Are Meal Delivery Services Worth It? My Blue Apron Review
Blue Apron meal delivery service offers several recipe and meal options, including meat, vegetarian, and weight watchers approved recipes. You can get either a singles/couples plan or a family plan with some of these options, and they serve 2-4 people.
Blue Apron is great for anyone with a busy lifestyle. You can skip the grocery store and have your meals delivered straight to your door with peace of mind. Not only that, you know your foods are fresh and free of GMOs. How? Because Blue Apron partners with local farmers for sustainable, healthy products. Maybe you are a vegetarian trying to find a variety of tasty meals — or recipes that follow other special diets. Blue Apron can solve your cooking problems. We tried Blue Apron meals to put this to the test and are now bringing you our complete Blue Apron review.
What is Blue Apron?
Blue Apron is a meal delivery service that offers healthy meals from local farmers that you can trust. Their meals are beginner-friendly and come with fresh pre-portioned ingredients. You can choose from their signature plan, which includes meat. It serves 2-4 people. Alternatively, you can opt for their vegetarian plan, which can feed two people. They also have weight-watcher-approved meals.
Blue Apron Pros & Cons
- Sustainably sourced, fresh foods with no GMOs
- Excellent price per serving, especially when compared to other meal delivery kits
- Restaurant-style, delicious meals for as low as $7.49 per serving
- Easy-to-follow recipe cards
- Quick prep and cook time
- Meal prep and cooking still required
- Meat is available only with certain meals
- No vegan options
- Few meal options for specific diets
- Large amounts of wasted plastic for individual packaging
Who is Blue Apron Good For?
People Who Want Fast Meals – If you are in a hurry or don’t have time to prepare dinner, this food company might be a suitable choice. That way, you don’t have to sacrifice your health by eating fast food!
Vegetarians – Blue Apron offers vegetarian meal options. These are great for people who even want to give it a try! You can enjoy two servings, three times per week.
Calorie-Conscious People – Blue Apron offers a Freestyle plan, where you can explore numerous healthy ingredients. You don’t have to waste your time counting calories.
Foodies Ready for New Recipestry – Blue Apron recipes are great for beginners who want to try new things in the kitchen. Their recipes are easy to follow while having a good flavor that isn’t overpowering. Everything proportioned also helps a lot when you are a beginner.
Time-Savers – Blue Apron delivery is great for anyone who wants to save time and spend more time with their family at home. Blue Apron is delivered right to your door in a refrigerated box. If you are single or a couple using this service, you can also do meal prep with a more extensive subscription, saving you even more time and money per serving.
People w/o Dietary Restrictions – The Blue Apron menu meal kits are hard to beat with their price per serving. While they don’t have many diet-specific or allergen-avoiding options, they make up for that with the price, and you get 8-10 meals to choose from every week.
Who Isn’t Blue Apron Good For?
Seasoned Chefs – Blue Apron is great for new foodies who want to try unique meals. In that regard, if you don’t need recipe cards for healthy meals, you probably have already tried some of these dishes. If you are a seasoned chef who is well-versed with sides, seasons, and spices then you might find Blue Apron boring.
Lacking Super-Bold Flavors – Although the Blue Apron recipes are delicious with a variety of fruits, veggies, and other healthy foods, it doesn’t explore all parts of cuisine. That is, the menu does lack certain flavors for unique palettes.
Picky Eaters or People w/ Allergies – You can’t customize your individual meals. If you have an allergy — or taste preference — you still have to receive the meal wrapped as is. Furthermore, the Blue Apron facility is not allergen-free.
How Blue Apron Works?
You are the chef, so you get to select all of your meals for the week. Blue Apron makes everything easy for you. That way, you can order your food, receive the meal delivery service, and start cooking right away.
Website & App
Blue Aprons website and app are both very clean-looking and well organized. You can navigate everything very easily, which is excellent. All of their recipes have either a leaf icon for vegetarian meals, WW for weight-watcher meals, or a Wellness icon for meals that have your holistic health in mind. You can also find Blue Aprons’ vision, which outlines how obtaining their food sustainably is one of their most essential focuses as a company.
Creating an account / Sign-up
The Blue Apron sign-up process is super simple as well. All you need to get started is an email and password. You can also sign up through Facebook or your Apple ID, which makes it even easier. The whole process to sign up took less than 3 minutes, so I would say it was quick and easy.
Blue Apron Meal Plans and Meal Selection Options
Once you have signed up, you can choose your subscription or meal option. There are three meal options to choose from:
Signature Option: order two, three, or four 2-serving meals per week. This option is $9.99 per serving and has a free shipping option for the three and four meal options.
Vegetarian Option: get two or three 2-serving, meatless meals per week. This option is $9.99 per serving and has a free shipping option when you go with three meals.
Wellness Option: enjoy two or three 2-serving meals per week. These options are for health-conscious people and have free shipping when you choose the three meal plan.
Signature for Four Option: eat two, three, or four 4-serving meals per week.
