I was craving something different for dinner and Blue Apron stepped in to help. Read my Blue Apron review and what I learned about cooking with meal kits!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Blue Apron and contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my time and product was provided but all statements reflect my opinions and experience. Thanks for supporting the brands that support me and Street Smart Nutrition!

As a registered dietitian and foodie, I’ve always taken a lot of pride in coming up with creative recipes. I mean, I run a food blog. It comes with the territory!

But then…whomp whomp…2020 happened. And it’s now been over a year of making almost every meal at home. Even though I’m still a dietitian and a foodie, I’m also tired!

So when Blue Apron reached out to me about their new Wellness Menu, I was on board from the jump. Even though I’ve never used meal kits before, it seemed like it could be a solution to help me save time and energy. I previewed the 30+ weekly menu options, picked out some easy & straightforward recipes, and waited patiently for my first box to arrive!

Spoiler: I’m now waiting very impatiently for my boxes to keep coming. Read my full Blue Apron review to see why I’m now a fan!

Blue Apron Review from a Dietitian

I waited to try Blue Apron meal kits for a while. I wish I wouldn’t have! I love the time I save by avoiding extra trips to the grocery store. Plus, these nourishing meals taste great and can really support my wellness goals – and not just the ones that have to do with physical health!

Here are three things I would have told myself (and that I really want to tell you):

You’re going to love how Blue Apron upgrades the basics

I think the biggest surprise (and the one I enjoyed the most) was how Blue Apron meal kits take ingredients and cooking methods that are already familiar to me and gives them a flavorful upgrade.

What do I mean by that?

Well, take this sheet pan pork recipe, for example. I’m no stranger to sheet pan meals, and the main ingredients are all staples in my kitchen. Pork, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, butternut squash, and red onions. But the sauce….O-M-G the sauce on this one was so good, I wanted to lick the plate!

The honey-chipotle sauce was incredibly simple with only four ingredients (mayo, lime juice, chipotle sauce, and honey). I thought, “Wow, this would be a great option to make again on my own for something else.” I’m really thankful to Blue Apron for broadening my idea of what a simple sauce can do.

This sheet pan pork recipe wasn’t the only time this happened. We also loved the flavor in the Seared Tilapia recipe with a Creamy Curry sauce (maybe the best piece of tilapia I’ve ever eaten) and the Sheet Pan Pesto Salmon.

Bottom Line: You’ll never feel bored with Blue Apron’s menu. With 30+ weekly options, you can experiment with new flavor combos without learning complicated cooking techniques or buying obscure ingredients. It’s a true boredom buster for your meal planning routine.

Keep an open mind on serving sizes

When I first opened my box and unpacked the ingredients, I won’t lie. I was thinking, “This?! This is for two servings?” I’m not sure what I was expecting since I was so new to meal kits, but looking at the amount of carbohydrate/starchy ingredients (noodles, barley, potatoes, etc.) I was worried it wouldn’t be enough compared to the portions for protein and vegetables (which felt really generous).

However, I was soon eating those words because after preparing the meals those concerns were put to rest. I should have trusted that the Blue Apron team had this down to a science. Sure enough, once everything was plated up with the protein, veggies, sauce, and everything else, the portions were pretty spot on.

Now, I say this with the caveat that at this time, I’m not actively training like I sometimes am. There’s no half marathon on my calendar, and this time of year I usually take more rest days vs. gym days to let my body recover. My partner and I are both pretty tall and might be more active than the average person, so we will have to keep this in mind when ordering boxes in the future. I have a feeling if I was actively training, I likely would need larger portion sizes to support my body.

Bottom Line: Since the meal kit portions are standardized and pre-determined, you may need to adjust accordingly based on your unique energy and nutrition needs. And since the serving sizes are spot on, don’t plan for leftovers unless you order the box with more servings (like the 4-person box for a 2-person household). Some of Blue Apron’s customized meals offer the opportunity to add more to the serving size or upgrade protein, too.

