Home Chef

Last week I wrote a post about how I tried out Blue Apron. Well, the week after I got that order, I got an order from Home Chef! In this box was 2 meals for 2 plus stuff to make smoothies for 2!

As I mentioned before, my aunt had tried both of these services out and that's why I wanted to try them out. They changed things up a little bit and now the ingredients come already separated in these awesome clear bags. That's definitely one thing that would have been nice if Blue Apron did that.

First up I made the Weeknight Chicken Quesadillas! These were super simple to make and were made in the...wait for it...oven!! You put the bottom quesadillas on a cookie sheet covered with foil and sprayed. Then you pile on your filling, add the other quesadillas, and spray that lightly. Then you put a piece of foil over them, a cookie sheet on top of that, and then place a casserole dish on top. Then you bake them in the oven! I've never heard of making quesadillas like that before but will definitely be making them like that again!

That same night I made the smoothies! They were good except for the pieces of orange that I kept having to spit out. I don't like pulp in my orange juice so that's probably why I didn't care for that part too much.

The final meal from this delivery was Sweet and Savory Cola-Glazed Pork Chops. These were delicious!! I think I messed up one part of it though and kinda cooked the pork chops for a little longer than I was supossed to after adding the cola glaze to it because there wasn't much of a glaze left at the end. But like I said, it still tasted good!!

 So overall I had a great experience with both Blue Apron and Home Chef. I'm thinking about trying out Hello Fresh in a few weeks. I would order from a service like this every now and then if they weren't so expensive or didn't take as long to prep. So check them out for yourself! If you have a Swagbucks account (or even if you don't, you can sign up), check on there before signing up for Blue Apron or Home Chef because you may be able to get them for cheap like I did!

Blue Apron

Last month, my aunt tried out the meal delivery service Blue Apron. It just so happened to be while me and the kiddos were staying at her house for a week and a half. I thought it was pretty cool...you get everything you need to make a few meals, all in one box. So I decided to give it a try! Through an offer that Swagbucks has, I paid $30 and will be getting $20 back!! So that's 3 meals that I'm getting for $10!!!

The box arrived at my house around 3:30 and I was excited! I opened it up and got all the goodies out and organized them by meal. They put a huge ice pack below the food to keep it cool all day in case it has to sit outside for a short period of time.

The first meal I made that night was Sweet Corn & Pepper Empanadas. 

I was pretty excited for this one, it looked so good in the picture!!!

 Even though mine didn't end up turning out quite like the picture, it still tasted amazing!!! One thing I didn't like about this meal though was that it took forever to prep! I think that's the one downside to Blue Apron meals. They give you everything fresh so with this I had an ear of corn, whole radishes, and whole scallions. The meals I normally cook don't require me to do this much prep work so it was definitely different than what I'm used to. I only got the meal plan for 2, so I had to make the kiddos something different for dinner. This night they had pizza!

Next up was Saffron & Tomato Bucatini Pasta. This one didn't require me to prep as much as the first meal. They even give you a small thing of 2 tablespoons of butter! Pretty much everything is included except for salt, pepper, olive oil, and water!

 Mine looked a lot more like the picture than my first meal did!! I think the biggest difference between the 2 pictures is the lighting!! This meal was delicious as well!! I love zucchini!!

Last night I made the third and final meal and this one wasn't a hit in our house. I texted my hubby apologizing in advance for the meal so he decided he was going to get something on his way home from work. I don't think it was anything I did that ruined the meal, it just isn't our kind of food. It was a Japanese-style rice bowl named Purple Rice & Miso Spinach Bowls. I really like the idea of a rice bowl but the flavoring in this one was completely brand new to me.

 One thing I struggled with on this meal was the pepper tempura. You made a pancake-like batter, dipped the pepper rings in it, and then fried them in olive oil. I had a weird shaped pepper so I couldn't cut my pepper into rings. And then I couldn't get the batter to stay on the peppers so they didn't turn out the greatest.

I also opted to make hard-boiled eggs instead of soft-boiled, at my husband's request. I really enjoyed the avocado on top. Avocado has recently become my newest food obsession!! And the cucumber and spinach were alright as well. It was just the flavoring that didn't do it for me.

So there you have it, my experience with Blue Apron. Overall I would give it a 9/10. I liked getting all the ingredients delivered right to my door. I've ordered groceries online before but I've never gotten them delivered right to my house! The only thing I didn't like about the recipes is that they aren't recipes I could cook every night. Things would have been a little easier if I was cooking them without 2 kids constantly at my feet. But it did give me new dinner ideas. Empanadas could easily be filled with pretty much everything! I was just browsing through a magazine earlier and saw a recipe where you fill them with pineapple! And rice bowls would be pretty easy to make. Just make some Mexican rice and throw some avocado, cucumber, spinach, and other various toppings on top. I'll just be sure I don't add any of the flavorings from the recipe I made with Blue Apron!

I highly recommend that you check out Blue Apron for yourself! It was a great experience and if I can get it at a cheap price again, I'll definitely be getting more!




*Disclaimer: I was not compensated by Blue Apron to provide my opinions. My opinions are 100% my own.