Please note that these meals were provided for free by a Oiselle friend.  

I’ve always been curious about Blue Apron but did not want to pay for it.  So, when a friend offered to sign me up to get 3 free meals, I couldn’t say no.  

I received a box with ingredients for the following meals:

• Seared Steak and Fingerling Potatoes
• Shrimp and Fresh Fusilli Pasta
• Cajun-Spiced Chicken

Everything came neatly packed in a refrigerated box.  

Any extra (small) ingredients was packed separately.

I decided to first make the Shrimp and Fresh Fusilli Pasta.  Spoiler: It was delicious.

I did not follow the steps exactly as was listed in the sheet (I cooked the squash in my toaster oven instead of the oven and I used minced garlic from a jar instead of the garlic that was sent to me).  I did not add the olives because I do not like olives at all.

I love shrimp!  I wished more was included in the box but I guess I could have added some that I had in my house.

It was a very simple and fast recipe.  I was worried about overcooking the shrimp as well as making sure they were properly cooked.  I like the taste of the tomato sauce and tomato paste.  <<So much tastier than spaghetti sauce.

The second meal I made was Seared Steak and Fingerling Potatoes.  It was another delicious meal.

I cooked the potatoes and onion in my toaster oven and I did not use all of the knick knacks for the salad.  The butter lettuce was crispy and tasty.  

I’ve never heard of crème fraîche or verjus rouge.  I do not like mustard so I didn’t use it either.  Those ingredients were to be used for the dressing but instead I used my own.

I am not a big fan of onion either but these were pretty good. 

Finally the last meal was Cajun-Spiced Chicken.  

This one took the longest to prepare.  The instructions indicated that it was 15 minutes of prep time.  Wrong.  I think it took me about 20 minutes just to chop the pepper, celery, onion, potatoes, and cabbage.  That was a bit frustrating.

I ended up cutting the chicken breast into pieces.  I think that they cook better and faster this way.  The cajun spice blend was not spicy at all but it was flavorful.

The potatoes and salad were very good.  I went back for seconds and got these two items to eat.

Looks good, right?

Thoughts:

• I like how everything you need comes in a box.  No need to go to the grocery store for one pepper or 3 potatoes.  Plus, the ingredients are pre measured.
• Instructions are easy to follow.  The pictures help in case you need to know if you’re doing it correctly.
• The meals are yummy.  There are two meal plans to choose from: 2-person or family. Also, you can choose from meat, fish, or vegetarian meals.
• The following week’s menu are posted on the website a week in advance.  This is good to know in case you want to skip a week or two.  You can also cancel at any time.
• Not cheap.  It is $59.94 for 3 meals for 2 people, $71.92 for 2 meals for 4 people, or $$143.84 for 4 meals for 4 people.  <<Yes, per week. 

Have you tried Blue Apron?  Thoughts?

I’m linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 2.0.