Blue Apron to the Rescue
8 years ago by
Not overspending on food in New York City is almost impossible. I’ve had too many breakdowns after looking at my credit card bill with just pages and pages of restaurants. I needed an intervention.
I started to really think about how I could encourage myself to make food at home and learn how to cook simple new recipes. That’s when I stumbled upon Blue Apron. Have you heard of it? It’s a service that delivers you the ingredients and recipes for 3 meals a week, each meal enough for 2 people. That means 6 meals a week if I’m cooking for me, myself and I :) Pretty cool, right!?!
I tested out my first meal last night and made crispy cod and yuzu-shoya soba. Not only was it outrageously delicious, but now I have the recipe that I can use over and over again. SCORE! I think this is something that I’m going to try out for a few weeks until I have some solid recipes under my belt.
Do you overspend on eating out?
You may also like
When I lived in NYC, I got slapped down for inviting people over for a dinner party because most didn’t have space to entertain or know-how to cook. Not that I had either, but I made do. I was informed that New Yorkers preferred going to restaurants. And, indeed, there were many restos that were delicious and inexpensive. Has that changed? If so, how depressing. It was one of the joys of life in NYC.
We were given a free trial of Blue Apron by a friend and I agree it’s much better than eating out or even ordering take-out. Probably healthier as well since you control the amount of salt and butter that goes into the meal.
Living in the suburbs of Boston, we rarely eat out order takeout. And we make our own meals (and things like mayonnaise, granola, and bread) from scratch, but we don’t have full-time jobs and there are two of us! I would find cooking for myself difficult. In fact, if my husband didn’t do most of the meal prep, I’d probably starve to death. How does one decide what to eat every night when dining alone after a full day of work? Somehow I must have done it when my kids were young — neither of them is particularly malnourished and both are good cooks — but I think this is a great way to start, Elle. Keep us posted!
I probably do – it’s like a social activity haha. I currently live at home and am not motivated enough to cook. My boyfriend was the same way before he moved out. Now he cooks but because he has to.
http://www.dressupchowdown.com
I’ve always wanted to try blue apron!
http://hashtagliz.com
Not in New York, but way south of you in Perth, Western Australia, we have no decent, inexpensive restaurants – let alone an iceberg-tip’s worth of restaurants you have in your city. So, I cook at home every weeknight, and my husband cooks weekends.
I love this service offered to you! As far as I know, we don’t have anything like this where we live. I’d definitely find cooking much easier if we do, than trying to think up something delicious and nutritious every single night, and during school holidays when our son is at home all day for almost two months at the end of the year, every single dinner plus lunch.
Having a soon-to-be, seventeen-year-old son with a heavy homework load and long school days, cooling he largely at home saves us a tonne of money and has improved my husband’s and my health immensely.
Like Judith Ross above, I’m not sure if I’d actually cook for myself if I lived alone (having another person whom i love, makes me want to cook more). I don’t love cooking, but I absolutely adore eating.
As a single working woman in my twenties, I loved eating really well, out at restaurants with friends or alone.
Having a family makes sense to cook well at home. However, the days when my son has been away at school camp and my husband away at work conferences, my eating style is like when I was single- it’s more about getting food groups into my body- get some protein in the forms of eggs, tofu, or cheese in; some rich omega source like an avocado; an apple or pear with cheese; whatever uncooked greens are feeling in our garden- usually rocket leaves, celery, carrots and cherry tomatoes from our garden; and always, a fresh baguette with olive oil for dinner, and loads of butter and sometimes homemade jam for lunch. I could eat variations of this for months, if I have to! And very, very occasionally have lunch on my own out (because I now prefer eating in the peaceful greenery of our garden at home), eating insanely rich food.
I envy the people who are gastronomically creative, as I really believe good cooking is such a rare artistic talent that gives pleasure and sustenance immediately to the ones around us, and brings people together.
Plated is so much better, in terms of the recipes and ingredients. Think Whole Foods quality…versus Gristedes. Gross.
Actually I’m pretty good with eating out but I can imagine a place like NYC can gets super expensive, super fast. This idea sounds great! x
http://www.wonkylauren.com
I have always wanted to try Blue Apron!
Paula- http://www.livingpaula.com
<3
I don’t overspend on eating out. It’s expensive so I don’t go to eat out often. :)
We had something like Blue Apron in our city. It was cool but then I started thinking that it’s still much cheaper to buy the ingredients myself and there are lots of things I want to try out making anyway.
I can cook but I’m just too lazy. :)
https://sofaundermapletree.wordpress.com