4 ms·

Not a fan of Blue Apron. Meal's are incredibly unhealthy, at least the trial that we used. Why am I adding sugar to a quesadilla? Why is this meal for two nearl

by muninn_ 10y ago

Not a fan of Blue Apron. Meal's are incredibly unhealthy, at least the trial that we used. Why am I adding sugar to a quesadilla? Why is this meal for two nearly 4,000 calories? AND it's expensive? I'll stick to walking over to the grocery store. Thanks.

resolaibohp 10y ago
What meal for 2 people did you have from Blue Apron that came out to be nearly 4,000 calories? From what I can tell they average around 600-700 per meal, per person.
- muninn_ 10y ago
  I don't recall. I believe it was one of the vegetarian meals. Maybe it was for 4 people? I'm not sure. Either way they are incredibly calorie-dense meals. This one here is 730 calories/serving: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/spicy-korean-rice-cakes-with-yu-choy-soft-boiled-eggs https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/spicy-korean-rice-cakes-wi... This one is 800 and includes a half pound of cheese: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/mozzarella-ricotta-calzones-with-kale-spicy-tomato-dipping-sauce https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/mozzarella-ricotta-calzone... Here's another 750 calorie/serving item: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-with-green-chiles-arugula-avocado-salad https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-w... These are not healthy meals at that calorie count/serving. 750 calories should be right about half of the daily caloric intake for many people. And you're eating that all at dinner? Do you feel comfortable eating an entire box of mac'n cheese for dinner? Because that has less calories than do these meal options.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    The suggested preparation for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is 1050 calories per box. For a dinner, aiming for 750 calories per person doesn't seem crazy to me.
    - zardo 10y ago
      In a conversation about healthy eating, Kraft mac and cheese is not a good anchor.
      - maxerickson 10y ago
        Even more so when the calories are being underestimated.
        muninn_ 10y ago
        Nah the calories are spot on. The preparation is an optional. There's no need for milk or butter.
      - ceejayoz 10y ago
        Blue Apron does target folks for whom "Kraft Mac & Cheese" is currently a staple dinner, though.
  - sp332 10y ago
    Yes, I'm eating all of this at dinner. When else would you eat? It's just about half for lunch and half at dinner, with a little bit for breakfast.
  - nxc18 10y ago
    800 calories for dinner is perfectly reasonable; salad aside, it is hard to get a meal going out that is less than that. If you are very small you may need less than that. In that case, eat less. If they were to ship out 400 calorie dinners, people would be very, very unsatisfied. If you're a small person, you probably don't experience this, but big people that are very active need to eat a lot. I know people that eat close to 4000 calories per day and could easily make room for more. Personally, as someone on a weight loss journey (unapologetic euphemism for 'fatass'), I have paid very close attention to caloric intake. At my high, I would need about 2200 calories per day to lose weight at the supposed healthy rate of 2lbs per day. If I ate much less than that I wouldn't have energy and would be hungry constantly; this isn't healthy and one of the reasons starving oneself isn't a great weight loss strategy. Of course as I lost weight, my caloric needs changed - 20lbs down I started to need to eat closer to 2000 calories per day. There are metabolism calculators online; in my case, I was surprised to see they accurately predicted how I would react to various levels of caloric intake. I would recommend plugging in values you'd estimate for people you know and people you see on e.g. TV. You might be surprised at how different their experiences are in terms of what constitutes a healthy maintenance diet.
  - mbrameld 10y ago
    The calzone you link to only contains 2oz of cheese per serving. I understand why you worded it like that (to intentionally mislead), but you don't do your credibility any favors by doing so.
    - muninn_ 10y ago
      That's not being intentionally misleading, it's a half pound of cheese. Saying "it only contains 2oz/cheese per serving" is being misleading. That's too much cheese. If I wanted to be intentionally misleading I wouldn't even add the link for all to see, nor state facts, such as the meal contains a half pound of cheese.
brndn 10y ago
4,000 calories? I can't remember any of their meals being over 1,000 calories per serving.
criley2 10y ago
Which recipe did you have? A quick search turns up this recipe: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-with-green-chiles-arugula-avocado-salad https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-w... In this recipe, they pickle shallots and use a little sugar with the pickling, to create a more "sweet" pickled shallot than a "sour" pickled shallot. This is Standard Operating Procedure during pickling to make a sweet pickled product. The downside to Blue Apron is you MAKE this stuff without understand why. The upside is that you are exposed to things you wouldn't try. For example, you should at least try pickling as described, but if it's not for you and you prefer a different flavor: that's a great lesson! And it makes you a better cook who now learned something about pickling, formed and opinion on pickling shallots and gained experience doing that. And that's kind of the power of Blue Apron for many of us. Also for the record that quesadilla is 750 kcal per serving, even with the sweet pickled shallot.
- muninn_ 10y ago
  You do understand that 750 calories/serving is a ton, right? I guess I can see the appeal if you like don't really care about money and can't go to the grocery store and buy some ingredients on your own? If I'm thinking of cooking for dinner, then I just go online and look around for some recipes and walk over to the store and grab something, or plan a day ahead and buy stuff for a couple of days ahead of time at 1/5th the cost and where I can better control for caloric intake. And I mis-typed the quesadilla/shallot etc... I was thinking of the meal package as a whole. Adding that amount of sugar is not healthy anyway.
  - criley2 10y ago
    I guess 750kcal is a ton for small people or people whose diet strongly deviates from a standard diet. For a standard human near a 2000kcal/day diet, 500-500-1000, 400-1000-600, 1000-600-400, are all normal and healthy meal breakdowns depending on which meal of the day a person goes bigger on. For someone who has a standard large lunch or large dinner, 750kcal is NO WHERE NEAR "a ton" but is rather an extremely healthy meal when we look at the breakdown of ingredients and their nutrients. Of course, the only portion control that truly matters is PERSONAL. If 750kcal is too much for you personally, it's your own responsibility to eat half of that meal and save the other half for a future meal. There, it's only 375kcal and twice the servings! "then I just go online and look around for some recipes and walk over to the store and grab something, or plan a day ahead and buy stuff for a couple of days ahead of time at 1/5th the cost and where I can better control for caloric intake." That's what we all did before Blue Apron. Then in 2 months of Blue Apron we'd tried dozens of new ingredients and cooking methods we'd never thought to try, that we'd never have picked off the internet, that our favorite food bloggers never wrote about, that our local grocery store never stocked. I admit the cost is very large and not a long term solution, but as an educational tool I have not found anything which gets remotely close to Blue Apron. And I love food bloggers, food Youtube, trendy cookbooks, and yet I still learn something new from every Blue Apron that I incorporate into my future diet plans. Plus, it's convenient to get perfectly portioned amounts of rare and expensive ingredients. If you have to shell out $15 for $2 worth of an ingredient -- you're not going to make that meal ever. Plus, some of the ingredients they send me are not found at local grocery stores and require planning and tripping to massive farmers markets and buying in large bulk. EDIT: https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/usda_food_patterns/EstimatedCalorieNeedsPerDayTable.pdf https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/usda_food_patt... Men 20-30 should be around 2000-2600 kcal a day on average depending on activity, and women should be 1600-2000 depending on activity on average. So perhaps women should consider eating only ~75% of a portion and giving their extra to a man, who could consider eating ~125% of a portion, to ensure that kcal goals for differing bodies are still met.

