Let me start off by saying I am a terrible cook. I mean I can follow directions, but cooking is not in my cards at all. However, I do try - just not very successfully. So I was a bit nervous, but excited, to try out Blue Apron. 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!

How Does Blue Apron Work?

All the ingredients you need are provided each week except for salt, pepper and olive oil. Ingredients are individually packaged and labeled, so you easily separate out the items you need for each day`s recipe. Each meal shipment also includes a set of illustrated recipe cards with simple, step-by-step cooking instructions. You must have a basic selection of pots, pans and cooking utensils on hand, but no specialized cooking accessories are necessary to complete the recipes. In Summary: Pros:

• You get fresh ingredients with no artificial flavors or additives
• There are EASY to read and understand instructions for how to cook
• They have generous portions that could potentially feed more than it says

Cons:

• They do not offer any meal choices (you can only look up what is available that day, but you can skip a day)
• You cannot change anything on the menu for that day (like if you want steak instead of pork)

As I said, I am no cook. You`re lucky I can cook mac and cheese. Seriously. I`ve baked chicken and such on my own, but that`s really as far as it goes. When my Blue Apron box arrived, it was a bit intimidating to me, to be honest. I mean it comes with everything you need except the salt, pepper and olive oil. So it definitely makes things easy. When it first arrived, I was quite pleased with how everything was packaged. All the food and ingredients were individually packaged and labeled inside of an insulated bag. What I really liked was that the spices and such required for each meal, were all (individually) labeled inside small brown paper bags and the brown bags were labeled on the outside to let you know which meal they go with. This made things super easy so there was no guessing if I had the right products for the right meal. Even better, though, are the recipe cards. They`re a full sheet that have colored images as well as step by step instructions. I mean, this is clearly made so even kitchen newbies (or those who just aren`t great in the kitchen), like me, are able to easily follow and understand how to cook the meals. The step-by-step photos that came with the recipes showed MAJOR steps in the cooking process, and each started with instructions on how to prep all the ingredients before you begin to cook. These aren`t steps I typically see when reading recipes and they definitely make a difference. The most basic of steps makes all the difference to those of us who didn`t grow up in the kitchen or taught how to properly cook. In my box, I received the following meals:

• Lemon Caper Catfish
• Chicken Paillard
• Bucatini Pasta Bolognese

Each of these meals were delicious! They each took roughly 1 hour total to make including the prep time and cook time. The directions were exact and on spot - no overcooked or undercooked food! That`s a rarity for me! Overall, Blue Apron impressed me with the organized packaging, clear and easy to follow recipes and the variety of menus. I was very happy with everything I made and I will be making all of these recipes again. 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.