My first experience with Blue Apron

I love to cook but I have little time these days and often find myself cooking the same things over and over again. Now I'm hoping Blue Apron changes that. 

Chicken meatballs and creamy polenta

My co-worker and friend Gerrit opened my eyes to Blue Apron. Of course, I've seen services like it online but truthfully, I thought it might be a waste of money. He just started it and said he really liked it so far... so it piqued my interest. 

No matter how hard I try, I'd say we spend more than $150 a week on food. I'll do really well and spend only $50 one week and then turn around and go to Costco and drop an extra $150. On top of that, my husband and I usually go out once a weekend because we don't ever get to eat dinner together during the week. 

I hate that I spend so much money and I am always looking for solutions.

So, thanks to Gerrit's suggestion, I made my first meal tonight after work.

We chose the 2-person plan with 3 meals a week for about $60. That means we get six meals a week and Jim can have a decent dinner at least five nights a week (if he eats "my" meals.) I usually take my lunch to work and can easily divert for little money, so it's important to me that Jim eats well.

We got a box of ingredients -- which I love because you have no waste. No need to buy a big box of breadcrumbs you won't use for the next year. Also, you can recycle the packaging and even do it through Blue Apron. 

Blue Apron gives you very easy to follow directions. It also tells you how long it will take you to make the meal. 

Everything is measured out precisely. The knick knack bags are full of those ingredients -- for this particular recipe, it had butter, breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. 

Blue Apron says its mission is to help the local farmers, help provide a sustainable food system and give us fresh ingredients. I will admit, the produce looked beautiful and the meat looked healthy.

Overall, it was a great way to fix a nice dinner for my husband. I really appreciate that it comes with a calorie count. It also gives me an opportunity to make something I would likely never make on my own -- it exposes me to interesting ingredients in a very approachable way.

Also, you can change your delivery dates, you can freeze your deliveries or end your service altogether. From what I found, it also appears Blue Apron is the least expensive of the choices out there. 

I will keep you posted but my goal is to supplement these meals with salads or sandwiches so that we save money while changing up our boring menu. I also hope it keeps us from eating out every weekend.

So far? I thought it was really exciting to make something new! My husband really enjoyed it and I feel good knowing he's going to eat a healthy meal. 

I'm going to give this a good month before I completely weigh-in. But, so far, I thought day 1 was a success!