You might worry about extra waste…and that’s OK

One of my biggest hesitations with trying meal kits was the amount of waste. Not necessarily food waste, but packaging and plastic. I had heard that although it’s really convenient to have all ingredients shipped to you, it comes with a lot of additional waste.

Well, I’ll be honest. That’s true. But there was an unexpected twist for me.

First, I learned that most of the plastic and packaging in Blue Apron meal kits can be recycled. I looked for the little recycling symbol on all the packages to learn how I should sort it. Super helpful, especially if you’re like me and your recycling service asks for pre-sorting.

Over 85% of Blue Apron packaging is recyclable by weight. And they’ve teamed up with How2Recycle® to implement their industry-approved, easy-to-identify recycling label program that helps reduce the amount of recyclable material in our waste stream.

Second, I realized that while I did have extra packaging to account for, I was actually wasting less food. I try to be mindful of over-buying or duplicating ingredients, but I’m human. It happens more than I’d like to admit and I end up throwing food away at the end of the week. Since a lot of food waste happens at the household or consumer level, I’ve been really conscious of how much I contribute to that.

The average American household wastes an estimated 31.9% of its food a year. That’s the equivalent of $1,866! With these Blue Apron boxes, I knew I didn’t have to buy nearly as much fresh stuff and my fridge stayed organized without wasted or spoiled ingredients. For me, this is a more budget-friendly option than dining out and can support my goals around financial health.

Bottom Line: You might feel a little guilty about the amount of extra waste. But if you have the option to recycle, that helps and you might find it balances out through a reduction in other areas, like food waste.

Final Thoughts on Blue Apron

Since you’re still reading this Blue Apron review, I figure you might want some other thoughts. Here’s what I liked:

• I could generally trust the cooking times. We always finished within the written time (or even a little sooner if we didn’t get distracted by something else).
• The ingredients are really good. I was pretty impressed with the quality of the proteins, the freshness of the produce, and the flavor in the condiments and seasonings.
• The cold shipping is effective. Each time my Blue Apron box arrived at my door, I opened it up to see the frozen gel-pack inside was still keeping things nice and cold. Bonus: that cold pack can also be recycled!
• You can see the recipes online. This is great if you’re like me and spill something on a recipe card or don’t have it with you.
• It’s pretty simple to change or pause your order. To me, it felt like an intuitive process to log into my account and make my selections for upcoming weeks. It was also easy to pause my subscription for a week when I know we won’t need a box. Now there’s even an app so you can do this from your phone!

But of course, there are some things I wish were a little different:

• It may not be an allergen-friendly option. If you’re allergic or sensitive to certain ingredients (like peanuts) be aware that you’ll have to use caution when ordering.
• The recipe cards can be a little confusing. I wish the ingredients were grouped together on the front (i.e, all the sauce or dressing ingredients in a column). On the back, you can see photos that guide the cooking instructions but each section usually includes multiple steps for different aspects of the meal. I recommend reading it all the way through before you get started!
• Some ingredients are tricky/difficult to open. This is such a nit-picky thing, but there were times when I was already cooking and needed to open one of the ingredient packets. There’s no notch to easy tearing, so I had to pause, grab a pair of scissors, and then go back to cooking. I’m used to a lot of one-handed multi-tasking when I cook so this was just a little nuance that I had to learn to adapt to.

Overall, I think we’re meal kit converts. I asked my partner what he thought as we were sitting down to eat one of the meals. He thinks it’s a convenient option that could really help us out during busy weeks. And I agreed completely. If you’ve been following me on social media, you’ve probably seen that we are working on a major kitchen/office project. It feels like every spare minute is dedicated to working on that right now – which leaves a lot less time and energy for cooking! I feel like for the health of our relationship, having this time-saving option is going to be key. We can avoid extra trips to the grocery store and enjoy a good meal together at home (without added stress).

Even though Blue Apron gifted me my first few boxes, I’ve already signed up so we can keep receiving meal kits. That’s three dinners per week I can automatically check off my meal planning “list” and that feels like such a relief!

If you want to experience Blue Apron meal kits for yourself, use my link to check out this week’s menu and save $80 over your first four boxes!