Blue Apron delivers perfectly portioned, farm-fresh ingredients so you can make home-cooked meals created by our culinary team based on what’s in season and locally available.
Lotsa Helping Hands members receive $20 OFF the first delivery!
A few months ago, my sister lost a little one to SIDS. Our family and community was rocked with the tragedy. When something like this happens, you do all you can to rally around each other, begin the process of healing, and help feed the family—because cooking meals, let alone coming up with a grocery list, is overwhelming in the midst of grief. But what I discovered is that for caregivers, too, creating good meals can also feel overwhelming.
I love the kitchen. For its warmth, its activity, its way of reaching the heart. Take-out is wonderful, but it gets tiring and expensive. Creating from scratch makes me happy, but recently I haven’t had much capacity to plan and prep. I have a young family, so there’s always a flurry of little ones and their cousins at my feet.
I’d never used a food delivery service like Blue Apron, but when I noticed a Blue Apron box at a friend’s house, tasted the meal she created from it, and…sold.
Here’s how it works: A box gets delivered to your doorstep. Inside are fresh, high quality ingredients, all pre-portioned for a seasonal, beautiful meal. No extras; no waste. Recipe and photo cards included. Ready for your hands to do the making, not the thinking. I didn’t have to search recipes or load my kids into the car for grocery market mayhem. I just got to do the fun part: chopping, roasting, stirring, serving. But more than that, I realized it could be a sweet, communal experience. I would invite my sister and her family over, we would cook together in the kitchen, and it would become a shared experience versus a traditional drop-the-meal and go. Because in the end, really, her family is hungry for the company of others.
And so, my Blue Apron experiment began:
I was at work when the box was delivered to my house, but since it’s in a refrigerated container, no harm there. We laughed because it felt like mini-Christmas when we opened it—all the little bags with modern labels, the produce crisp and inviting, the gorgeous local meat. (Blue Apron meals are $9.99 per person, and when you open the box and haven’t had to plan a meal or shop? Seems a fair price.) Since I was going to cook for two families, I actually ordered two meals in one box: White Turkey Chili with aged cheddar cheese and blue corn tortilla strips, and Spiced Pork + Winter Hash with brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes and apples.
Then we started cooking! My sister chopped, I stirred, the kids set the table and played (and occasionally whined, go figure) while they waited. Lots of laughing and ease. It just felt good to be together doing something—something that needed to be done anyway (feeding our families), but was made sweeter by the process.
Dinner results: the pork chops were fabulous, and swiped by the kids before the adults had their fair share. Shame on them. The winter hash? Such a great depth of seasoning (I’m a fan of caraway and coriander), and mild enough for my toddler. The kids weren’t as keen on all the veg, but that’s just life these days. And the white turkey chili used lacinato kale (fancy!) and poblano pepper, which gave it a nice twist on the typical white chili. I did burn the blue corn tortilla strips beyond recognition, which added some unexpected amusement for all my little helpers, but also left us so sad to miss out on that topping. Ah well, next time.
Blue Apron is offering two free meals ($20 OFF) to the first 100 Lotsa members who sign up. There’s no commitment, so it’s really the best trial, in my opinion. Give it a shot, and try it with that added share-the-making-and-the-meal element, which I think was the best part 🙂
