Blue Apron

My biggest goal in life is to make things as simple as possible. My husband would tell you otherwise. But as many can attest, it is rather difficult to prepare a simple healthy meal with two screaming toddlers in the background. Dinnertime in my house often sounds like: Mommy, why can't I have macaroni again? I can't eat that!! Why can't I eat yet? Mommy I need more water now!! Mommy, I spilled my water!! Mommy, I burned my mouth, ow!! Between dealing with the catastrophes, we often end up with burned food. Which is why when a good friend sent me a few days of Blue Apron as a gift I was thrilled. My girls would be excited to cook with me; they would be invested in the final product so they might actually broaden their horizons beyond macaroni and cheese.

We're not big meat eaters so my friend sent us the vegetarian and fish option. A large box arrived with three portion controlled, healthy recipes and the precise amount of ingredients to cook eat one. My first mistake was attempting to make it with my girls (2 and 4). They ended up eating macaroni and cheese that night and when my husband arrived home from work I was simultaneously chopping onions and sauteeing garlic. We ate very late that night and I was frustrated with how labor intensive it was. However, we had enough leftovers from the night before so my husband and I both had healthy hot lunches and my girls ate some of the leftover basmati rice (which they loved and had never tried before).

The next day I did over 75% of the meal prep while my girls were napping. This involved chopping onions and garlic, zesting a lemon and making soba noodles ahead of time (I added a little oil to the water so they wouldn't stick together when refrigerated). Dinner that night was a little more complicated than usual but much easier than the night before. And again, two healthy hot (re-heated) lunches and extra noodle for the girls! I decided to splurge and I am continuing the service for a couple more weeks until the weather gets nicer and we are outside more. 

Tips to keep in mind:

1. Read the recipe ahead of time. See how much food preparation it involves. [Classics, Organic Structures (NFJ), and Smart Structures (NTJ) might naturally do this but Funs, Organic Freedoms and Smart Freedoms take heed of this warning.]

2. Look at the ingredients once it arrives. My daughter is allergic to sesame so I had to quickly discard the sesame oil and use canola instead. Also, make the company aware of any food allergies. They will happily do substitutions.

3. Try to do as much pre-prep as you can and tightly wrap stored ingredients that need to be refrigerated. I learned this the hard way; my refrigerator still smells like onions, shallots and garlic.

4. Portion wisely. If you are starting to feel full, remember that leftovers will make a yummy lunch or dinner tomorrow. [The size of your fist is roughly a decent portion size — ditto for children's fists. For those with a little willpower deficiency — often Funs (SP) and Organics (NF) — if you wrap up extra portions and put 'em in the fridge, it's a lot harder to have seconds this way than if they're out on the counter.] 

Blue Apron