I was fortunate enough to win a free trial of Blue Apron through a drawing at work. I have been wanting to try these meals for awhile, but I never wanted to pull the trigger on the cost.

I am not being compensated for this review; I just thought I would share our experience with these meals.

Here are my pros:

• They perfectly portion all the ingredients. So there is no measurement or buying too much of something (like a whole bunch of celery when you only need one stalk).
• No shopping is required. When you have a toddler, this is awesome. They just deliver it right to your door.
• The instruction cards are really easy to follow. I like to follow recipes, and they make it super easy to do so. I also like that I can keep these to use again.
• We were able to try recipes that we never would have thought to try. It was the first time I have ever used a shallot…In a house of two picky eaters, it was nice to break out of our norm.
• They use really fresh ingredients, which makes me super happy. We need to do better staying away from processed food, so these made that easy to do.
• Tom and I cooked together. Usually we divide and conquer with one dealing with George and the other dealing with the food. We were still able to give George attention, but help each other out in the kitchen thanks to the clear instructions. It was nice to do this together.
• THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS. It was the best fish we both have ever had. Tom admitted that even though there was some spices added, it wasn’t too much for him to handle, which is awesome. Normally I can’t add even pepper to our meals. There was not a meal that we didn’t like.

My cons:

• They lied on the prep time. I think that is for more experienced chefs than me. Most of the recipes said that the prep time was 15 minutes. It took us much longer than that to cut and dice everything. I guess I was expecting some of these things to already be done for me too. So it probably took us almost twice as long to get to the finished product.
• I really only felt like we could do these meals on the weekend because of the length of time to complete it. We try to keep our meals during the week to under 15 minutes (prep and cooking all included). We have some standard meals that we have down to a science, and Blue Apron definitely does not fit that bill. I may feel differently if our kids were older and could join in on the cooking process more. I just don’t want to spend all of George’s awake hours in front of the stove at night.
• Speaking of the bill, I am still not sure that it is worth doing all the time. Plus looking at some of the meals, they just would not fly in our house. We just happen to have a week where there was nothing spicy or way out of our comfort zone food wise. I know you can halt or skip weeks so that is helpful, but still.
• With Tom’s schedule, we will have to be selective on when we could order it. I need him to be here when we do these meals otherwise the time and effort is not worth it. I need the help, and I like that we are all trying it together.

All in all, it is something that Tom and I really enjoyed. We think we may do it a couple times a year to change up our routine. I am glad I won the chance to try it out!

Here are snapshots of our meals:

• Za’atar-Spiced Chicken with Pink Lemon Pan Sauce & Pearl Couscous-
  This had a high citrus flavor. The couscous was the best couscous I have ever had. It was big a fluffy. And it was the first time since being pregnant that I could stomach Brussels sprouts. (This baby girl does NOT like vegetables.) The instructions really helped me make the perfect chicken too.

• Spaghetti Bolognese with Butter Lettuce Salad & Creamy Italian Dressing-I really liked the pork aspect of this. I never considered ground pork an option. And we liked the mix of carrots in there too. We didn’t actually make the salad though because the dressing was made from a cheese that I wasn’t quite sure I could have, and neither of us like radishes. I have never made a spaghetti sauce that didn’t come from a jar (thanks Ragu), and it was much easier than I thought.

• Seared Catfish with Udon Noodles, Mushrooms & Carrots-This was our favorite meal for sure. It was so easy to cook the fish, and it was so so so good. I love these type of noodles, so I was really excited to see this meal on here. Then the mushrooms were just an extra bonus. There was not a single complaint about this meal. So worth the time! We will definitely make this again.
  

This was a fun culinary experience. Like I said, we will probably do this once or twice a year to change things up.

Have you tried Blue Apron or one of the other meal deliveries? What was your opinion of the meals, the prep time, in general?