[For those of you wondering what happened to My Porch scroll down past this post.]
Well maybe you haven’t been wondering, but I sure was. I don’t recall when I first saw the meal service pop up on Facebook or somewhere like that but I was intrigued by it from the start. I love any kind of kit that comes in a box and I like food so how could I not be interested? Although I had no intention of ordering the service, I did check out their website and saw a blog post somewhere about someone trying it out. I was totally impressed by the quality of the graphics, copy, and photography. And according to that blog (the name of which I will never remember) the food was good too. Still, didn’t seem like something I would get for myself no matter how cool it looked. Well, I also liked the fact that the service required actual cooking, that these were not prepared foods.
Still, not for me. Because I looked at Blue Apron’s site, I started to get pop-ups for similar services like Plated and Healthy Somethingorother. But neither of them were compelling enough visually to get me to even click on the links. And then these really cheesy ads started to pop up on cable for another service called Hello Fresh. For some reason I poo-pooed all these other services and was loyal to Blue Apron. I’m a sucker for good packing and marketing and the others just didn’t look as cool. Not to mention the fact that, rightly or wrongly, I considered Blue Apron to be the original and all the others to be copies. And I hate copy cats.
All this loyalty and I hadn’t even tried it. But then I saw some reference to the fact that each meal was 500-700 calories per person. Bingo. That finally did it. I have been cutting down on calorie intake but am terrible at portion size and control when I cook from scratch. Too much calculating. But here was what promised to be tasty meals, perfectly portioned, and fun to cook. And it turned out to be true. The two-person plan gives you three meals a week. It was indeed lots of fun to cook, the recipes were things I would never attempt on a weeknight, the meals were really damn good, and overall totally satisfying. We liked it so much that I have now ordered a second box for the week, but this time vegetarian recipes. This means six original, often unusual, foreign-inspired meals a week. And the total cost is less than I would spend at Whole Foods in a week not to mention all the rotten produce I throw out when my weekday resolve to cook doesn’t match up with my weekend grocery buying.
Today I got our first vegetarian box with the ingredients for three meals. I am just waiting for John to come home to see which one I should make tonight. And then on Thursday our meat box will show up with three more meals. Much more I could say, but I will let the pictures do the talking.
hogglestock 
I actually have been wondering about Blue Apron since it seems like everyone and their cousin is using it. I’m glad you tried it and shared about it. I must say that those meals you made looked DELICIOUS!! I’m definitely going to check out their site and give it a whirl. Thanks!!
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I know it isn’t available everywhere, but if it isn’t one of the other ones might be.
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your plate looks BETTER than the recipe card! quinn
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It’s such a great concept for somebody who likes to cook, hasn’t got the time or inclination to go food shopping in lunch hour, and likes trying new recipes. I use Hello Fresh here in the UK and order the vegetarian box, which even my burger loving teen looks forward to. Plus, if you suddenly decide all you want to make for dinner tonight is a reservation the stuff will keep in the fridge. A kit! A home delivered box of pre-measured goodies! A new adventure! It’s a yes from me.
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The Hello Fresh commercials in the US are really creepy. They clearly used a voice over. I wonder if it is because he has an English accent. Last night in our first veggie box we had a really wonderful miso ramen with English peas, sugar snap peas, pea tips, and a perfect soft boiled egg.
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My housemate has started using one of these, can’t remember the name. My chief impression is of huge amounts of packaging, but it does look tempting – especially since I seem to make the same things on rotation. She has gone for the veggie packages, which obviously I would too, and I’m tempted to give it a whirl…
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Almost all the packaging from Blue Apron is recyclable. I’ve thought about that more than a bit. Wondering if the reduction in my food waste can be put in the green column.
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This looks awesome! Eating less meat cuts your carbon footprint more than recycling. By eating half-your meals vegetarian you are doing so much for the environment! In addition cutting out on food waste is pretty great. This is a really great idea. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a service like this for low-income people on SNAP? A more basic menu to introduce cooking skills and produce that may be difficult to find in a food desert. I need to become a billionaire so I can start all my various charities I think up.
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I knew there were all kinds of reasons this was good.
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