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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Shrimmp and noodles look yummy!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles looks fabulous!!
The Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas look and sound so good!
tom yum style shrimp and noodles!
turkey chili!!!!
the turkey chili looks soooo good!
Oh the turkey chili looks amazing! and how perfect meals for 2, so hard to do sometimes!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles sound fantastic!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp and Noodles looks great!!
That salad looks so yummy! I’m always so bummed out by these giveaways though because right now Blue Apron doesn’t deliver to my area :/
I definitely want to try the Salvadorian Pupusas! It’s a new cuisine to me and they look delicious!
I’m totally torn between the black bean and cheese pupusas and the smoky beluga lentils. The lentils probably win out though because I love smoky flavored things and lentils are awesome
I would love to try the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles!!
i love pupusas so that looks amazing! I also think the flank steak looks really good too!
The kale & butternut squash lasagna looks delicious!
I love Thai food, but have no idea how to make it. I would love to try out the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles (and hopefully pick up some tips on cooking proper Thai cuisine!).
I am a sucker for flank steak. Tom Yum shrimp sounds great too! Fingers crossed!
all of these meals look so good! i just went to honduras, so i would love to make papusas.
You’ve really got me wanting to try those tom yum noodles!
The pupusas look AMAZING!
Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles sounds amazing!!
the smoky beluga lentils look really interesting – i bet i would love it! i gifted my cousin blue apron after she had her newborn to make things easier, but haven’t pulled the trigger on getting it for myself yet.. i would love the opportunity!
I want to try the Chickpea Burgers!
The Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas!!
Ohhhh The corned beef steak sounds fantastic!
I LOVE fontina cheese… The baked fontina pasta sounds amazing!
The Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas look like a fun dish to try! The corned beef, fontina pasta, and turkey chili also look good, but I’d love to try something that I wouldn’t normally try.
I had to look up what pupusas are, and I’m glad I did because that would be my choice!
The Baked Fontina Pasta looks delicious!
Tom Yum-Style Shrimp and Noodles for sure! Delish!
The baked fontina pasta!! It looks amazing!
Definitely ordering now, love this concept!
What a great giveaway! The pupusas look amazing. I’d love to try making some different things with a bit of help!
The turkey chili looks amazing! I have been craving chili!
tom yum shrimp and noodles!
The Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas!!
The smoked beluga lentils look fantastic! I only recently discovered these delicious little beans, and want them in everything now 🙂
Definitely the Baked Fontina Pasta! I’m a sucker for anything with a noodle 🙂
I’d love to try the Corned Beef-Spiced Flank Steaks. I’m not super comfortable cooking red meat, so I would love the practice. Plus, it sounds delicious.
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles looks great!
The corned beef looks delicious!
The baked fontina pasta looks incredibly creamy and delicious!
I’d love to try the Salvadoran Pupusas!
Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas, please! Black bean EVERYTHING!
The Corned Beef-Spiced Flank Steaks! I don’t trust my cooking abilities to try something like this on my own. 😉
I think the mushroom and beef stroganoff would be delicious and I am pretty sure I could even get my two little guys to eat it!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles sounds awesome and not like something I would normally make, so it would be extra fun to try cooking something new. The Blue Apron idea is really appealing to me but since I live alone it seems like it might be impractical, plus that means for each meal it’s $20/per person if I don’t like the leftovers. I feel like being able to try it out for a week for free might totally convince me it’s worth it, though!
Yum turkey chili looks great~!
I would love to try the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles!!
Everything looks great! But I’d be most excited to try the papusas and smoky beluga lentils just because they are out of my cooking norm!