January 17, 2017
01/17/17
By Gigi C
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Blue Apron December 2016 Review + 3 FREE MEALS
Disclosure; I received this box for review. This post contains affiliate links.
Guest Review Alert- Gigi! Hi everyone – I'm back with another food box review. This time it's Blue Apron.
Blue Apron December 2016 Review
Blue Apron is a meal subscription box that sends you delicious recipes and all the ingredients you need to make the dishes. What's different about Blue Apron? Their chefs work together with farmers to make food more sustainable, cutting out the middle man and delivering ingredients at their freshest. This allows them to deliver top-notch recipes at a great price. Blue Apron uses:
- Farm-fresh, seasonal produce
- Meat with no added hormones
- Sustainably-sourced seafood
- …and everything else you need to create delicious, healthy meals for your family!
There are two plans, a two-person plan and a family plan. The two-person plan is $59.94/box or 9.99 per serving. The two-person box includes three meals for two people. With the family box, you can choose either 2 or 4 meals (each serves 4 people). The family box starts at $69.92/box for two recipes (8 meals) or $139.84 for four recipes (16 meals) which comes out to $8.74/meal.
When you sign up, you check all the kinds of food you like. Each week, you will be sent meals based on your preferences.
Blue Apron ships in a big box!
First Look:
All the food is packaged in an insulated bag.
All the produce is packaged (if necessary). The “knick-knacks” (condiments and spices for each meal) are packaged in brown paper bags.
There are two-sided recipe cards for each meal.
All the meat comes packaged under ice packs so it stays nice and fresh.
The Recipes:
Fresh Linguine Pasta – The first meal I made combined the flavors of fresh linguine pasta, citrusy lemon, and aromatic roasted fennel. Castelvetrano olives (a buttery Italian variety) and a garnish of pan-toasted breadcrumbs added a great flavor and satisfying crunch. A creamy ricotta and lemon juice mixture topped the pasta to add some creaminess and tie all the flavors together. I had never cooked with fennel before, and it really added a nice flavor. I also really liked the toasted breadcrumbs on top.
Mid-prep.. The noodles were very fresh.
The finished product. It was very good!
Sesame Chicken with Bok Choy & Jasmine Rice – One of my favorite go-to weeknight meals is stir-fry style chicken. This sesame chicken recipe combined sesame oil in the sauce and black and white sesame seeds to add a pleasant crunch. Sauteed bok choy and jasmine rice completed the dish. If you've never had jasmine rice – this is my FAVORITE kind. It's so easy to make and it has a hint of sweet, perfect for Asian cuisine.
Here's a closeup of this delicious meal. This was very easy and we'll be making this again!
Steaks & Green Peppercorn Sauce with Kale & Roasted Potato – I left this for my last meal because I knew it would be a hit with the steak – and I wanted to save the best for last! I wasn't too sure about the kale because I've never really made it. This was a take on the classic French dish “steak au poivre” (steak with peppercorn sauce) and it featured a special ingredient – pickled peppercorns. They gave a delicious, tangy kick to the mustardy pan sauce It was AMAZING with the steak. The kale was also DELICIOUS and I will DEFINITELY be making this dish again.
Close-up of the beautiful steak and peppercorn sauce.
Final Thought: Overall we had 3 delicious meals. I was very happy with everything I made and I will be making all of these recipes again. Seriously – they were worth repeating. The recipes are simple, easy to follow with the instructions – and the recipe cards are nice to put in your recipe book when you're done so you can make them again. All the ingredients are provided except things you should already have on hand (for all three meals I only had to provide salt, pepper, and olive oil). Everything tasted VERY fresh and I was impressed with the quality of the produce and the meats.
I would recommend trying Blue Apron – you might discover a new recipe you can't live without! Also, after you become a subscriber, you can skip any week in your account. So give it a go, skip when you want and if you want to try Blue Apron, use this link to get 3 Free Meals on your 1st order (shipping charges apply). There is no commitment – you can skip or cancel any time.
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