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 tom yum style shrimp and noodles looks fantastic.
I just printed the recipe for the Roasted Poblano Chilaquiles from the Blue Apron website to try at home! I’m especially excited to try it since you said you loved it!
Mmmm…The Baked Fontina Pasta with Brussels Sprouts & Sage Breadcrumbs looks phenomenal and is totally something I wouldn’t make on my own. The Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas with Cabbage & Radish Curtido is also peaking my interest. Although the picture is not as ‘beautiful’ as the others, I have never made Pupusas so I think it’d be fun to try AND delicious!
The corned-beef spiced flank steak sounds awesome!
My husband would love if I cooked the corned beef flank steaks! Yummy!
The corned beef spiced flank steak looks and sounds so good! I always start craving corned beef around this time! 🙂
I would love to try the Tom yum style soup!
I would so love that baked fontina pasta!
I’m always looking for new Turkey Chili recipes!
The Tom Yum Style Shrimp and Noodles and the Baked Fontina Pasta sound great!
Corn beef spiced flank steaks! For some reason, I’m pretty intimidated to cook beef at home…this would definitely help. Thanks!
The turkey chilli looks fantabulous!!!
Received a free week of meals as a very thoughtful thank you gift from one of my friends and after reviewing the meals this week, I placed my order! Can’t wait to try the Smoky Beluga Lentils!
They all look good, but Tom Yum and Pupusas are two things that I love to order when I’m out to eat, so I’d love to make them at home.
I’m loving shrimp right now…the shrimp and noodles looks fantastic!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles sound so perfect! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
Erin
ErinLoves2Run at gmail dot com
I know spring is just around the corner, but i’ve been on a soup kick lately!
that turkey chili with avocado sounds ah-ma-zing!
Smoky beluga lentils sound incredible. Lentils are my love language! 🙂
ALL the meals look delicious but since I’m always interested in trying something new I would have to go with the Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas!
Omg the shrimp and noodles look so perfect! I may have drooled on my phone while checking them out. …
Would love to try a vegetarian dish to get my hubby to enjoy something healthier… What a great plan!!
I would love to try the smoky beluga lentils!
Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles looks yummy!
I would love to try the Pupusas! I’m Colombian and we have something a little similar(arepas) but it would be great to know how to make the real deal!
The Baked Fontina Pasta sounds wonderful, really, it all does!
I love tom yum – looks delicious on their website!
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles look wonderful. Would love to try it!
Everything looks amazing but the tom yum style shrimp and noodles would be my pick (for some reason I get nervous cooking seafood so this would be great!).
It all looks good, but the Baked Fontina Pasta is calling my name.
The Baked Fontina Pasta with Brussels Sprouts & Sage Breadcrumbs looks so good!!! This is an awesome giveaway!
Looking forward to the Tom-Yum!!
Smoky Beluga Lentils with Garlic Toast & Soft-Boiled Eggs…. I am drooling at the thought. Thanks Julie!
The chickpea burgers look awesome!
This is such an intriguing concept. I have been debating trying it out since you mentioned it last time on the blog but still can’t seem to pull the trigger. I think that it would definitely help solve the “what’s for dinner” nightly debate! The Flank Steak and the shrimp look great, even though I”m a huge fan of turkey chili too!!! 🙂
I’d love to try the turkey chili – we are always looking to find new and delicious chili recipes!
Either the Turkey Chili or Tom-Yum Style Shrimp and Noodles! Both look delish 🙂
The Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles looks amazing! We went to Thailand on our honeymoon and loved this dish when we were there so I’d love to try to recreate that!!! Thanks!!
I would love to try the Tom Yum-Style Shrimp & Noodles! Thai food is my favorite and I would love to learn how to cook it at home!
The lentil dish looks fantastic!
I am a vegetarian myself and often find myself just eating the sides to whatever it is a cook for the rest of my meat-eating family. So, I would love to try their black bean and cheese pupusa! (Auto correct wants me to try their black bean and cheese pupils, ew!) I have never heard of a pupusa and think it would probably be spectacular judging by the picture, everything there looks so good!!
Baked fontina pasta = yum!!
The baked Fontina Pasta with Brussels Sprouts & Sage Breadcrumbs looks delicious. Plus, my husband thinks he doesn’t like brussles sprouts, but hasn’t had th since he was little. This may be a good recipe to test it out! And if he doesn’t like it, more leftovers for me! 🙂
The Corned Beef-Spiced Flank Steaks with Braised Cabbage & Buttered Red Potatoes sounds good. My husband loves corned beef and I have no idea how to cook it or what to do with it.
The baked Fontina pasta looks fantastic! I’m trying to savor the last couple weeks of winter food that I can before we dive into spring here in Durham. I have a feeling that by next week it’s going to be all grilling all the time.
The tom yum style shrimp and noodles look great and I have never tried to cook anything similar before!
I’d love to try the Baked Fontina Pasta – I love Brussels Sprouts and the idea of throwing them in a baked pasta dish isn’t something I’ve thought of!
The smoky beluga lentils meal looks amazing!
The Salvadoran Black Bean & Cheese Pupusas look and sound amazing and would be completely new to me! Mmm only 3 hours until lunchtime… 🙂
The Corned Beef Spiced Flank Steak looks awesome! I love corned beef but it’s only really affordable/available around St. Patrick’s day. I would love to learn this similar recipe with flank steak so that I could have it year round!
It’s a tie between the corned beef steak flanks and the turkey chili! Both look amazing!!!