EveryPlate vs Blue Apron – Which Tastes Best To You?

Between EveryPlate and Blue Apron, EveryPlate is an affordable meal kit subscription service for most people, while Blue Apron offers organic and versatile meal options for vegetarians and omnivores. EveryPlate is basic and straightforward with a few meals per week, perfect for families and non-picky eaters.

If you’re looking for something proven to be very cost-effective in the long run, go for EveryPlate. Meanwhile, Blue Apron is best reserved for those who like to have more meal options at their disposal.

Flexibility and price are very important factors of consideration when selecting a new meal subscription service. That’s why the debate between EveryPlate and Blue Apron is more important now than ever.

Both are healthy and popular choices for meal kits for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, their dietary accommodation is limited, and they are better suited for people following a simple, health-conscious lifestyle.

Both meal kit delivery services cater to different needs and preferences. Based on your likes and dislikes, health concerns, and budget, you can pick the ideal fit for you.

Allow me to make this process easier.

The Importance of Meal Kit Delivery Services

There’s no denying that a meal kit delivery service is a compelling and convenient alternative to avoid the hassle of grocery shopping, meal planning, prepping, and cooking from scratch.

If your goal is to eat healthier, home-cooked recipes without taking up too much of your time, a meal kit delivery service is right for you. Meal subscription offers classic and gourmet-style recipes at varying prices that come with pre-portioned and individually packed ingredients.

Everybody has different goals and intentions in mind when subscribing to a meal kit delivery service. However, if you’re not sure about yours, maybe this will help you make up your mind.

Meal kit services target different goals. Here are a few.

Losing Weight Effectively

Are you planning on using a meal-tracking app to keep a check on how many calories, carbs, proteins, and fats you’re consuming in a day? A meal kit delivery service does that for you by including nutrition information in every recipe.

Improving Health

Without even realizing it, you may be eating a lot of carbs and fewer proteins every day. With the ingredient list and nutrition values for each recipe, you can include more protein-rich ingredients and avoid eating a lot of carbs daily.

Other special diets like plant-based, keto, paleo, balanced, WW-recommended, and health-conscious recipes are also included.

Saving Time

Imagine making a meal for 2 people in less than 30 minutes. You don’t have to plan the meals yourself nor do you have to portion the ingredients. Everything you need to cook is provided for you. All you have to do is combine the ingredients and cook them.

This saves more time than you think because meal kit delivery services take care of everything from grocery shopping to meal planning.

Fresh Ingredients

Only fresh ingredients with no artificial flavors, preservatives, and sugars are included in meal kits. The ingredients are sourced from local farms for fresh produce and meat. You can pick from different cuisines and flavors and even customize the meals according to your personal preferences.

Low Prices

Imagine paying less than what you already pay for groceries for all your meals. Although not every meal kit delivery service costs less than grocery, there are a few exceptions that have unbelievably inexpensive prices. Likewise, you must know that the more meals you order, the less you pay on the final bill amount, which is a huge advantage.

When you factor in the cost of fuel and grocery shopping, paying per serving with meal subscription services feels like a blessing because you are paying for what you need without any leftovers or food waste.

Wide Variety of Food

If you’ve used meal kits before, you know how versatile they can get. Most meal kit services indeed offer straightforward recipes to save prep time, but they also offer an ever-changing mix of homemade and restaurant-style dishes.

You can customize your weekly meal order by protein, special diets, ingredients, and type of cuisine. Add-ons like side dishes, desserts, and protein bundles are also included in some weekly menus. This type of meal selection is more valuable than cooking from scratch, which upgrades the quality of meals cooked at home.

Different Diets

If your goal is to follow a strict diet with more lean proteins, fewer calories, sufficient carbs, and more healthy veggies and fruits, you can easily select a meal subscription service that features a specialized diet menu.

Diets like vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, egg-free, shellfish-free, etc. are the most commonly found subcategories of meal subscription services.

Order a meal that’s gluten-free, and all the premeasured ingredients will be without gluten so that you can strictly follow your diet without compromising on taste.

I understand how difficult and frustrating it can be to find groceries that are diet-friendly too. Fortunately, many meal kit delivery services fine-tune their weekly menus to suit the needs of specific diets.

