Why My Family, Friends and Even Thieves Love Blue Apron (+Reader Discount!)

Thieves? I’ll get to that story at the end of the post, promise! I’ve got another drool-worthy Blue Apron post for you today (can’t help myself with the gratuitous photos). Poor Joe eats cold dinner every time I get a delivery because I cook the meals at 3PM knowing the lighting will be best to photograph them in all their edible beauty. Brings to mind this hilarious Instagram Husband video (<– watch it immediately if you’re a fellow blogger). 

Even when I’m not working on a post with Blue Apron, I’ll order the service myself because I truly am so fond of it. If I have back-to-back weekend travel plans and know the week in between will be hectic, I’ll schedule a delivery on Monday so that I don’t have to stress about dinners. Because you can skip weeks whenever you want with no penalty, I just keep my account active and unskip weeks here and there when the menu looks particularly perfect for me.

That’s another awesome thing about Blue Apron–you can see the menu options weeks in advance. They’ll select three for you based on your dietary preferences, but you can still go in and swap out meals. It’s great for me and Joe because while I have my dietary preferences set to pescatarian, Joe enjoys all meats. We can look at the upcoming options and if he’s drooling over a chicken dish, swap it into the mix. I mean, he tolerates the unrelenting pictures of what he’s eating–the least I can do is make him the occasional chicken dish. 😉 

Aside from the convenience of it, I’ve also seen an improvement in my cooking skills and knowledge. I find myself going back to old Blue Apron recipe cards when making my own meals. Often I’ll incorporate a technique or a flavor combo I particularly liked into a new recipe of my own creation.

The pictures in this post are a mix of favorite meals from my last two deliveries (one complimentary, one I purchased). All recipes can be found here. In order of photographic appearance in the post, I had the Seared Salmon & Spinach-Walnut Pesto with Potato & Onion Hash; Crispy Brown Butter Gnocchi with Meyer Lemon & Brussels Sprouts; Roasted Broccoli & Fregola Salad with Hard-Boiled Eggs & Tahini Dressing; and Cod Kedgeree with Basmati Rice, Eggs & Frizzled Onion (Joe’s favorite!).

The fish dishes are always a big hit in our apartment. Joe often doesn’t feel satisfied if a meal doesn’t contain some sort of meat, but I prefer a heavily plant-based diet … with the exception of seafood. We eat fish once or twice a week because of this common ground, and I am always looking to learn new ways of preparing it. 

I never would have thought to make pesto out of spinach and walnuts, but it went so well with the salmon in the above dish! Definitely will be making it again.

About Blue Apron

If you’re new to the blog and/or Blue Apron, let me break down the basics of this service. Blue Apron sends you a refrigerated package containing all the farm-fresh ingredients (in the exact proportions) needed to create three meals. They offer a 2-Person Plan and a Family Plan depending on your living situation. There’s a huge selection of recipes and new dishes are added to the menu every week. As I mentioned already, you can set dietary preferences, change your menu and skip weeks as you like. 

Blue Apron is working to develop a sustainable food system, and as part of that effort you’ll get seasonal, fresh ingredients sourced from quality supplier and artisans. They also offer a recycling program for your Blue Apron packaging (details here). As someone who gets a lot of package deliveries, I appreciate this.

Two Free Meals with Your First Blue Apron Delivery

I’m excited to offer P&I readers two free meals on their first Blue Apron order! The offer is open to the first 20 readers to sign up. Use this link to redeem.

Way back when I did my first Blue Apron post, my mom took advantage of this offer and she’s still using the service today! I went home for a night last week and walked into my parents’ kitchen to this scene: 

Love it!

And before I end this post, I should explain this post title–and thank Blue Apron for sending me not one but two complimentary deliveries. My first delivery was actually stolen off the entranceway to my apartment building–what?! I get that I live in a city but I was shocked. It’s happened once before when a neighbor’s package was torn open and the contents stolen, but I never thought it’d be a recurring theme–or that the target of theft would be a refrigerated box of food. In a way though, I actually feel okay about food, if anything, being stolen because there’s a good chance that person was hungry and needs it way more than I do. Either that or there’s a black market for pre-portioned Brussels sprouts of which we’re all naively unaware …

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Blue Apron. While I was compensated for my time, all opinions–as always!–are my own. I appreciate your support of the brands that support this blog! 🙂