A Registered Dietitian’s Review on Blue Apron Review

So I think I might be hooked on these boxes of food being delivered to my house. Spicing up my recipe box has been fun, and made cooking exciting again! We gave Hello Fresh a shot and then we gave Blue Apron a chance to compare the two companies! At first I was weary and wasn’t completely sold on the idea. This week we received another Hello Fresh box – and since I was on vacation for 10 days it’s been perfect for this week since I’ve been playing catch up in all other areas of life.

Meal 1: Spiced Beef Pitas & Garlic Labneh with Arugula & Date Salad

Easily my favorite dish we have received thus far! We both wanted to seconds lol! I loved how the dish came with a side salad as well.

Positives:
1. Unique: we both love gyro and this was a fun twist! I have actually never homemade gyros before so I loved having this recipe delivered!
2. The meat was pre-cut! This made me so happy! I was not looking forward to thinly slicing all the meat. When I opened the package I was pleasantly surprised!

No complaints on this meal. I did make extra veggies, but I would have been satisfied without the extra veggies.

Meal 2: Taiwanese – Style Chicken with Jasmine Rice and Crispy Shallot & Cilantro

Again, something different than I am use to preparing. We don’t ever eat cabbage, honestly I don’t think I have ever bought cabbage. So this recipe was 100% unique and added variety to our usual diet. Variety is important because help satisfy your taste buds and keep your gut healthy!

Positives:
1. Variety: Adding new foods to our kitchen is exciting to me. The cabbage was sauteed and served over Jasmine rice. Jasmine rice is another ingredient we don’t typically eat so it was fun to give it a chance!
2. Flavor: We were both very satisfied with this meal. The flavor was awesome, and there was little conversing in between bites!

Meal 3: Seared Cod & Creme Fraiche Sauce

I can’t speak on meal 3 as I was out of town! It worked out well for my SO because he got to eat the entire meal (LOL). However, he reported the meal was easy to prepare, no super time consuming, and tasty! If you ask his opinion he enjoyed the meal and said it was easy to prepare. He was also very supportive with my blogging and sent me a picture of the meal. It was a great effort, but the picture did not make the meal look very appetizing, we need to work on his plate presentation skills 😉 so we will skip the picture for meal number 3! 

Over All:

1. The calories had a wide range, ranging from about 450 to over 700. If you are a calorie counter like myself this is something would want to pay attention and plan your meals accordingly. Having such a big range is appealing to me, but it’s not a deal breaker because I can plan accordingly! 
2. The recipes and flavors of each meal were amazing. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience with Blue Apron. The meals were easy to prepare and got me to cook new recipes
3. The cost is our biggest barrier. My weekly grocery bills ranges from about 60-80 dollars, and this provides us with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the week. So at this time I just cant justify having a 3 meals delivered for about 60 dollars. But if this fits into your budget its might be worth a shot! For us, it’ll be a treat here and there but we will be returning customers. 

Compared to Hello Fresh

1. Packaging: Hello Fresh takes the win for this category. My OCD loved how Hello Fresh had each day separated into its own box, I could put the box right into the fridge and it was organized for the next day. Blue apron had some organization with paper bags but it definitely was not as neatly separated!
2. Portion sizes: The portion sizes were relatively the same compared to Hello Fresh. No significant difference in this category!
3. Recipes: In this category I think they both won me over. Each company provided great recipes which were easy to prepare. The recipes have great flavor and have allowed me to switch things up from my regular meals! I love trying new recipes, but when a recipe calls for a specific ingredient not typically kept in my house it can quickly increase my grocery bill. These boxes provide you with small amounts of those different ingredients which keeps my cost down and my taste buds happy!

Blue apron does not give me a code to pass along so you guys can try it out for a discounted price. But if you want to give Hello Fresh a chance use code NICHSNY at check out. The code gives you 40 dollars off, so you can try the 3 meals for 20 dollars!