It’s safe to say that – after nearly a year of living alone during the pandemic and making 90% of my meals solo – I have a severe case of recipe fatigue. I love cooking but I’ve made all my favorite meals too many times, I’m tired of searching for new recipes, tired of meal planning and I’m tired of going to the grocery store and painstakingly ordering groceries. I had started to feel resentful and exhausted for not having anyone to share cooking responsibilities with in all honesty. It’s all gotten old and I was desperately in need of changing things up in the kitchen.

Ending Recipe Fatigue

Enter: Blue Apron. It’s been years since I’ve tried a meal delivery service and in fact I did try Blue Apron years ago! But upon revisiting it I loved seeing the changes they’ve implemented. The variety of the types of meals has increased (23 options per week!), there are swaps available if you want to include more veggies and there’s increased flexibility. 

What had me most excited about resuming a meal delivery service though? The ability to have meals that include things like buns. Buns are sold in packs of six or eight often and as someone living alone I often never buy things like that because I don’t want to waste a bunch of extras. I feel a lot of guilt over food waste so often I will skip certain meal components or ingredients when cooking. So am I telling you I was excited to order meals that included sandwich rolls and buns? I sure am! It felt like such a luxury to make a burger at home or the meal featured in this post – Sheet Pan Pork Sausage & Pepper Sandwiches with Spiced Mayo & Parmesan Potatoes.

When it comes to selecting my meals I always look for those that can serve well as leftovers. Blue Apron offers a variety of options – their Signature program is for 2 people (so as someone in a single person household I get 6 meals out of every box!) or you can select it for 4 (perfect if you have a small family or roommates! My friend does this for her husband and two kids every week so they have half their meals every week accounted for without any planning required.) 

Blue Apron also offers a Vegetarian plan and a Wellness-focused plan that has WW Approved, 600 calories or less and even carb-conscious recipes. Since I live alone I have been choosing options that’ll be great for dinner and for lunch the next day. 

I also have had a lot of fun selecting items that feel more like restaurant meals I may order out like Southern-Spiced Chicken with Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans or Spanish Lamb & Saffron Rice with Shishito Peppers & Romesco Mayo. Exploring new flavors and foods that I’ve never cooked before has also brought back my interest in cooking! Meals like Korean-Style Beef Bowls with Shishito Peppers & Gochujang Mayo or Sheet Pan Panko-Baked Cod with Tomatoes, Green Beans & Butternut Squash (I hardly ever cook fish so this has been fun to add into the rotation!)

I like that so many of the meals come with vegetable servings (I am notoriously good at avoiding vegetables when left to my own devices at home) so I’m eating more complete meals now than when I plan & cook my own meals. And given my tiny kitchen doesn’t allow for loads of condiments or spices, I so enjoy having each meal come with unique ingredients I don’t keep on hand.

I can’t tell you how nice it has been to avoid going to the grocery store and to have everything delivered to me. The meals have all taken 30 minutes or less for me to make and I’m once again enjoying meal time in my home. Blue Apron also allows you to skip weeks when you need to and you can always change up your plan, the number of servings or your recipes when you want. These options are definitely more flexible than when I previously used the service four years ago which made me really happy to see.

I was practically giddy when my first box arrived and I’ve felt that way with every delivery since! I’m really excited to share that with this link you can score $80 off across your first 4 boxes of Blue Apron! It’s a flash sale with the biggest savings I’ve seen so be sure to jump on it if you’re a new customer!

Have you guys tried Blue Apron? If not I hope you will! It really was the best cure to my recipe fatigue and it’s nice to feel like I have some help in the kitchen these days. As a result, this partnership was truly a dream come true for me! And if it doesn’t continue (depending on how it performs it may turn into something longer so your using my link to sign up really helps!) – I’ll be the newest paying customer of Blue Apron no doubt.

p.s. more ways I’m feeling better this year and my 2021 goals.

Many thanks to Blue Apron for partnering on this post! All opinions are always my own and I appreciate you supporting the brands that support wit & whimsy! *Valid for first-time Blue Apron meal-plan subscriptions only. Payment card required to redeem. Limit one redemption per household. Not valid with other offers.

[Pret a Provost Photography]