I first heard of Blue Apron, a service that delivers all the ingredients you need to make three gourmet-quality meals, back in December 2013.
My friend Merri followed a Blue Apron recipe and made us a delicious dinner of udon noodle soup during one of my visits to New York City. She initially signed up for Blue Apron to teach herself how to cook since she was not really comfortable in the kitchen and absolutely raved about the step-by-step instructions that came with each shipment of the meal delivery service.
I came home from New York and spoke highly of the service to Ryan… so much so that he ended up giving me four weeks of Blue Apron meals for Christmas that year! We had so much fun trying new recipes and using fun, flavorful ingredients. We continue to use the service regularly and I promise you we have yet to make one meal we didn’t love. I now have my mom and dad hooked on regular deliveries, too!
In case Blue Apron hasn’t been on your radar up until now, here’s how it works: Blue Apron is a service that sends you all of the farm-fresh ingredients you need to make three delicious meals a week for $9.99 per person per meal (with free shipping). (A Family Plan is also available and feeds a family of four for $8.74 per person per meal.) All ingredients are delivered to your doorstep in a refrigerated box and come with three chef-designed recipes that are easy to follow thanks to gorgeous photos of each step of the recipe. (The Tom-Yum Style Shrimp and Noodles and the Orange Ginger Salmon are calling to me!)
Ryan and I initially opted for the vegetarian meal plan to help ourselves learn to cook more delicious meatless meals, but you can choose whether or not your want your meals to include red meat, poultry, seafood, etc.
For our most recent Blue Apron delivery, we opted for a pescetarian meal plan and received all the fresh ingredients we needed to make two vegetarian dishes and one meal with fish.
Here’s what our menu looked like:
This dish was truthfully the one we were least excited about, mainly because it looked like it might be a little bland since, at first glance, it seemed like simple white fish, cooked rice and wilted spinach. Well, we were in for a very pleasant surprise because this dish was a big-time hit with both of us!! (It actually ended up being Ryan’s favorite!) It was absolutely delicious thanks to the salty miso yuzu glaze and the fresh ginger. Definitely not your average fish and rice dish!
I couldn’t wait to make this salad. The colors from the bright orange sweet potatoes and deep green kale made it look so vibrant and tasty. I am happy to report that is ended up being every bit as delicious as I hoped it would be! The chewy texture of the farro paired together perfectly with the soft sweet potato and the crunchiness of the hazelnuts. I also loved that I learned how to pickle onions while I made this recipe, as that’s something I never knew how to do before! I told Ryan I think this salad would also taste delicious chilled as a summer side dish to bring to a BBQ with friends.
If you put a fried egg on top of something, Ryan will definitely order it at a restaurant, so this recipe caught his eye the minute we pulled it out of the Blue Apron box. (My egg was cooked all way through – pregnancy precaution.) Ryan ended up cooking the sauce part of this dish (for some reason, during pregnancy canned crushed tomatoes are currently making my stomach turn) but by the time he was done following the recipe, the smell encouraged me to give it a try and I loved it!! While he tackled the peppery sauce, I made the tortilla chips that served as the crunchy bed for the dish and fried up the eggs. Team work at its finest! Also, I loved the way this recipe had us toss fresh avocado in lime juice, salt and pepper before using it as a delicious garnish. That really kicked the flavor up a notch!
Giveaway
Now here is your chance to try Blue Apron for yourself! One PBF reader will win a free week of Blue Apron meals for two!
To enter this giveaway, click here to pop over to Blue Apron and check out what’s on the menu for this week and leave a comment below telling me which recipe you’d be most excited to create!
Please note: This giveaway includes a week of meals for two people. Blue Apron delivers to 80 percent of the United States. In order to win this giveaway, you must live in one of the delivery zones. (A map of the delivery zones may be seen here.) I will randomly select a winner on Friday.
And please don’t worry if you don’t win! The first 100 readers who try Blue Apron will receive two free meals on their first order! To receive this promo, please click here to order.
Good luck!!!
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Disclaimer: While this post is sponsored by Blue Apron, affiliate links are not included and I am not receiving any compensation for orders placed with Blue Apron. Thank you for your support!
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Shrimp and Noodles, something I would never think of making. 🙂
I think the lentil dish looks delicious!
My husband and I do blue apron and we are HOOKED!! so so so good!!
