Blue Apron test

Ok, so I decided to join the prepared meal revolution.  Lynne signed us up for Blue Apron.  I had a co-worker ask me - " so you are a chef... (cook, but that's ok, most don't understand the distinction), and you are getting prepared meals sent to you?"  I was like - yeah - it's ok.  Be interesting to try.  Sooooo, we signed up.  Three meals a week for sixty bucks a week.  Lynne and I tend to sit on Sunday, and go through recipes, etc to decide what we want to eat for the week, then shop for the ingredients.... and hope we feel like making it all as we go.  We are both VERY busy, and some nights, to be frank, we just don't feel like cooking.  I paint at night, she is working on a blog... just  a lot going on.  So, we plan on seven meals, and make maybe three or four.  The rest ends up in the trash after a week or so.  So we thought we would try Blue Apron for Sat, Sun, Mon - when we usually actually DO cook ( Pasta Vita/ salads/ omelets the other nights).

So, Blue Apron....the first box came on a Friday - thank God I went home for lunch, cause the box was sitting on my thousand degree porch in the sun when I got there....  Was well packed, in a lunar insulated envelope ....lol... with two HUGE ice packs.  Meat was still cold, produce, on top was still cool.  Unpacked it all, and stuffed in the fridge.  The first night, we made pan seared Salmon, with Miso Soba noddle salad, with Fairy Tale Eggplant and Baby Greens.

Prep done

All the ingredients come in cool little containers - well marked, and well packaged.   It came with a recipe card, with pictures, and VERY explicit instructions.  I followed the recipe EXACTLY.... which, I have to say, was INCREDIBLY difficult for me.... cause I NEVER follow ANY recipe... I always..... improvise.  But this time I followed it ... almost... exactly....

Making the salad

Dressing

Changes I made:  I mixed the salad ingredients one step early.  I boiled the water for the noodles later than it said...I should have cut the cucumber thinner than it said... I would have diced the egg plant larger than it said.... other than that- it was easy peasey...
making the salad was easy... and the dressing was fantastic....

Holy Crap, this was HOT

Over all, I would give the meal an A- for taste, ease of making, and ingredients.  It truly is amazing the freshness of the ingredients.  the Gochulang - which I have never used was HOT!!  Used about 1/3 for the dressing. If we had used it all, would have blown our heads off!!!! - Will use the rest in SOMETHING for sure... and here we have the best benefit to this program:  NO WASTE!!

One thing to add - I am a fish snob - and this Salmon was AMAZING!!  Not fishy, fresh, not farm raised.... I would NEVER eat salmon from a source I did'nt know... and this was really good...

 They send you ONLY what you need - so there is no waste...  You don't have to spend 3 bucks on a bunch of something fresh you are only going to use a tablespoon of.   We have spent $60 bucks on the ingredients to ONE meal - and this is THREE.  The waste is the key, and there is none!!    Very easy to follow instructions, minimal equipment needed - a good non stick 10" frying pan is about it....

Final Product

Time wise, they pretty much hit it on the head - 15 min or so prep, 20 cooking... takes about 45 min total...   You can plate it to look restaurant quality... it's really that good.
I would give this an A so far....two more meals to go...

This is a home run, because, you can cook things outside your comfort zone, that taste amazing, without wasting a ton of money on excess ingredients....  It's not like the stores that sell pre made meals - you have to COOK.... there just is no waste..  HOME RUN!!! in my book.  Gets you out of your comfort zone for ingredients and techniques... and makes tasty meals.... yup.
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