Team Whiskey Bacon tears into Blue Apron and lists 10 things they hate about it. I agree with many of their points, especially #2 and #6 on their list and that Blue Apron is not for those that know their way around the kitchen.
We tried Blue Apron for a time. It was an interesting experience. The quality of the products delivered were all over the map. One week you’d get really great recipe, fresh ingredients, little wasted food (though, the bags are a huge waste as Whiskey Bacon points out). The next week you’d get a rotten batch of vegetables and need to go to the store anyway to replace the shriveled up shallots they sent you.
Shipping pre-measured foodstuffs at scale is remarkably difficult to do well. Blue Apron should likely be cut a small amount of slack for simply getting the items to our doors. That being said, I think Blue Apron’s best value comes in the form of introducing newbs to cooking. If you aren’t the type of person that knows how to cook but you’d like to jump in, try Blue Apron for a month or two. You’ll get all the ingredients in the mail, you’ll learn to read a recipe, you’ll have “ok” meals as a result. Then, make your own stuff.