Aproning, a Little

Has anyone tried Blue Apron?

Well, back up, are you familiar with Blue Apron? I only just heard of it myself recently; perhaps I should explain first. It's a food delivery service: "Blue Apron delivers all the fresh ingredients you need to make delicious meals in exactly the right proportions." I haven't been eating as well as I would like to, nor am I at all adventurous, and part of my excuse is that it's so hard to find the time to decide what to make, and to actually make it, which I know sounds lame, but there we are. Or there I am, anyway: the decision-making and the execution are lacking.

Which takes us to Blue Apron. I had heard of it and been interested, but dubious. Would I use it all? Would I like it? Is it worth the money? But you know me and a sale, I can't resist, and when Amalah offered a discount code to her readers recently, I decided to give it a try (if you're at all interested, you should read her report, it's impressive--and, obviously, convincing!). Clearly, my situation is different from hers (single woman vs married woman with three kids), but I can identify with what she said, about cooking with her husband, all the same:

...overly complicated recipes that sparked our interest but had no place being made on a weeknight. (Or just making the same rotating list of meals over and over, zombie-style.)

You can give them some guidance on what types of foods you like, fish and meat and vegetarian and I'm sure I'm forgetting some things: it didn't take long to sign up, but there was some depth to it. Since they don't have a one-person plan, I am trying the two-person plan ("one delivery a week, with three delicious recipes and the corresponding ingredients pre-portioned for two"), figuring that if I like it, leftovers are not a problem for me. And while it's a weekly delivery schedule (you pick the day), it's totally easy to cancel a week: in fact, I cancelled next week's when I signed up, so that I can assess before deciding if this is for me.

And about that "corresponding ingredients pre-portioned" part, did you notice that? We've probably all been there, trying a new recipe and it needs what is that? So if you have a recipe that needs 1 teaspoon of some unusual ingredient, instead of buying a six-ounce package and never using the rest, with Blue Apron you get a teaspoon of it, period. And they apparently send everything, except salt, pepper, and olive oil. Seems to me that as well as the "making it easy" aspect, and the "decently healthy" aspect, the "not wasting crap" aspect should suit me fine. How many times have I bought ingredients for something and ended up not making it, or using it up?

I got an email on Wednesday telling me that my box was on its way, with a sneak peek at the menu. Apparently I will be trying "corned beef-spiced flank steaks" and "turkey chili" and "baked fontina pasta"! They also mentioned what's in next week's box, noting that I could change my mind if I'm tempted. Later I got another email that was a how-this-all-works message, with links to videos and things for preparation. I particularly liked this note: "All of our packaging is recyclable, biodegradable, or reusable." Good!

My first box came tonight. The pasta is just out of the oven: I'll report on it tomorrow, it's time to eat!