Many people dislike going to the grocery store. It’s sometimes hard to find time to squeeze in grocery shopping and making lists can be a challenge. However, there might be another choice. Blue Apron is a popular meal kit service that provides you with the ingredients and instructions to create healthy and delicious dishes yourself.
Though it seems like a great deal, we wondered if it was as affordable as grocery shopping and whether or not it was better. Therefore, we are going to delve deeper into this issue and find out for sure.
What Is the Blue Apron Service?
Blue Apron is a highly popular meal delivery service, which provides you with all of the ingredients required to make a specific amount of meals. You can find a variety of options, such as vegetarian and low-calorie meals. There are weekly boxes, which contain the right products, and then you cook the meals at home. Since they are portion-controlled, it’s a great way to choose a healthy eating lifestyle. Plus, you can select the options you want, which means you get gourmet meals at a fraction of the cost.
This company only serves the United States, and it partners with sustainability experts. That allows farmers to have better standards to grow food and raise animals. Of course, this helps the environment and gives a guaranteed market to the farmers. Plus, home chefs have the advantage of better-quality ingredients.
Blue Apron Pros and Cons
Many people prefer to use a delivery service like Blue Apron. However, it can be beneficial to go through the pros and cons so that you’re better prepared to understand why it is so popular.
Pros:
- High-quality ingredients at an affordable price
- Ability to skip weeks (no-contract)
- Choose the foods/meals you like
- Vegetarian, Mediterranean, and other nutritional needs honored
- Everything needed is provided
- Learn to cook and try new techniques
- Prepare various cuisines from different cultures
- Taste unique seasonings and ingredients
- Only receive ingredients you need for the recipe
Cons:
- Unique flavors might not be suitable for picky eaters
- Time is required to prepare and cook – usually not more than 30-35 min
- Must clean your own dishes
- More trash to throw away from a single meal
Grocery Shopping Pros and Cons
Though meal prep can be much easier from meal kit delivery services like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, it’s important to understand the good and bad points of grocery shopping. That way, you can easily compare both options and choose the one that best fits your needs.
Pros
- Can choose the ingredients you want or need
- Online shopping available in many locations
- Compare prices between ingredients
- Substitute ingredients as necessary
Cons:
- Must map out meal planning yourself
- Requires you to have the recipe
- Wasteful of ingredients you only need a little of
- Buying the ingredients is time-consuming (traveling to the store)
- Spend more for fuel to get back and forth from the store
- Don’t know where the produce/meat is sourced
- Must be strong-willed to stick to the list
Blue Apron VS Grocery Shopping
Now that you understand the pros and cons of each option, it’s time to compare them at length. This is going to help you appreciate how Blue Apron meals can taste better and be easier for you to make and prepare.
With both grocery shopping and meal kit services, you can find affordable meals. However, when you’re at the grocery store, it’s much easier to buy lower-quality ingredients to save more money. This means the flavor isn’t going to be up to par. Plus, the food might come from a wary source, and you have no idea.
When you choose Blue Apron services, you know that the ingredients are of high-quality. Plus, the cost is comparable. What if the recipe called for an expensive seasoning? With meal kit delivery services, the cost for everything is included in the price. You may be unable to find that specific ingredient at the grocery store. If you do, it’s likely going to be a large amount. Now, you’re going to wonder what to do with the rest so that it doesn’t go bad.
Seasonings are the perfect example. Saffron and high-end seasonings cost a lot extra. You’ve got to buy a container of it. What happens if you dislike the meal you prepared? Now, you’ve got an entire bottle of seasoning without a way to use it. In a sense, you’ve wasted money. With Blue Apron, you get pre-portioned amounts of seasonings and other ingredients. Therefore, you don’t have any waste or a large container to store and wonder how to use.
Meal planning is also easier with Blue Apron. When you go to the local grocery store, you have to know what you need to make a meal. This means going through the recipes, creating a list, and then going to the store to get it all. With a meal kit service, you just browse the catalog of meals available for that week, make a selection, and wait until everything arrives at your door.
You’re still choosing the meals you want, but the process is much easier. Decide while you browse instead of having to do it all before you leave the house to go to the store.
Of course, you also get to try new things. You could look online for exotic recipes, but many grocery stores don’t have specialty ingredients or are more expensive. When you choose a meal kit service, you can browse delicious things that are from a different culture. Plus, you can also learn how to make those dishes, which adds to the entire cultural experience.
Conclusion
When it comes to buying groceries, you know that you must do this. However, you want healthy foods and the best ingredients to prepare your meal. Going to a grocery store might not be ideal because there is much more work involved.
Instead, you may want to choose Blue Apron and other similar meal kit services like Hello Fresh or Home Chef. You’re going to get a better selection, the right ingredients, and make it easier to get them to your house. Plus, the meals are affordable, so you don’t feel guilty about not going to the store each week.
