Earl and I are a couple of busy guys. I like to think of us as a “Power Couple”, however, neither of us wear “Power Pearls”, which many of the women I worked with did back in the 1980s.
Even though I work from home, I don’t have a lot of time to devote to meal preparation. Earl is rarely in the mood to cook a gourmet meal after ten or so hours at the office. In the past, we’ve ended up eating a lot, which hit our budget quite hard and hit our waist lines even harder.
Enter Blue Apron. We subscribed to the service back in January and have been thoroughly pleased with the experience.
If you’re not familiar with Blue Apron, here’s how it works. Earl chooses three meals for a menu presented at each week. Blue Apron recommends the three meals based on our profile. Every Thursday morning we get a box with all the ingredients, pre-measured but not fully prepared, for the three meals we have selected. They include everything. If you need a tablespoon of sugar, there’s a little bag with a tablespoon of sugar.
Each meal is outlined on a recipe card, complete with projected preparation time, cooking time and the like. The recipes are wicked easy to follow and so far the results have been absolutely delicious. One of the best things about this arrangement is that the meals are between 500 and 800 calories per serving. That’s a heck of a lot less than what we would eat at a restaurant, but the portions are a hearty size and enjoyable.
One of the things that I have really enjoyed is the time Earl and I are spending together in the kitchen preparing the meals. It gives me a chance to improve my cooking skills, it is yet another opportunity for the two of us to spend time together and in the old American tradition, we are able to enjoy a nice little family supper at home with relative ease (though with Jamie in Chicago, the entire family isn’t here at the moment).
The meals feature things that we wouldn’t normally eat. Last night we had Triple Pork Mazemen, which was as fun to prepare and eat as it was to pronounce.
If you’re looking for a way to improve your home meal time experience, I highly suggest Blue Apron. The cost is reasonable (around $20 per meal for the two of us), the food is delicious and together time is always a good time.
