My strongest personality trait was my inability to eat like garbage throughout college. My love of Taco Bell, pizza rolls, microwaveable mac and cheese is mainly due to 1) eating like a complete garbage person and 2) not knowing that healthy foods can be tasty. 3) Not knowing how to conquer the learning curve that stopped me from being my best self. My friends were all able to tell me how to cook at home and how I could eat healthier. In the meantime, I was ordering pizza from the library (for the third week in a row).
Once I graduated, I took some baby steps and made some copycat meals of my favorite takeout spots, but due to redundancy, lack of direction, and the fact that I’d set the fire alarm off pretty much every time that I cooked, I hadn’t quite nailed the “not-ordering-out-every-weeknight” bit. A few years later, wellness came to the forefront in my life and I decided that if I was going to continue to have the palate and cooking skills of a toddler, I’d have to re-strategize. So began my quest to find bomb recipes that would allow me to fall in love with balance in the kitchen and in my meals.
After years of perfecting my cooking, Blue Apron is my favorite way to get healthy meals. If you’re looking to take a holistic approach to your health this year, look no further—here are three ways that Blue Apron has helped me lean into a balanced lifestyle where I’ve found that veggies aren’t so bad after all.
1. It’s introduced me to tons of new recipes and ingredients
I will be honest when I say that pre-Blue Apron my idea of cooking was boiling some noodles, adding store-bought Ragu sauce and adding a lot too much Parmesan. No slight to a good ole basic pasta dish—I love your work! But when it’s the only thing that you know how to make, it can get old—fast.
When I first laid eyes on the recipe options that Blue Apron had to offer, I had two thoughts, the first being: “Damn, everything looks so good!” And quite quickly after, the second: “There’s absolutely no way that I can pull that off on my own.” I took the leap of faith, and after my first box, I was hooked. I made a broccoli-filled pesto pasta and—wait for it—I absolutely loved it (plus I didn’t burn my apartment complex down). Progress. It was one of the first meals I tried that made me realize I wasn’t Bad at cooking or being mindful about the foods I was using to fuel my body—I just needed a little help.
Blue Apron makes it easy to find balance in my meals with over 50 chef-designed recipes per semaine (including vegetarian, Weight Watchers, and low cal), and allows me to customize recipes.
2. It makes meal planning, prepping and cooking easy
While meal planning and prepping might come naturally to some, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just never going to be one of those people. The idea of planning my meals before a trip to the grocery store sounds good in theory, but it hasn’t ever been something I’ve been able to stick to. I’ve made enough grocery trips where I forgot one crucial recipe item to know that it’s just not in my genes. And that’s OK.
Because I’m not a pro in the kitchen and grocery shopping for one recipe can get expensive, ordering my meals through Blue Apron has been such a game-changer. Blue Apron helps me plan my dinners and I only shop for breakfast foods and snacks when I grocery shop. Despite my tendency to set off the fire alarm when I cook I have proven time and again that I can whip up Blue Apron meals with ease. This has completely boosted my confidence in the kitchen.
3. It’s saved me a ton of money in the long run
I can’t lie, when I first heard of meal delivery, the first question that popped into my head was, “is it worth it?” I’d never given much thought to how I had spent money on food prior to Blue Apron, and when I took a closer look at my finances, I audibly gasped at how much of my budget was going to DoorDash, eating out, and huge grocery trips that resulted in a lot of wasted food because I didn’t get to produce or meat in time.
Now that I’ve worked Blue Apron into my budget, I’ve saved so much money in comparison to my previous non-system system. I eat out a lot less because I actually look forward to cooking (mostly because I know it’ll be a success as opposed to before when there was truly a 50/50 shot of absolutely destroying whatever I was attempting to whip up), and I always have leftovers that I usually eat for lunch or dinner the next day. Now, when I eat out, it’s a treat that I intentionally enjoy rather than it being the only option because I didn’t know anything else.
Whether it’s your physical, mental, relational, or financial health, Blue Apron can help you meet your unique goals and find balance within your life. Sign up for Blue Apron to get $110 off across 5 boxes plus free shipping on your first box!
This post contains a sponsored inclusion of Blue Apron, but all of the opinions within are those of The Everygirl editorial board.
Source: The Every Girl