Blue Apron Meal Types
Feast on tasty meals from worldwide cuisines like:
Italian
Mexican
Asian
American
You can also enjoy breakfast for dinner. One-pan dinners for quick clean are fast, easy, and yummy! Alternatively, Blue Apron meal types include several 20-minute meals for mouth-watering dinners. Try these Blue Apron dishes today:
Tofu Bánh Mì with Sesame-Roasted Romanesco
Turkey Meatballs & Bok Choy in Coconut Lemongrass Curry
Sheet Pan Italian Pork Roast with Fingerling Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts & Hot Honey Dressing
Choosing Blue Apron Recipes
The Blue Apron menu doesn’t have many specific dietary meal options. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean their menu isn’t full of variety. There are usually 8-10 recipes to choose from each week, with a couple of “premium” recipes to choose from if you are okay with paying a bit extra for the premium ingredients. Throughout the meal options, there will be wellness and weight-watchers options to choose from if you wish.
How Much Does Blue Apron Cost?
The price of your Blue Apron meals depends on the plan you select. There are several meal plans available, including vegetarian choices. The more meals you get, the cheaper the price per serving. Plus, you can save on shipping.
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Servings and Recipes/Week
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Total Cost
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|---|---|
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$0/serving ($0 total + FREE shipping = $0/week)
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Diet Friendliness
The Blue Apron menu does offer some meals for people with dietary needs. You can get vegetarian meals, weight-watcher approved, and wellness approved.
Vegetarian: this option meat-free but does contain other animal by-products such as eggs and cheese.
Weight-Watchers Approved: these meals have been created with the weight-watchers guidelines and have Smart Points associated with each meal.
Diabetes-Friendly: food follows the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
Carb-Conscious: it contains 48 grams of net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) or less per serving.
Mediterranean Diet: expect heart-healthy Mediterranean meals. These recipes showcase a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. You can enjoy lean proteins and moderate portions of dairy.
Add-Ons: Wine & More
Are you searching for Blue Apron alternatives and add-ons? The company does have some other perks when you sign up for their services. You can order a monthly wine subscription that includes six bottles of wine for $65.99, including shipping. You can get red, white, or a mix of both, and you can even pair it with recipes you’re receiving that month. Blue Apron Market also had all of your kitchenware needs and pantry spices, so it is a one-stop-shop. While some of the items are a bit pricey, the quality is not lacking. The food service subscription currently has ten different spice blends to choose from, as well as kosher salt and finishing flake salt.
Blue Apron Customer Service
Blue Apron customer service was also excellent, and they were very responsive. They were always really friendly and eager to answer any questions I had. You can email, phone, or use their website chat to reach a customer service rep, and they were always there to respond to any questions I had. They were friendly when it came to canceling a subscription, and they informed me that you could skip weeks with your subscription. You can contact them at [email protected] or by phone at (646) 891-4349. There are simple email contact forms on their website and app; reaching Blue Apron very easy.
Blue Apron’s Cancellation Policy
Skipping weeks is easy, and you need to go to your “upcoming” tab on your deliveries. It is a no-hassle process and helps if you don’t need their service that week. To cancel their subscription entirely, Blue Apron wants you to email them. However, when we did email them, the steps to cancel were as simple as going to your account and editing it. I assume they want you to email so that their customer retention team can see why you are dropping. Either way, canceling was also very simple to do; I didn’t feel pressured to stay.
Blue Apron Alternatives
This affordable meal delivery service might not have enough dietary choices to wet your whistle. If you are tired of eating the same 12 meals each week, you could try an alternative meal delivery service. Check out these Blue Apron alternatives.
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Meal Kit
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Price / Serving
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Minimum order
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Meal options
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Home Chef
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$6.99
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4 Servings
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2-6
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Sunbasket
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$11.99
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4 Servings
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15-20
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HelloFresh
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$7.49
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4 Servings
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2-5
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Summary
Overall, Blue Apron meal delivery is an excellent service. The vision is one that I can get behind with supporting local farmers and delivering better food. Their pricing per serving is better than other meal delivery kits, and they have free shipping with some of their subscriptions, which is not the case for many other meal delivery kits. Unfortunately, they aren’t great for everyone as they don’t have many dietary exceptions available or allergy substitutions for their meals. If that isn’t something you are concerned about, I think they are a great company to consider for your next delivery meal kit!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is Blue Apron Worth the Price?
When compared to other food delivery services, yes, this food service subscription is worth the price. They are cheaper than many different companies.
Is Blue Apron Healthy?
Blue Apron is a healthy option, especially when compared to things like fast food. They have meal options that are vegetarian, cab conscious, diabetes-friendly, and weight-watchers approved. Their meals, for the most part, are all very well balanced.
Does Blue Apron Deliver Every Day?
Delivery depends on your area, so, unfortunately, it is not an easy yes or no answer to this question. For many places, they have deliveries that you can schedule Monday through Friday. It is effortless to contact their customer service to inquire about your specific zip code.
Does Blue Apron Have Gluten-Free?
Unfortunately, there are no gluten-free options with Blue Apron at this time. You may be able to make a meal gluten-free easily, or by chance, a meal could be gluten-free on their menu. They do not offer specific gluten-free meal options, though.
Is Blue Apron Organic?
Blue Apron is not certified organic, but they are Non-GMO and take pride in all their ingredients being sourced locally by farmers who care about producing sustainably.
