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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The flank steaks & turkey chili both look delicious!
Tom Yum style shrimp & noodles! YUM.
I’m so torn between the Baked Fontina Pasta or Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas. One has cheese and Brussels sprouts, the other is something I would never make on my own. Decisions!!
Turkey chili for me please!
So many choices, I would like to try the flank steak and the shrimp and noodles! Yummy! 🙂
The flank steak!!
It’s a toss up between the turkey chili and the shrimp dish!
I’d go with the shrimp and noodles! Yum!
I would love to try the Smoky Beluga Lentils! Looks so fun!
I would LOVE to try the Tom Yum Soup and the Baked Fontina Pasta. They both look absolutely delicious!! This would make life so much easier
I’ve been wanting to try Blue Apron! The flank steaks look great…especially because I always feel intimated by cooking red meat!!
I’m going with Shrimp and Noodles because I’d love to figure out how to create that delicious Tom Yum flavor!
I have been wanting the try out Blue Apron for the longest time! For next week’s menu, either the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles or the Flank Steak look the best to me… so many of their recipes look amazing!!
The Tom Yum Style Shrimp and Noodles looks and sounds great!
I would love to try any of them – but the flank steaks and baked pasta look awesome!
Beluga lentils sound good to me!
Shrimp and noodles!
Turkey chili and fontina pasta! Yum! Your meals all look delicious but sadly my husband doesn’t do much seafood or fish and is more of a meat and potatoes guy.
Fontina Pasta for sure! I’m a carb o holic ☺
Corned Beef spiced flank steaks! Yum!
I would love to try corned beef flank steaks just in time for St Pattys day!
I would totally choose the chili!
I keep hearing amazing things about Blue Apron! Not gonna lie, I started drooling after seeing that Tom Yum style dish. I’ve been craving southeast Asian food!
The Baked Fontina Pasta looks sooooo delicious! Gathering ingredients at the grocery store and then carrying them on the bus (which is usually super crowded) back to my apartment can be difficult, so this is awesome for a college student like me! =)
Mandy | http://www.mandydreams.com
The Turkey Chili sounds so good!
Corned Beef Spiced Flank Steak sounds and looks wonderful!
The Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas Sound delicious!!
The corned beef flank steaks sound delicious!
The mushroom and beef stroganoff looks great.
That Baked Fontina Pasta is calling my name!
Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas – they sound delicious!
Tom yum shrimp! We’ve actually received blue apron weekly for several months and I’d say 30% of the dishes are less than stellar. One was downright horrible with pomegranate seeds that literally felt like rocks when you chewed them. We also had a week where they forgot one of the packets of knick knacks in a meal where 90% of the recipe called for knick knacks. It was truly disappointing.
Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas looks extremely yummy like a fancy grilled cheese! Ps– congrats on your pregnancy 🙂
I’d like to try the baked fontina pasta!
I would love to make the baked fontina pasta!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles looks so good! And it’s definitely not something I feel like I would ever make on my own.
The smoky beluga lentils sound delicious
I would love to try the papusas!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles looks amazing!
I’ve been toying around with the idea as well. Especially since I don’t cook very often. Everyone says it’s super easy. The Baked Fontina Pasta looks delish! xoxo, ganeeban
The tom-yum shrimp and noodle dish looks awesome and something that I definitely would not normally make….it would be great to try some new dishes and cooking styles!
I want to try the Crispy Brown Butter Gnocchi.
Definitely the tom yum shrimp and noodles!
I’ve been wanting to try Blue Apron. The tom yum soup with shrimp looks so good!
LOOVE to try al their recipes. The baked fontina pasta stood out as a must-try!
the cheese pupusas!
I’ve been dying to try Blue Apron and actually gave it as a Christmas gift to a friend. The Crispy Brown Gnocchi looks delicious.
Fun! I’m veggie and I’d love to try the beluga lentil recipe up on the website!
The steaks look great!
The corned beef spice flank steaks!