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I really liked Blue Apron but there was so much trash left over! I really wish they would do better pre-planning with ingredients, like send a stick of butter a

I really liked Blue Apron but there was so much trash left over! I really wish they would do better pre-planning with ingredients, like send a stick of butter and a jug of vinegar instead of a pat and a tiny bottle. There were so many bottles from week to week of the same stuff - vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, etc.. We ended up just using a lot of the techniques we learned from Blue Apron to prepare vegetables from CSA boxes. It's a great idea for young people who would like to learn how to cook (or learn some new techniques/staples). I might get a few months subscription for a relative who just moved out on their own as a gift, for example.

Rapzid 9y ago
Timely; we just started Blue Apron about a month ago. I'm concerned about the waste; particularly the freezer packs.. It would be good if they kept you topped up on bulk items like you mentioned: Vinegar, Soy, rice, noodles(noodles and rice last forever!). Just let them know what you are low on and they top you up. I'm going to have to look into Walmart kits. I can swing buy for a weeks worth of meals and not need to have all those freezer packs to deal with...
Lendal 9y ago
Yeah I agree. So much waste, plus it doesn't really solve the problem we were trying to solve which is time. Preparing the meal is still time-consuming. It wasn't saving us much time at all. Add to that the guilt of having all the extra waste for what, so we don't have to stop at the grocery store on the way home? Not worth it. The meals were good though, and healthy.
- jerkstate 9y ago
  It was good for us because we have a toddler/infant so going out to a restaurant is really difficult and we like variety without a whole lot of meal planning effort. Adding the blue apron techniques to our repertoire made it a lot easier to throw stuff together from our CSA box and have a pretty focused shopping list for the grocery store.
- AstralStorm 9y ago
  And not stopping at the grocery store can be solved in other ways, like grocery deliveries...
nkrisc 9y ago
I think you kind of keyed in on their problem: these meal kits are great for learning how to cook, but once you have the basic techniques and concepts down, the kits are usually more hassle than they're worth. Someone gifted me a few boxes, and they were nice, but the what I took away from it wasn't a subscription, it was the recipe cards which went right into my recipe folder.
- doughj3 9y ago
  > it was the recipe cards All of which they post online, e.g, https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/beef-mushroom-stew-with-roasted-potatoes https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/beef-mushroom-stew-with-ro...

Rapzid 9y ago

Timely; we just started Blue Apron about a month ago. I'm concerned about the waste; particularly the freezer packs.. It would be good if they kept you topped up on bulk items like you mentioned: Vinegar, Soy, rice, noodles(noodles and rice last forever!). Just let them know what you are low on and they top you up. I'm going to have to look into Walmart kits. I can swing buy for a weeks worth of meals and not need to have all those freezer packs to deal with...

Lendal 9y ago

Yeah I agree. So much waste, plus it doesn't really solve the problem we were trying to solve which is time. Preparing the meal is still time-consuming. It wasn't saving us much time at all. Add to that the guilt of having all the extra waste for what, so we don't have to stop at the grocery store on the way home? Not worth it. The meals were good though, and healthy.

jerkstate 9y ago
It was good for us because we have a toddler/infant so going out to a restaurant is really difficult and we like variety without a whole lot of meal planning effort. Adding the blue apron techniques to our repertoire made it a lot easier to throw stuff together from our CSA box and have a pretty focused shopping list for the grocery store.
AstralStorm 9y ago
And not stopping at the grocery store can be solved in other ways, like grocery deliveries...

nkrisc 9y ago

I think you kind of keyed in on their problem: these meal kits are great for learning how to cook, but once you have the basic techniques and concepts down, the kits are usually more hassle than they're worth. Someone gifted me a few boxes, and they were nice, but the what I took away from it wasn't a subscription, it was the recipe cards which went right into my recipe folder.

doughj3 9y ago
> it was the recipe cards All of which they post online, e.g, https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/beef-mushroom-stew-with-roasted-potatoes https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/beef-mushroom-stew-with-ro...