Different Sources of Protein

How about boosting your protein in the food you already eat? You can pick and try out different protein sources such as beef, poultry, pork, lamb, seafood, and plant-based protein like tofu, tempeh, beans, lentils, and other alternatives.

Whether you order for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, or snacks, you can include more protein-heavy food items without paying extra. Protein is one of the top three macronutrients your body needs for daily functioning.

Protein is necessary for muscle, bone, skin, hormones, hair, and every other part of your body. So, it’s necessary to up your protein intake with the help of more nutritious meals.

Other than drinking high-protein smoothies and shakes, increasing the protein content of your daily meals is also necessary.

Fortunately, with meal tracking and nutrition, you can pick recipes that have more proteins than the rest to effortlessly boost the amount of proteins you consume every day. According to this article, your body needs 50g of proteins per day on the average 2,000-calorie diet.

EveryPlate vs Blue Apron: Are They Similar?

There are more similarities to take into consideration between EveryPlate and Blue Apron than there are distinctions. But as you will see for yourself in just a bit, the differences are worth noting when you want a more flexible and beginner-friendly meal subscription service.

As for their similarities, here’s what I found.

Both EveryPlate and Blue Apron are weekly subscription-based meal kit delivery services.

A thing to note here is that some meals offered on Blue Apron’s menu are Ready-to-Eat in that they are prepared meals, while EveryPlate serves only meal kits and they have plenty of meal options with a shorter prep time of 30 minutes or less.

Moving on, both meal services use superior, non-GMO, and fresh ingredients. Both meat- and plant-based ingredients are included. Some recipes are even nutritionist-approved to ensure maximum nourishment and flavor.

With EveryPlate and Blue Apron, you can select meals that are quick and easy to prepare, family-friendly, plant-based, and balanced. Blue Apron features a Wellness category with nutritionally fortified ingredients and meals, and they are WW-recommended for weight loss and weight management.

To complement the superior quality of ingredients, both services provide ingredients that are pre-portioned according to your selected serving size. So that there shouldn’t be any leftovers, the exact quantity of ingredients is packed as much as you will need them in the recipes – no more, not less.

This is good news because people often complain about leftovers or abandoned ingredients in the fridge for days. With pre-portioned recipes, you are provided with what you need to use, and there’s no need to make room for extra storage in the refrigerator even if you order a lot of meal kits each week.

When it comes to adding meals to the cart, skipping a few weeks, editing orders, and temporarily or permanently canceling your account, EveryPlate and Blue Apron offer such features easily.

Both services even feature interesting discounts and special offers for first-timers and during festivals to make your experience even better and more valuable.

EveryPlate vs Blue Apron: What Are the Key Differences?

For those in a hurry to find out the better pick between EveryPlate and Blue Apron, here’s a brief rundown of all the key distinctions between both services.

EveryPlate and Blue Apron differ in price. EveryPlate’s meals cost $6.49 per serving, and Blue Apron’s meals cost $11.99 per serving. This is the most expensive meal kit delivery service can be. However, the lowest price per serving of both services is $4.99 and $7.99, respectively.

The final decision based on price per serving points in favor of EveryPlate because it’s the most affordable meal kit service out there. The cheapest price per serving of Blue Apron isn’t as inexpensive as EveryPlate – that’s how budget-friendly EveryPlate is for most people.

The next key distinction is time in that EveryPlate’s meals are designed to have a prep time of not more than 30-35 minutes. Meanwhile, Blue Apron’s meals require more prep time, with some meal kits taking 60 minutes to prep, cook, and eat.

If saving time and money is your ultimate concern, EveryPlate is more convenient and practical in the long run. It’s cheaper and faster than Blue Apron.

Speaking of a longer prep time, EveryPlate’s meal kits are simplified and very straightforward to follow. Meanwhile, with Blue Apron, I found that some of the dishes require more prep time and effort. They could be considered relatively more advanced and complex, especially for beginners.

The last, but most important, point of consideration between EveryPlate and Blue Apron is the sheer number of meal kits each service offers. EveryPlate has 21 meals in their weekly menu with a few add-ons. Blue Apron features over 50 different meal kit recipes with different serving sizes for 2 or 4 people.

Blue Apron takes meal selection and variety more seriously because its recipes are inspired by classic home-cooked meals and special restaurant cuisines. It’s a blend of both with varying prep times, ingredients, and flavors.

