but it actually made the chicken very tasty!

I made this meal stretch to feed three by giving the guys the rice and making myself some cauliflower rice instead. We added a side salad, and it made a nice meal for three.

These meals were all very good, and quite similar to the way I already cook, with one exception. I like leftovers! But if I were single and cooking at home, this would probably be a time saver and quite possibly a money saver as well.

Have you ever tried a meal service? If so, which one?

I went to the library yesterday and picked up the cookbook "Skinnytaste, Fast and Slow" by Gina Homolka. Looks like some great recipes I will definitely want to try! I like that Gina's recipes are all healthy alternatives to some favorites, while introducing new flavors and combinations.

Blessings on your midweek, cafe friend!