I tried a Whole30 meal delivery service that made meal prep a breeze

As a three-time Whole30 veteran, I know my way around the famed reset pretty well (steer clear of dairy, legumes, grains, sugar, preservatives, and alcohol for 30 days, nbd). I also know that about halfway through the program, food boredom gets real.

After two weeks of drinking black coffee and eating so. many. eggs,  I’m left staring into my fridge willing a chef-prepared salmon dinner to appear in place of my soggy zoodles. I haven’t yet mastered the art of the magically appearing, fully-cooked, totally delicious dinner (if only), but I did find the next best thing.

Blue Apron (the fresh-ingredient meal delivery service) has teamed up with Whole30 to bring meals to your doorstep. (Cue my internal happy dance.) And since Whole30 is based around eating whole, nutrient-dense food and Blue Apron’s mission is to make access farm-fresh foods easy, it’s basically a dream team.

Here’s how it works: From January 8 through the end of February, Blue Apron will have two Whole30 meals on its menu each week. If you select the two-person meal plan, which comes with two meals per week, your entire box will be filled with Whole30-approved ingredients.

Since I’m just cooking for one, the four servings set me up with a whole week of dinners. AKA, see you never mushy meal-prepped zoodles.

Scroll down to find out how my week of Whole30 meals from Blue Apron went.

They aren’t kidding about the refrigerated box

Blue Apron’s site says your food will arrive in a refrigerated box, so I was a little nervous when my doorman retrieved a regular-looking cardboard box from the package room (how long was it in there??). When I opened it, though, I was surprised to find that everything was really cold—as in completely insulated with multiple freezer packs.

With a busy schedule like mine (I basically only use my apartment to cook dinner and sleep), not having to schedule deliveries based on when I’d be home was a major perk—and knowing my food wouldn’t spoil if I got home later than anticipated meant no added stress.

Talk about freshness

Sometimes ordering food online can be iffy, but the orange slices for my Togarashi Chicken Lettuce Cups were mouthwateringly juicy, and even the avocado was ripe (that’s a praise-hands emoji achievement).

And since everything is pre-portioned (you receive the exact amount of each ingredient to make the recipe) there was no waste or worry about letting forgotten veggies go bad in the back of the fridge (guilty).

Score one for convenient prep

The recipe card separates the cooking process into prep, cook, and serve steps, which made the whole experience a lot more streamlined than my usual haphazard method of chopping and throwing things into a pan all at once and hoping for the best.

And because I had a game-plan for prepping my meal, I was actually able to cook the whole thing and clean up in the allotted 40 minutes.

The meals have serious Instagram potential

Finally, the meals totally aced the taste test. The custom spice blends added a dimension to the flavors that I never would have been able to come up with on my own—evidence that Blue Apron’s professional chefs know what they’re doing.

Plus, the pretty green lettuce cups looked way more appetizing than my usual mish-mash of chicken and veggies (and would look right at home on my Instagram feed). They say you eat with your eyes first, and I can attest that made a huge difference.

The verdict: The Blue Apron meals helped me sail through the middle of my Whole30 experience without any of my typical complaints about running out of recipe ideas. Cure for food boredom, found.

Thinking about giving Whole30 a go? Or just want to get some delish, healthy meals delivered to your home? Get $40 off your first two weeks of Blue Apron now!

In partnership with Blue Apron 

Photos: Blue Apron