August 15, 2026
Why I’ve Been Using Blue Apron for More Than 10 Years
Disclosure: this post contains a referral link. If you subscribe through it, I may earn a referral credit at no additional cost to you. The opinions here are my own.
Over the years, I’ve tried just about every approach to answering the nightly question: “What’s for dinner?”
Takeout is convenient, but it gets expensive. Restaurants are great for special occasions, but they’re not always practical for busy weeknights. Grocery shopping gives you flexibility, but it also requires planning, recipe hunting, and the inevitable last-minute trip to the store because you forgot an ingredient.
For the past 10 years, one service has consistently helped make dinner easier in our household: Blue Apron.
What first attracted me to Blue Apron was the quality of the meals. Many of the recipes feel like something you’d order at a good restaurant rather than something you’d normally cook on a Tuesday night. The ingredients are fresh, the recipes are thoughtfully designed, and the finished dishes often look far more impressive than the amount of effort required to make them.
But over time, I realized the biggest benefit wasn’t convenience.
It was learning.
When you order from a restaurant, you enjoy a meal and that’s the end of the experience. With Blue Apron, you’re actively involved in creating the dish. You learn new cooking techniques, discover ingredients you might never have purchased on your own, and gain confidence in the kitchen with every recipe you complete.
Another thing I appreciate is transparency. When you cook the meal yourself, you know exactly what’s going into it. You see every ingredient. You control the preparation. There are no mysteries about how much butter, oil, or salt was used behind the scenes. That level of visibility helps me feel better about what I’m feeding myself and my family.
Blue Apron has also pushed me out of my comfort zone. Left to my own devices, I’d probably rotate through the same handful of recipes every week. The meal selections introduce variety that I wouldn’t normally choose on my own—different cuisines, ingredients, and flavor combinations that keep dinner interesting.
After a decade of using the service, it’s become one of those rare products that has remained part of my routine year after year. It helps reduce decision fatigue, teaches useful cooking skills, and consistently delivers meals that feel special without requiring a restaurant reservation.
If you’ve been curious about meal kits or are looking for a way to make home cooking more enjoyable, I recommend giving it a try.
You can get $15 off your first two orders through my referral link:
If you do try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have over the last 10 years.