My Blue Apron Life

Awhile back I blogged that I was using Blue Apron meals.  I still am.  I do not get a delivery every week, but average about two per month.  I like being able to cancel deliveries if I have other plans or do not like the food choices for the week.

Since the holidays are over, I've been getting weekly deliveries.  Along with some added salads, I end up having enough food for the week, since meals are for two and I am not a big eater.

I have no real complaints about the service.  When I found I was missing an item in my delivery, Blue Apron gave me a credit.  A generous credit.  The other time I contacted them it was to inquire why I had to have a Facebook account to comment on their website.

Their answer?  "Good question."  Apparently, the tips section is run by Facebook and I refuse to be a member.  I thanked them for their response and added the following comment:  "Seems like many of your customers have the IQ of a turnip".

I know I should not read message boards and usually avoid them,  but this area is supposed to be for 'tips' about preparing the meal.  Instead it is like a complaint board for idiots.  For example, here are some of the frequent comments I see:

'I hate kale.  Why are you always sending this?'
'I am allergic to dairy, mushrooms, avocados...whatever.  What can I do?'
'They said to leave the fond in the pan.  What is fond?'
'There was only enough chicken for one person' (They sent two six ounce boneless chicken breasts)
'We need more greens.  How about including a salad'.
'I don't like spicy food, but it doesn't taste good without seasoning.'
'I don't want beef but they keep sending it'. (you can say no beef when you sign up, I did).
Not enough potatoes for two people.' (Usually 9-10 ounces are sent along with an ounce of butter.)

My response, if I could make one:  Choose a different meal that does not contain kale, dairy, whatever you don't like, or leave it out.  Go to the grocer's.  Find a different service.  Why are you getting this service if all you do is complain about it???

And some of the tips from home cooks are useless.  No way should anyone marinate pork chops ALL DAY in a citrus marinade.  They will turn to mush.  Creminis mushrooms are NOT young shiitakes.  (portobellos)  And the suggestions to lengthen or shorten oven cooking times is much more likely to be the fault of the individual's heat settings on their ovens rather than an error on the part of Blue Apron.  But I am guessing based on comments that they have no idea how to calibrate an oven.

All of that being said, I enjoy the service and I'm sticking with it for now.  I just need to treat the tips from users as humor. My son tried another service and said the produce was not nearly as good a Blue Apron.  That is a big factor for me cause I don't need an entire bunch of celery just to use one stalk.  Here are pics of two meals from the past weeks:

This was a spinach and mushroom stromboli.  I have really enjoyed their vegetarian options.  I ended up getting four meals out of it by adding a salad.  And I only used half of the cheese they sent.  Thought it was a bit much.

This was Indonesian-spiced salmon.  The sauce on top had red onion with a coconut milk base.  The grain is cracked freekeh, which I had never eaten before.  I quite enjoyed it.  Not crazy about the radish and red onion side salad which I served over greens - that I bought all by myself at the grocer's.

I still have meals to give away if you wish to try it out.  Just know that if you think you only want to try it and then cancel you have to do it as soon as your meal is sent.  They require seven days notice.  If you are interested, send me an email.