by muninn_ 10y ago

resolaibohp 10y ago

What meal for 2 people did you have from Blue Apron that came out to be nearly 4,000 calories? From what I can tell they average around 600-700 per meal, per person.

muninn_ 10y ago
I don't recall. I believe it was one of the vegetarian meals. Maybe it was for 4 people? I'm not sure. Either way they are incredibly calorie-dense meals. This one here is 730 calories/serving: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/spicy-korean-rice-cakes-with-yu-choy-soft-boiled-eggs https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/spicy-korean-rice-cakes-wi... This one is 800 and includes a half pound of cheese: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/mozzarella-ricotta-calzones-with-kale-spicy-tomato-dipping-sauce https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/mozzarella-ricotta-calzone... Here's another 750 calorie/serving item: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-with-green-chiles-arugula-avocado-salad https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-w... These are not healthy meals at that calorie count/serving. 750 calories should be right about half of the daily caloric intake for many people. And you're eating that all at dinner? Do you feel comfortable eating an entire box of mac'n cheese for dinner? Because that has less calories than do these meal options.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  The suggested preparation for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is 1050 calories per box. For a dinner, aiming for 750 calories per person doesn't seem crazy to me.
  - zardo 10y ago
    In a conversation about healthy eating, Kraft mac and cheese is not a good anchor.
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      Even more so when the calories are being underestimated.
      - muninn_ 10y ago
        Nah the calories are spot on. The preparation is an optional. There's no need for milk or butter.
    - ceejayoz 10y ago
      Blue Apron does target folks for whom "Kraft Mac & Cheese" is currently a staple dinner, though.
- sp332 10y ago
  Yes, I'm eating all of this at dinner. When else would you eat? It's just about half for lunch and half at dinner, with a little bit for breakfast.
- nxc18 10y ago
  800 calories for dinner is perfectly reasonable; salad aside, it is hard to get a meal going out that is less than that. If you are very small you may need less than that. In that case, eat less. If they were to ship out 400 calorie dinners, people would be very, very unsatisfied. If you're a small person, you probably don't experience this, but big people that are very active need to eat a lot. I know people that eat close to 4000 calories per day and could easily make room for more. Personally, as someone on a weight loss journey (unapologetic euphemism for 'fatass'), I have paid very close attention to caloric intake. At my high, I would need about 2200 calories per day to lose weight at the supposed healthy rate of 2lbs per day. If I ate much less than that I wouldn't have energy and would be hungry constantly; this isn't healthy and one of the reasons starving oneself isn't a great weight loss strategy. Of course as I lost weight, my caloric needs changed - 20lbs down I started to need to eat closer to 2000 calories per day. There are metabolism calculators online; in my case, I was surprised to see they accurately predicted how I would react to various levels of caloric intake. I would recommend plugging in values you'd estimate for people you know and people you see on e.g. TV. You might be surprised at how different their experiences are in terms of what constitutes a healthy maintenance diet.
- mbrameld 10y ago
  The calzone you link to only contains 2oz of cheese per serving. I understand why you worded it like that (to intentionally mislead), but you don't do your credibility any favors by doing so.
  - muninn_ 10y ago
    That's not being intentionally misleading, it's a half pound of cheese. Saying "it only contains 2oz/cheese per serving" is being misleading. That's too much cheese. If I wanted to be intentionally misleading I wouldn't even add the link for all to see, nor state facts, such as the meal contains a half pound of cheese.

