Inside: Blue Apron is a meal delivery service with very easy-to-customize meals that are hearty, healthy, and delicious! This service is a healthy alternative to take-out!
Our family used to never eat out. OK, I take that back. When we barely had two pennies to rub together, we would eat out about once a month (and we would go somewhere cheap).
Fast forward a few years, and we now, regrettably, eat out way more than we should. Most of it has to do with mama working more than she used to, and with the increase in income, we have more room in our budget to eat out than we did in the past.
However, eating away from home doesn’t just affect your budget; it also affects your health.
When eating out, it is next to impossible to control the ingredients. At all but a very few restaurants, the food served is full of excessive sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fats.
Convenience foods–whether in the form of processed boxes and bags from the grocery store or in the shape of a meal at a restaurant–have contributed greatly to rising obesity rates and the increase in other diseases as well.
So what’s a busy mama to do when her schedule is jammed-packed full and it’s just not realistic to cook from scratch every single night?
Enter: Blue Apron.
Friends of ours told us about Blue Apron a few years ago when we were lamenting the fact that we had been eating out more than we wanted.
Blue Apron is a meal service which allows you to create delicious, chef-designed recipes at home. The service delivers all the fresh ingredients you need, right to your doorstep, in exactly the right proportions.
This saves you from extra trips to the grocery store and from wasting unused ingredients.
Each refrigerated Blue Apron box comes with recipes for the meals you will create with the ingredients they send you.
The result? Tasty, home-cooked meals that take minutes to make and are a much healthier alternative to take-out!
Blue Apron emailed me to ask if I wanted to try out their service at just the perfect time. We were super busy getting ready for two summer trips.
They sent us the ingredients to make two meals–pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches with fingerling potato salad and creamy coleslaw and seared salmon and long beans.
Even if I had been providing my own ingredients, these recipes made for incredibly satisfying and healthy meals that took around just 35 minutes each to prepare!
Blue Apron offers two types of plans, the 2-Person Plan and Family Plan. The Family Plan is designed for a family of four, but we were able to make it work for our family of five since our kids are still young (although, we did not have any leftovers). With the Family Plan, you can opt to receive one or two deliveries per week, each delivery consisting of two meals to be served family-style.
The price for this plan is $69.92 for the two family meals–which is approximately what it would cost (or less) for our family to eat out (unless we were eating at McDonald’s, which we never do!). Shipping on the deliveries is always free.
The best part is that there is no commitment! You can skip or cancel the service at any time!
My intentions are to use this service when I know we will be in a really busy season–like when I am working on a book deadline.
Hopefully, it will deter us from eating out as much and fill the need for a healthier alternative to take-out!
I can also see Blue Apron as being a great gift for a new mom or for someone who is recovering from an illness and can cook but not necessarily make it out to the grocery store.
Blue Apron Discount!
Anyone who is trying Blue Apron for the first time can get a great savings! Click HERE for details!
Have you ever tried Blue Apron? What are your suggestions for a healthier alternative to take-out?
Cookie
I was JUST talking to my sister in law about brainstorming solutions to eat healthier during a time crunch! Thank you so much for this post 🙂
Erin
Oh that is perfect timing then, Cookie! YAY!
melissa wilson
This is great. Thank you for sharing!
Erin
You are so welcome!
Jen
Sounds like something we could really use!
Erin
It is a really cool service for when people are in a time crunch but still want healthy!
Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life
This sounds like a good option for trying out some new ingredients that you may not pick out for yourself at the store.
One way that we avoid fast food while we are out is to buy a simple picnic-style meal at the grocery store. Pitas and hummus, cheese and a loaf of sourdough bread, fresh fruit, some deli meat, etc. It’s easy to pick out and take to eat at a park or at home. Also nice that nothing really needs to be prepared, which is good when I am really tired.
Erin
The ingredient thing is real! You might laugh, but I had never before bought radishes or chives before these meals! LOL
I LOVE your ideas for healthy meals during busy seasons. I really struggle, especially, when I’m working on a bundle sale. Another thing I have done is get a rotisserie chicken from the store and just sauté some green beans or something!
Would you be interested in writing a guest post about some ideas for healthy dinners on the go?! Send me an email if you are, Lisa! I think it would be great! 🙂
Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life
Having a roasted chicken in the fridge has saved my meal times on many occasions! It is SO versatile, not to mention great to freeze the bones for broth later. 🙂
Also, I’d love to share some ideas. I’ll email you.
Bethany Voth
So bummed… they don’t deliver to my area yet!
Erin
Oh that totally stinks! 🙁 Boo!
Hannah F
I was about to sign up with the discount but want to clarify that the two free meals are two free servings, so a $19.98 discount, not a $69.92 discount as I had originally thought. Still a good discount!
Erin@The Humbled Homemaker
Oh man, but thank you for clarifying, Hannah! I am on mobile but when I get home I will update this in the post. I was under the same impression as you!
Sally
It’s late 2018 now and this article was written in 2015. Can anyone offer any updates on what’s going on with this company?
Erin
That’s a good question. 🙁 We haven’t used them in a long time, so I really don’t know. I’m sorry I can’t offer more.