EveryPlate vs Blue Apron: How Varied Are Their Menus and Meal Plans?

On EveryPlate’s menu, there are 21 meal options to pick from, all different in terms of flavor, texture, and protein. The menus for the upcoming 2 weeks are also displayed alongside the current week’s menu. This shows how foolproof and original the meal kits are that none are repeated twice in a row.

The start of the meal selection and customization process is simple. To help you choose your meals faster and more effectively, EveryPlate features certain labels on every recipe:

• 30 Minutes or Less
• Veggie
• Customer Fave
• Easy Cleanup

These labels aren’t diet-friendly but give you a clearer idea about what to expect from the meal kit. Variety-wise, EveryPlate features an interesting mix of veggie and meat-based recipe kits. Rice bowls, pan-seared recipes, wraps, sandwiches, soup, salads, burgers, and flatbreads are some of the recipes on the current menu.

The Add-ons section has different protein options such as 1-2 servings of chicken breast, shrimp, ground turkey, beef, salmon, veggies, Ranch steak, and a few side dishes and desserts.

The priority is healthy, easy-to-prepare, and family-friendly recipes. You may also find some add-ons every week to add at a lower cost for every meal box.

Every meal kit features relevant information like nutrition info, ingredients list, and cooking instructions. Even the cooking time and what is required to prepare the recipe are mentioned on the recipe page. Everything you need to know about the meal kit and its nutritional value can be read before signing up.

Moving on to Blue Apron, it has more variety in the number of recipes per week and meal plans. They even feature two different serving sizes for 2 or 4 people based on the dietary options.

Signature

This plan features 2 servings of the same recipe at a time. It’s a great option for singles and couples as you will receive 2 servings of the recipe, which you can either have as lunch or dinner on the same day.

The Signature meal plan includes a mix of all the other meal options available – lots of healthy vegetarian and nonvegetarian meal kit recipes with a few weight loss- and diabetes-friendly options.

There is another Signature for Fourmeal plan for 4 servings in a single meal kit. This plan is great for families to try out because Blue Apron offers a discounted rate for 4, plus the meal kit is easier to cook as all the ingredients are pre-measured for 4 servings. This helps in minimal prep time and cleanup.

Vegetarian

This plan features multiple veg-only recipes made with plant-based ingredients only. Tofu, tempeh, beans, chickpeas, lentils, and grains make up the protein diet. Likewise, an interesting blend of healthy fruits and veggies adds flavor and texture to the meal.

Contrary to popular thinking, Blue Apron makes veg food exciting and colorful. Burritos, healthy bowls, pasta recipes, baked dishes, rice bowls, grain bowls, and sides make up the vegetarian diet.

There are plenty of options so you won’t run out of recipes to add to your cart. I promise you that! The Vegetarian plan serves 2 people at a time.

Wellness

Thisplan, as the title suggests, meets certain dietary requirements. Even though the Signature and Vegetarian meal plans are nutritious and contain no GMOs, preservatives, and unhealthy ingredients, the Wellness meal option is more health-fortified.

It has only low-carb and low-calorie meal kit recipes for weight loss, weight management, and diabetes. There are some chicken and seafood recipes as well, but the diet is mainly plant-forward and holistic.

For the current week, there are only 3 different Wellness meal options, and each meal kit serves 2 people at a time.

Add-Ons

Consider these as appetizers, salads, desserts, and wraps. At an even lower cost, the add-ons are worth considering. Some protein bundles are also included in this category including steak, chicken, salmon, and plant-based protein patties.

There is no limit to the number of add-ons you can put in the cart, and truly, some of the add-ons are so quick and easy to make. But there are some baked food items such as muffins, crumb cake, bagel scones, etc. that need to be baked in an oven for over 45 minutes.

But all the ingredients you need to make these by yourself are provided to you. Plus, the ingredients are pre-measured, so you don’t have to do any of the annoying guesswork.

Blue Apron also features different types of meal kits that each recipe is labeled with to help you find your ideal choice faster. Ready to Cook, Craft, Premium, Family Friendly, Fast & Easy, Heat & Eat Chef Favorites, and One-Pot are the labels.