brndn 10y ago

4,000 calories? I can't remember any of their meals being over 1,000 calories per serving.

criley2 10y ago

Which recipe did you have? A quick search turns up this recipe: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-with-green-chiles-arugula-avocado-salad https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quesadillas-w... In this recipe, they pickle shallots and use a little sugar with the pickling, to create a more "sweet" pickled shallot than a "sour" pickled shallot. This is Standard Operating Procedure during pickling to make a sweet pickled product. The downside to Blue Apron is you MAKE this stuff without understand why. The upside is that you are exposed to things you wouldn't try. For example, you should at least try pickling as described, but if it's not for you and you prefer a different flavor: that's a great lesson! And it makes you a better cook who now learned something about pickling, formed and opinion on pickling shallots and gained experience doing that. And that's kind of the power of Blue Apron for many of us. Also for the record that quesadilla is 750 kcal per serving, even with the sweet pickled shallot.

muninn_ 10y ago
You do understand that 750 calories/serving is a ton, right? I guess I can see the appeal if you like don't really care about money and can't go to the grocery store and buy some ingredients on your own? If I'm thinking of cooking for dinner, then I just go online and look around for some recipes and walk over to the store and grab something, or plan a day ahead and buy stuff for a couple of days ahead of time at 1/5th the cost and where I can better control for caloric intake. And I mis-typed the quesadilla/shallot etc... I was thinking of the meal package as a whole. Adding that amount of sugar is not healthy anyway.
- criley2 10y ago
  I guess 750kcal is a ton for small people or people whose diet strongly deviates from a standard diet. For a standard human near a 2000kcal/day diet, 500-500-1000, 400-1000-600, 1000-600-400, are all normal and healthy meal breakdowns depending on which meal of the day a person goes bigger on. For someone who has a standard large lunch or large dinner, 750kcal is NO WHERE NEAR "a ton" but is rather an extremely healthy meal when we look at the breakdown of ingredients and their nutrients. Of course, the only portion control that truly matters is PERSONAL. If 750kcal is too much for you personally, it's your own responsibility to eat half of that meal and save the other half for a future meal. There, it's only 375kcal and twice the servings! "then I just go online and look around for some recipes and walk over to the store and grab something, or plan a day ahead and buy stuff for a couple of days ahead of time at 1/5th the cost and where I can better control for caloric intake." That's what we all did before Blue Apron. Then in 2 months of Blue Apron we'd tried dozens of new ingredients and cooking methods we'd never thought to try, that we'd never have picked off the internet, that our favorite food bloggers never wrote about, that our local grocery store never stocked. I admit the cost is very large and not a long term solution, but as an educational tool I have not found anything which gets remotely close to Blue Apron. And I love food bloggers, food Youtube, trendy cookbooks, and yet I still learn something new from every Blue Apron that I incorporate into my future diet plans. Plus, it's convenient to get perfectly portioned amounts of rare and expensive ingredients. If you have to shell out $15 for $2 worth of an ingredient -- you're not going to make that meal ever. Plus, some of the ingredients they send me are not found at local grocery stores and require planning and tripping to massive farmers markets and buying in large bulk. EDIT: https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/usda_food_patterns/EstimatedCalorieNeedsPerDayTable.pdf https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/usda_food_patt... Men 20-30 should be around 2000-2600 kcal a day on average depending on activity, and women should be 1600-2000 depending on activity on average. So perhaps women should consider eating only ~75% of a portion and giving their extra to a man, who could consider eating ~125% of a portion, to ensure that kcal goals for differing bodies are still met.