Sautéed Shrimp Sandwiches with Blue Apron

Lately, I've been super lazy about meal planning, grocery shopping and basically cooking in general. My co-worker told me about Blue Apron which is a meal delivery service that delivers all the pre-portioned ingredients {including meat} along with recipe cards. But you have to actually cook the meal. And the recipes are slightly involved -- they usually take me about an hour from start to finish and I gobble down my creation in about 4 minutes. It's even better if you have someone to help you cook and can divide up the steps into two. My co-worker sent me a link to try a week for free and I was hooked!

I recently re-discovered online grocery shopping which has been heaven sent.  Jake and I live literally eight-tenths of a mile away from a brand new Publix grocery store but there are times when I just cannot get my butt into the car and drive to the grocery store. Sure, I can peruse the aisles of Target for 2 hours... but that's another story for another post.

UP THIS WEEK: Sautéed Shrimp Sandwiches with Saffron Aioli and Celery Parmesan Salad. Recipe is here. 

Our Blue Apron deliveries arrive on Wednesday evenings before 8 pm and they come with 3 meals with 2 servings each for $60. It boils down to $10 per person per meal and I think that's a score. Sometimes I go to Whole Foods and spend $25 just on fresh Salmon for one meal.  So far we have made 6 meals and the meat quality has always been super fresh and tasty. So I know they are using good ingredients and not skimping in that department.  

As a side note, you can always 'skip' a week if you don't like what the meal choices are or you'll be out of town.  We've skipped several weeks without a problem. And you can see what the meal choices are several weeks ahead of time so that you can decide if you want to skip or not. 

As you can see, there are fresh veggies, cheese, buns, and way down on the bottom, under the ice pack thingie, are the meats to ensure they stay cold and fresh throughout the shipping process. 

In the brown bags, they have what they label 'knick knacks' for each recipe which typically include spices, mayo, or whatever else is needed for the recipe. One thing I love is that everything is pre-measured so you never have to measure anything. 

Each box comes equipped with recipe cards with photos and step-by-step instructions for how to make each meal.

Below is the Celery Parmesan Salad. I don't usually like celery but this was a nice change up from your typical salad -- and I am not a huge salad fan either, but I really enjoyed this take on it. 

The sautéed shrimp and saffron aioli. Have you guys had saffron before? It's actually really good!

The finished product: Sautéed Shrimp Sandwiches with Saffron Aioli and Celery Parmesan Salad. YUM! This was actually my favorite recipe so far. We are traveling a lot this month {13 days out of 31 --eek} so we are skipping the meals until the end of the month. But I cannot wait to make the Brie and Pear Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! My mouth is already watering! 

Things I learned:

It's super easy to make aioli. The main ingredient is mayo.

Every recipe I've made so far has used garlic and fresh lemon juice.  So, basically those are staples that should really be in {almost} everything that is make from scratch.

Nothing beats fresh veggies. For the first recipe, I literally had to cut fresh corn off the cobb and I normally would never have done that -- I would've just bought frozen or canned corn. But it was so easy to do. I'm sure I will try it again!

Zesting a lemon or lime is actually not that hard.

Have you tried Blue Apron or another meal delivery service? If so, let me know your experience in the comments section below.