The Heat & Eat meals are prepared meal boxes with 2 or 4 servings each that you simply have to heat up in the microwave and serve hot. The rest of the meals are meal kits that include premeasured ingredients along with cooking instructions.

The Ready to Cook meals are meal kits, but they take only a few minutes to assemble and put in the oven. These are oven-baked dishes like tacos, udon noodles, curries, and salads that you can assemble in less than 5 minutes in a baking dish.

EveryPlate vs Blue Apron: Are the Meals Diet-Friendly?

EveryPlate’s meals are very affordable and basic. If you do not follow any special diets or have any dietary preferences, the balanced meals on EveryPlate’s menu will suit you.

The lack of variety is mainly because the cost per serving of each meal kit is so low. EveryPlate is one of the cheapest meal kit delivery services out there, so their meals are homemade-inspired with simple and delicious pairings for most people.

Their meal plans include vegetarian and nonvegetarian meals including beef, poultry, and seafood. Vegetarian meals are made with plant-based sources of protein such as beans, lentils, grains, and chickpeas.

Unfortunately, they do not offer meal kits for diets like keto, paleo, gluten-free, low carb, vegan, and other similar diets.

Allergy-wise, there isn’t any option available to skip or remove ingredients from every meal kit. But you can do so manually once the meal kit arrives, making sure you have a substitute in your pantry to switch the ingredient with.

On that note, EveryPlate uses conventional ingredients, non-organic and non-vegan, but the ingredients are all without artificial sugars, additives, preservatives, and GMOs. They may not adhere to specific diets, but overall, EveryPlate serves healthy and delicious at a low cost.

Blue Apron offers healthier meal options, but it isn’t compatible with special diets like keto, paleo, and vegan. You will, however, find plenty of carb- and calorie-conscious recipes for weight management, weight loss, and diabetes.

The vegetarian meal plan is not vegan, but it uses all plant-based ingredients. Even the protein is plant-based with ingredients like tofu, tempeh, chickpeas, beans, and lentils. Having said that, eggs, dairy, and honey are used. So, it is not a 100% animal-free meal option for vegetarians.

WW-approved meals are heart-healthy by nature and include lean proteins, lots of veggies, and fewer carbs and calories. Information regarding each recipe’s nutrition values and ingredient lists is mentioned on the recipe pages.

When it comes to evaluating the diet-friendliness of Blue Apron in comparison to EveryPlate, Blue Apron is a better pick. But overall, Blue Apron does not have many dietary categories other than the basic vegetarian and carb-conscious recipes.

If your goal is to follow a strict diet and skip a few ingredients, Blue Apron does not let you skip any. Plus, it processes all the ingredients in the same kitchen facility, which may not be the best thing for people with severe food allergies.

EveryPlate vs Blue Apron: What’s the Cost Per Serving?

When you compare the prices of EveryPlate with Blue Apron, EveryPlate comes out as a very cost-effective and affordable meal kit delivery service.

Blue Apron, perhaps because of its meal variety and higher number of recipes per week, costs more per week for 2 or more people.

Both services offer you multiple meal preferences to pick from.

With EveryPlate’s meal plans, you can select Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family Friend, and Quick & Easy. The prices for each meal preference are the same. It only varies according to the number of meals you select per week.

With Blue Apron’s meal pricing, you have similar meal preferences with two new additions: Wellness and Chef Favorites. The rest of the preferences are Family Friendly, Fast & Easy, and Veggies. Again, the prices for each are the same, but you can increase or decrease the weekly cost by adding or reducing the number of meals per week.

Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of the different meal prices between EveryPlate and Blue Apron:

EveryPlate Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Very affordable meal kit service with over 20 recipes.
• The menu changes every week with no repetitions.
• Great for families who don’t like experimental dishes.
• The cooking instructions are beginner-friendly.
• Maximum cooking time is 45 minutes only.
• Several vegetarian and plant-based options.
• The sign-up is quick and straightforward.
• You can make edits to orders and skip up to 4 weeks at a time.
• The meals are nutritionally balanced with more proteins.
• The packaging and ingredient quality is top-notch.

Cons:

• Not the best diet-friendly meal subscription service.
• No order customization for swapping ingredients.
• No allergy labels or filters.
• The portion size of some of the meals may be too small.

