Out of curiosity, I tried Blue Apron for a few weeks to see what the fuss was all about, and I must say, I was fairly impressed. You sign up online and tell Blue Apron about your food preferences, allergies, diet restrictions, etc. After you pay, you receive a shipment once a week (see photo above) with everything you need. All ingredients are packed in an insulated, silver bag, packed with ice packs. Items that need refrigeration, such as meat and dairy, are packed at the bottom of the box between ice packs, while other items such as produce and dry goods are packed at the top. Click the link to continue reading our thoughts! The meals were certainly very creative, and varied. In ,y box I received recipes and ingredients to make pan-seared salmon, lemon grilled cheese and a beef stir fry. The ingredient quality was on par with my small, local grocery store. The Salmon and Beef Stir fry were both pretty unremarkable, but sort of in a good way. I wasn't blown away, but both recipes were very easy to prepare, and I think Blue Aprons instructions helped me do a better job cooking. I'd say it saved me a little bit of time on prep and cooking by having instructions, and it saved me a lot of time on creativity. It would have taken me a few hours to find the recipe, shop, and cook, but with Blue Apron it was much more simple. That being said, I do feel like with these two recipes especially, the cost went into making it easy, rather than blowing my mind with interesting recipes or ingredients. The lemon grilled cheese was a completely different story. It's strange to think that this was the breakout star of the box, but it really was fantastic and lifted the whole Blue Apron experience. I would have never tried rubbing sugar on lemon slices and then including those in a grilled cheese, but it was truly one of the most delicious meals I've ever made in my own kitchen. Without Blue Apron, I probably would have never thought to try this, and even if I had, I don't think it would have turned out nearly as well (they're instructions are very easy to follow). On the flip side, once again there weren't any really out-there ingredients, so this would be pretty easy to replicate without Blue Apron (though it might take you a few tries to get it right on your own). There are some serious downsides to Blue Apron (and one can assume these apply to most meal subscriptions in general). The main concern is price. The individual plan costs $60 per week as of time of writing, and supplies you with 3 meals per week (not 3 days worth of food, just 3 meals) and each meal is portioned to feed two people. Compared to grocery shopping and planning your own meals, Blue Apron is fairly expensive, working out to $10 per person per meal. However, when you compare it to a meal at a restaurant, given the quality that Blue Apron provides, it's actually a fairly good deal. For those that tend to eat dinner at restaurants more than 3 nights a week, it could be prove to be a decent value (although you have to cook your own food). For those who are already accustomed to eating at home, Blue Apron may save you the headache of planning meals, but it probably won't save you any money. The other issue I found was portion size, which may not be sufficient for everyone. While I'm sure Blue Apron is aiming for healthy-sized portions, I found them to be just filling enough. So while I wasn't left hungry, I generally felt as though I could have eaten a larger portion. For those who are accustomed to larger portions or who are very active and need more calories, Blue Apron's meals may be a meal for one rather than two. However, for someone on a diet, a meal plan could be a convenient way to keep portion sizes in check. Lastly, Blue Apron uses A LOT of packaging. Each individual ingredient, for each recipe, is individually bagged/bottled/boxed in it's own small container. Those small containers are then wrapped in paper bags and labeled with their respective recipe. Dry goods, such as rice and pasta, are pre-portioned and packed in plastic bags. Other ingredients, such as meat, arrive in the standard vacuum packed containers. All of that is then packed on gel ice packs, wrapped in a metallic/insulated bag, and then boxed. I was actually shocked at just how much packaging and waste was present. Some of it seems easily recyclable, other parts (like the insulated shipping bag) I'm not so sure. What do you think of meal subscription plans? Have you tried any, and if so, were you happy with the service? Let us know what you think on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.