A Kitchn Staffer’s 3 Eye-Opening Takeaways from Her Week with Meal Kits

Getting dinner on the table every night takes work, and we can all run out of steam. For Kitchn project manager Kit Turley, the trouble was that her go-to weeknight recipes had gone from reliable to monotonous. Add an opinionated five-year-old to the mix, and planning fresh, flavorful meals got even more complicated.

Kit decided to try Blue Apron’s all-in-one meal kits to escape her family’s “didn’t we just have this?” rut. Each box has precisely portioned ingredients and instructions (with follow-along photos) to let you quickly cook meals tailored to your preferences. And knowing in advance which meals you’ll get each week makes dinner that much easier.

At the end of the week, Kit was impressed by how the meal kits helped with so many different aspects of the dinner equation. Here are her three most important takeaways from her week with Blue Apron.

Kit sometimes forgets what she has in the fridge (been there), but the meal kits kept her organized. “Usually I’m thinking about what ingredients I need, whether I have enough of them, how long it will take,” Kit says. “Not having to think ahead was such a relief of stress.”

She also appreciated that if a recipe had a spicy component, it was optional. Plus, since most Blue Apron recipes are designed to be ready in less than 35 minutes, they help you avoid hunger meltdowns (and not just for kids).

“I was surprised how good the dishes tasted!” Kit says. “The recipes encouraged you to salt and season along the way, and there was always an element of acid to brighten the dish at the end. They were very well balanced.”

Because Blue Apron sources fresh, high-quality ingredients, Kit found that the final results tasted better than if she had done the grocery shopping. “The Sheet Pan Pesto Salmon with Roasted Kohlrabi and Sweet Potatoes tasted like a dish you’d get at a restaurant,” Kit says. “The fish was light, bright, and packed with flavor, and had a nice acidic note to it.”