Blue Apron Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Contains a wider variety of recipes for vegetarians and health-conscious eaters.
• Some of the ingredients are organic and gluten-free.
• Multiple types of meal kits are customized by serving size and cooking time.
• You can easily order meals for 2 and/or 4 people.
• The focus on nutrition and portion size is impressive.
• Good for weight loss and weight management.
• The mobile app and website are user-friendly and easy to navigate.
• Quick meal selection process with last-minute order customization.

Cons:

• It’s more expensive than EveryPlate.
• Some of the recipes seem dull.
• More plastic usage in the packaging.
• Some recipes can take longer than an hour to prepare.
• You can’t customize individual recipes.
• No swapping or substituting of ingredients included.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can You Contact the Customer Support of EveryPlate and Blue Apron?

I don’t see why you would need to contact the customer support of either of these services because they offer everything you need from the get-go.

Recipe cards contain proper cooking instructions and properly labeled ingredients with the nutritional profile of each recipe. Plus, the website features everything from account settings and FAQs to guidelines to help you when you most need it.

For any specific requests, you can get in touch with EveryPlate and Blue Apron’s customer care service.

EveryPlate is accessible via call, live chat, and FAQs. Their FAQ and Contact page come in handy because they address most of the common questions that customers have asked in the past. Still, if you still cannot find what you’re looking for, their live chat feature is very responsive and helpful. Plus, it’s available all the time, even after working hours.

Blue Apron offers multiple ways you can get in touch with them. Their FAQs page is the most helpful of them all.

A Live Chat feature addresses most of your concerns, but if you want to talk, you can request a call as well. Email and chat options are always handy when you want immediate help, but the calling hours differ from some weekdays to weekends if you have any specific questions to ask or a request to make.

Are These Meal Subscription Services Allergy-Friendly?

For people with severe food allergies and food intolerances, neither EveryPlate nor Blue Apron is the best choice. They do not follow any diet restrictions whatsoever.

Even if some recipes may not contain common food allergens, they are processed in the same kitchen facility as recipes with common food allergens.

However, both EveryPlate and Blue Apron offer 100% transparency when it comes to the quality of their ingredients and meal kit recipes. You can read about the ingredients, nutrition profile, and allergens of each meal kit on their menu.

Eating the right food can help allergies go away, so make sure you read the ingredients label of each meal kit carefully before adding them to the cart.

Can You Edit or Cancel the Order Before Delivery?

You can easily edit or cancel your order with EveryPlate. The cutoff time for most of their orders is 5 days before the scheduled delivery at midnight EST.

With EveryPlate, go to the “Edit Meals” section to modify all your upcoming orders. You can add more meals to your weekly box, remove or swap meals, pause your membership, or even cancel it before the cutoff date.

Modifying the number of servings you want in a particular box is possible by adding or removing meals. The modified price is displayed on top of the order settings.

To pause or skip an order, go to the “Edit Delivery” settings on EveryPlate’s website. There, you can easily skip a week before the cutoff date for all upcoming orders.

In case you make some changes to your order after the cutoff deadline, like canceling your membership or changing your delivery address, the edits will be applied after the pending order is delivered.

Blue Apron follows a similar process when it comes to modifying placed orders. Each order has its cutoff day and time, which you can see on their “Plan Settings” page. You can edit the plan type, recipes per week, and delivery day easily before the cutoff date.

Rescheduling, skipping a delivery, changing the delivery day, and editing the number of meals in an order are all possible without any extra charges. You will find everything you need to make edits to order on the “Upcoming” page or “Manage” button on Blue Apron’s website or mobile app.

The Verdict

What do you think of EveryPlate and Blue Apron? I’m sure that by now, you have a clearer idea about which service suits your needs best.

EveryPlate is more basic and conventional in that it offers simple, easy-to-prepare meals. The meals are super affordable and take less than 35-45 minutes to prepare out of the box. Meanwhile, EveryPlate is lacking in meal variety and diet-friendliness, which is a huge disadvantage.

On the other hand, giving Blue Apron a shot based on its superior ingredient quality and varied menu is necessary. Blue Apron offers more meal options to you, even though it’s slightly more expensive than EveryPlate.

With Blue Apron, you have more vegetarian meals per week, more low-carb and low-calorie meals, and a balanced blend of satisfying and nutritious meal kits and prepared meals for 2 or 4 people.