I remember you discussing this place a while ago and wanted to look into and never got around to it. What a cool idea to get fresh and new meals into the household!
The turkey chili or the tom-yum style shrimp and noodles look fantastic…but who doesn’t just love the pasta dish too!
Everything looks amazing!
The adobo-style chicken with bok choy and wild rice looks great!
I’m in denial that I need family-size meals these days. I have two boys (3 and 13 months) who actually eat full servings of real food. How did that happen? Aren’t they still babies?
I would love to try to Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles! The fiance and I love Thai food.
As a college student, cooking is tough because of the lack of time for creativity. The turkey chili looks amazing and seems like a great way to get protein and veggies in one easy meal!
Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles sound amazing! My husband absolutely loves Tom Yum soup. Would love to make this for him 🙂
Shrimp and noodles – yummy!
The turkey chili looks delicious!
The shrimp and noodles sound so so good!
I love this concept. We would love to try the Beet, goat cheese and apple sliders!
everything looks so good! I would love to try the Tom yum style shrimp and noodles!
I’d love to try the flank steak or pasta with brussels!
All that stuff sounds SO good! The smoky beluga lentils sounds so different!
The baked pasta and lentil ones look great. They all do, actually! 🙂
Because our family is a family of 5 crazies, including my husband & I. We would choose the pan seared salmon family meal. Yummo! We definitely need to try this.
Obviously I want the corned-beed franks for St. Patty’s Day. Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
Julie
I would love to make the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles – my “Asian” dinners at home are simple stirfry-this looks more adventurous and like a satisfying challenge. Would love to try Blue Apron-we have only done plate.
Congrats too!
I really want to try Blue Apron – I have heard nothing but great things!
I think I would love to try the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles. It’s something I normally wouldn’t think to make!
I would love to try the corned beef, potato and cabbage dish since Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day!
I’d be most excited to try the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles – yum!
Tom yum style shrimp and noodles looks delish!!
I have heard such awesome things about Blue Apron. I’m dying to try it! I think Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles sounds DELICIOUS!
I would love to try all of them, to be honest, and some days would be willing to donate a limb in order to not have to think about what to make for dinner. But if I had to pick- it is a toss up between the turkey chili and the Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas!
I would love to try the lentil dish for something different!
I love the flank steak!
Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles! I’m always so nervous to cook asian style food and buy all of the ingredients so this sounds perfect and simple!
I just wrote about Blue Apron on my site today too and offered a referral code! They sent me a bunch of free meal links to send out to people, so I was thinking about adding that as a giveaway sometime soon. I love Blue Apron and I always feel like a magical chef!
ooh, the smoky beluga lentils look good!
I’m all about trying the Smoky Beluga Lentils!! This dish looks incredible! It would provide me with great energy for my long runs around Atlanta! 🙂
The lentil dish looks yummy! I have never attempted to make lentils before and I am eager to try.
Definitely the Tom Yum style shrimp and noodles!! I love Thai food and would like to be able to make it myself instead of having to order take out all the time.
The flank steak looks delicious and perfect for St Patty’s day!
The Tom-Yum Style Shrimp and Noodles look delicious!!!
Turkey Chili for sure!
I am drooling over those pupusas. Yum.
I have been considering blue apron for awhile now, but I haven’t pulled the trigger. The adobo style chicken sounds amazing!
lolololol are you kidding me? not even a question: baked fontina pasta.
The baked fontina pasta with brussel sprouts and sage breadcrumbs sounds delicious!
I’d love to make the Baked Fontina Pasta! This service sounds great!
Shrimp & noodles! I would love to become more confident in cooking seafood dishes!
I would want to cook Corned Beef-Spiced Flank Steaks with Braised Cabbage & Buttered Red Potatoes. Pick me.
A fried eggs makes pretty much any meal amazing in my book, as does avocado! When it comes to fish it really is all about the dry rub or sauce for sure!
Mmmm, the turkey chilli with avocado and cheddar cheese looks fabulous!
Those shrimp and noodles sure look delicious and I don’t even really like seafood! Good luck everyone!
The pupusas look so good! I’d love to try my hand at making those.
Black bean and cheese pupusas! Looks delicious 🙂
it’s almost St. Patrick’s day and a traditional irish dish is corned beef and cabbage. The first one on their website immediately caught my attention: Corned Beef-Spiced Flank Steaks! YUM something new i’d love to try!
The turkey chili looks really good!