For someone who doesn't really know how to cook (it's been years since I actively cooked last, and I've forgotten how to do anything besides the basics), would Blue Apron be a good way to learn?
I'm going to be working from home soon and I figure this is a solid thing to keep me from eating every meal out like I do now.
Get a part time job as a cook, or just learn some knife skills and read some cookbooks and tweak recipes
Honestly, learning how your tongue works, and learning to operate a knife are the biggest thing. Experimentation and looking through cookbooks will help you with combining flavors to suit your taste and learning techniques and terminoligy
Blue Apron is more on the lines of if you're too lazy to go out shopping and figure out what you wanna cook
but still wanna act like you're cooking a home cooked meal
you're better off just watching any popular youtube cooking channel
I like to get something I've never cooked with every time I get groceries. Then I'll look up techniques and recipes that use the ingredient and work from there. Helps broaden my experience.
they keep sending me giftcards
those "50 bucks off first order stuff"
if you want me to post the codes I can do it. I wont be using blue apron anytime soon
cucumber: $1
snow peas: $1.5
sugar snap peas: $1.5
pea shoots: grow at home fairly easily but whateve. $2
green beans: $2
spinach:$1
spring onion: $.5
mint? : $.5
salmon: $9
chicken: $6
ground beef lamb mix:$6
lemons: $1
garlic: $.25
pasta: $.5
rice: $.5
mushrooms: $2
i don’t know what knick knacks are but i’m going to assume it’s dry seasoning and give it a generous value of $3
59.94 for $40.25 worth of food? (probably closer to $30 worth of food but i'm keeping it high for the sake of argument)
no thanks.
i’ll keep that $1040 a year, eat better, and take a trip or something
nvm it was only valid for like a week. Im sure theyll send me another one. that was like the fourth one Ive gotten in under 3 months
try living in the middle of a city. It might make more sense then. Mollie Stones is ridiculous
i do live in the middle of the city
it still makes no sense
it's also a horrendous waste of resources
some small shitty city doesnt count
are you american? you have the cheapest food going
it's a stupid deal for stupid people
grow your own mint
planted some a few years ago and it grew like wildfire
and now my whole garden is nothing but mint
OP here.
One of my problems is, I wouldn't know what to do if I was going to the store to appropriately portion out these items... and would likely have a ton of food waste.
I mean, maybe something like Blue Apron would teach me over time how to portion this stuff out, or use it in other meals - but the idea of finding a single recipe online or something and then going to buy all of the ingredients is pretty daunting as a major beginner.
OP again - I live in the desert and can't reasonably grow most things. Everything I eat needs to be purchased.
if you really want to learn, it's probably more beneficial just to dive in and not be spoon fed
you don't have to go out and buy a million things
just try to give yourself a budget, buy some versatile ingredients that you like (beans, rice, meat, fruits, veggies, bread, eggs, spices etc.)
and try looking up recipe ideas based on things you already have especially if they're about to rot
some key ingredients to keep on hand that you don't have to really about spoiling are good to. things like different vinegars, soybean paste, sweetners, and oils will be able to add amazing depth to your home cooking
one person could eat very well for $60 a week
Look OP, just do it. You're talking about 20% markup or thereabouts, and dining out is usually 100-200% markup from making it yourself. It'll be something to look forward to getting "You've got mail!" and like you said it's an incentive to push you where otherwise you're kind of lazy about doing your meal right.
If you're okay with a markup, and I mean why not, not everyone is poor and broke, and a ton of people shop at whole foods for whatever reason they have to spend what they want.
I do agree that you will likely repeat some of your favorite recipes on your own once you have tried them.
>One of my problems is, I wouldn't know what to do if I was going to the store to appropriately portion out these items... and would likely have a ton of food waste.
The only things that go bad are fresh veggies. Vacuum pack/Double freezer-bag your meats. Fresh garlic keeps for months and potatoes/onions keep for weeks.
Carbs like pasta/rice are shelf-stable.
Most other veggies like green beans, snow peas, peppers, broccoli and even spinach (just dethaw in the microwave then wrap in a towel to squeeze out the extra liquid) can be bought frozen without worry of spoilage.
It's really only mushrooms, leafy veggies cabbage/parsley or aromatics like mint/basil that need to be picked up fresh and used in about a week.
Also fresh fruit if a recipe calls for it and citrus juice/zest of lemon/lime but if you worry about it just take the surplus and make you some fresh lemon/limeade.
I suggest doing what suggested and looking up some YT channels and going grocery shopping. Here's some I use:
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
Save your money OP.
What do you like to eat?
i've had cabbage last for literal months in the fridge
I'll eat just about anything, but I don't like sweets. I'm a big seafood fan, but being in the desert, don't buy it that often.
well, if you eat out a lot then getting blue apron might still save you some dosh in the short run. I'd start with it, but get good books too. Like Michael Ruhlmans books and jacques pepin's new technique book.
I got this gift card. It expires May 31st. It came with some shit I bought from newegg. Have at it.
its awful, half the time it shows up splattered in the bucket
Splatter Bucket *TM
it's a waste of money and I'm not just saying that because of the markup, overhead, and delivery costs they recoup
It wouldn't really help you improve your cooking ability to have someone tell you what to make and give you all the ingredients. All you have to do is find a recipe that sounds good and try to make it. The best way I figure is to fire up youtube and start watching cooking videos. That will take care of any problems you have with inspiration and has the added benefit of showing you exactly what to do, rather than only describing it
Also you should torrent all of Good Eats
Blue apron is good if you want to force yourself to try new foods and ingredients that you would never normally use. If you get it for half off or more it's really not a bad deal. You get 3 meals and each meal serves 2, so if you're single, you get 6 meals in total. My only complaint is that I have had it twice, once a few months ago and once 2 years ago. Unless this past time was a fluke, the quality of the veggies and chicken was down enormously and the portion size was down about 1/3 since the last time I got it. I was very disappointed with blue apron but then again I do not order it enough to know if it was just a fluke or if the quality has dropped off.