First of all, let me say that it took me WAY longer to get to this post than I intended. My family and I recently went on a little vacay together, but we're back now and I'm finding time to dedicate to this! I wonder how many times I'm going to say that before it actually comes true? Okay, now lets get to it...
Throughout my pregnancy, I talked to my bestie about how much I wished she could be in North Carolina with us after the baby was born so that she could cook for us (Check out her Facebook page and the amazing stuff she's been doing in Japan - shameless BFF plug). Since she couldn't be here, she sent us a subscription to Blue Apron.
Then, my love affair for stateside food subscriptions started. .My real first love started with The Set Table in Okinawa.
Every subscription company offers similar services. All you have to do is choose how many people you want to feed and how often you want to feed them. Then, every week, you get to pick from a selection of meals that they are offering. After you choose, bam! They are on your door step in just a few days.
Both companies send you a recipe sheet and all of the ingredients that you'll need, except for basic kitchen things like salt/pepper and cooking oil.
For Blue Apron, they have specific dates when they deliver to your area. It's Wednesday - Friday for us and, although I have ordered from them often, a Wednesday delivery makes it difficult. In our family, we have dinner Monday - Friday and, typically, eat leftovers or go out to eat through the weekend. Hello Fresh, on the other hand, lets you choose when you want them to deliver and we happily received our Hello Fresh package on Monday to kick-off our week!
Blue Apron sends a big box with all the ingredients in individual plastic bags inside of an insulated bag and ice packs. Then, you get a little brown paper bag for each recipe with the seasonings and extras in it.
Hello Fresh does things pretty similarly. However, they put the extras and ingredients all in one nice box. They fit into our fridge perfectly and I actually really loved how it came in the mail. I know a lot of people complain about all of the packaging with these subscription services, but I thought that Hello Fresh did as great as they could without me needing to worry about contamination.
Blue Apron labels everything really nicely. When I first got into it, I thought it was a little overkill. Like, "Duh, I know that's mustard." Then, we received our Hello Fresh delivery and found myself asking, "Is this soy sauce or worcestershire sauce?!"
See, Hello Fresh doesn't label everything and I thought it would be obvious, but when there are three different brown sauces that you're supposed to use in the same recipe it can get a little confusing.
Okay. Lets be real... the real question is "what recipes taste better?!"
Blue Apron wins, hands down, when it comes to the taste test. Hello Fresh isn't bad, that's not what I'm saying. I just found that they were much more... boring? Blue Apron recipes are so flavorful and fun. I tried a boatload of fresh veggies and flavors that I never would have put together myself and loved nearly all of them! With Hello Fresh, they just seemed "pretty average."
This is definitely a personal preference! If you like more "predictable" recipes, then I think Hello Fresh would be your subscription option for you. Have you tried any of the other options? How was your experience?
Now, lets recap...
Blue Apron Pros:
- Delicious Food
- Easy-to-follow Recipes
- Fresh, Seasonal Ingredients
- Nicely Packaged
- Flexible Delivery Schedule
- Fresh, Seasonal Ingredients
- A lot of Packaging
- Strict Delivery Schedule
- Average Tasting Food
- Confusing Recipe Directions
- A lot of Packaging
