A few years ago, I got a meal-box subscription to Blue
Apron. Meal-box subscriptions were a new
thing at the time, and Blue Apron was the one that started it all. Once a week, I would receive one box full of
all the ingredients to make dinner for the week. The box came with everything needed and
detailed recipe cards.
I LOVED it.
But eventually we reevaluated our budget and decided to let
it go. And I started meal planning our
dinners again for a few years. Meal
planning is necessary, unless you are one of these people that don’t mind going
to the store every single day. It’s nice
to have a plan for the week so you can go to the store, get your ingredients,
etc.
BUT. There are sooooo
many things I dislike about the whole process.
Figuring out what to make.
Actually shopping for the ingredients.
Not finding what I need while I’m shopping and having to go to TWO (or
more) stores. Buying an entire bottle of
a certain spice for $6 when all I need is ½ teaspoon. Not making good use of the ingredients and
throwing out stuff every single week because it goes bad. Busy stores with clueless people who leave
their cart in the middle of the aisle while they browse elsewhere. I could go on and on.
Work is busy. Life is
busy. On a typical day, I leave the
house at 5:40 a.m. armed with at least 3, sometimes 4 bags (gym bag, purse,
lunch bag, and my computer bag if I’ve brought work home the night
before). I then go to Barre, then shower
at work (hauling all the bags inside), work for 8-9 hours, and then leave
(hauling all the bags back out to the car) around 4:00 or 4:30. Sometimes, if I’m really ambitious I will take
the 4:30 Barre class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
So I get home anytime between 4:30 – 5:45. And then even later if I have to go to the
store.
There was a day back in February when I left Barre at 5:30
p.m. and then went to get groceries and bought maybe 8 bags worth? When I got home (around 6:30 or 7:00) and
opened my trunk and saw my grocery bags and all of my other bags that had to be
hauled inside and unpacked and dealt with and THEN knowing I had to make dinner
on top of that I literally started crying.
And yes….I realize these are not first-world problems. But I was so incredibly overwhelmed with it
all the time.
So I first looked at our budget and looked what we were
spending each month on groceries. I
talked to husband. He said if I can make
it work with our current grocery budget, then to go for it.
I started researching.
There are probably 15 companies out there (Blue Apron, Freshly, Plated,
Home Chef, etc.) and I did a comparison of ALL of them. I initially thought of going with Blue Apron again,
but some of the Blue Apron meals were VERY time consuming. Like more than an hour for one meal, which is
just too long. While I was doing my
comparison, I was looking for freshest ingredients, tastiest recipes, EASIEST
recipes (aka less time-consuming), and flexibility with meal choices.
I checked multiple websites, food bloggers, etc. and hands
down the winner was Home Chef. So that’s
the one I signed up for. The recipes
take anywhere from 15 – 45 minutes (30 minutes
usually) to prepare from start to finish. The ingredients are fresh. There is minimal prep work. You do have to chop all of the vegetables,
but that’s not an issue. The meat comes
uncooked obviously, but there is no chopping of meat. If the recipe calls for diced chicken, they
send you fresh uncooked diced chicken (be still my heart!). You can also choose what type of plan you
want. I chose the ‘mostly low-carb’ meal
plans.
I signed up for the 2 person, 3 dinners a week plan (6
meals). Each week you can go into the
app and select your dinners. This is the
best part…there are 14 different meals to choose from. I LOVE that.
Also, you can skip weeks if needed.
When my sister-in-law was visiting, I skipped my delivery that
week. And we’re traveling in a few
weeks, so I skipped that week as well (and will obviously not be charged). They charge by the week. You can also skip meals…like if you only want
2 dinners that week instead of 3, you can adjust that as well.
As you can imagine, these meal boxes are not cheap: 9.99 per meal. $60 per week.
$240 per month. Yes, it’s a
lot. But I don’t care. I worked it into our current grocery
budget. And here’s why:
1.
Portion sizes.
All of the reviews I read said that Home Chef’s portion sizes were generous. And they were right. We always get at LEAST 3 meals out of a
2-meal dinner, and sometimes even 4. So
we’re guaranteed at least 3 extra meals per week (9 meals instead of 6). This brings the price down to $6.66 per meal
(not bad for a generous portion of food that tastes like it came from a good
restaurant!).
2.
They have taken the stress out of figuring out
that horrible question ‘what’s for dinner’ completely. And yes…I realize that the box is only 3
dinners and there are 7 days of the week.
But we usually go out once a week, and then for the other 3 nights we do
leftovers of some sort or something easy (like tacos or spaghetti or grill out
or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on meeting nights ha ha). I made a list of ‘go-to’ easy dinners for our
in-between nights.
3.
They have done all of your shopping. I hardly ever go to Target anymore (which is
a big money saver especially with impulse purchases).
4.
They send you things in individual containers
that are the perfect portions. There is
no measuring. EVER. The only thing I had to do one time was cut a
pat of butter in half ha ha.
5.
I actually enjoy cooking now. This is HUGE!
This is what I remember the most about Blue Apron. It made me enjoy cooking and I felt like a
fancy chef.
6.
The food is GOOD. We have yet to have a ‘stinker’ meal. And here’s what we’ve made so far:
Marsala mushroom chicken skillet with broccoli and peas
Korean pork noodle bowl and green beans and Fresno chile
Sirloin steak with balsamic sauce and fingerling potatoes
and Brussels sprouts
Steak with garlic-herb butter and buttermilk-cheddar mashed
potatoes and zucchini
Cajun chicken thigh & Italian sausage dirty rice with
poblano pepper
One-pot creamy chicken chowder
Everything has been delicious! My stress level regarding ‘what’s for dinner’
is completely non-existent now. I’m
going to continue with Home Chef for as long as I can!
