Blue Apron is one of the many meal delivery services that provide you with recipes and fresh, pre-portioned ingredients to get you cooking in your own kitchen. Designed to make dinnertime less stressful, they’ve been reaching customers all around the country.

If you’ve been thinking about giving Blue Apron a try, you probably have a few questions on how their service works and what you can expect. To help you out, we’re answering the most commonly asked questions potential customers have about Blue Apron’s service. This will hopefully help you decide if it’s the right meal delivery box for you!

1. How does Blue Apron work?

To get started with Blue Apron, you simply need to begin by choosing the meal plan that’s right for you. You have two options, which include a two-person plan and a family plan. The two-person plan provides you with three recipes per week. Each of those recipes will provide servings for two people.

The other option is their family plan, which is designed to feed a family of four. This is ideal for parents and their children. With this plan, you’re able to choose between two or four recipes each week. You don’t have this option with a two-person plan. Each of the recipes will serve a total of four people. Depending on where you live, you may have extra plan options to select from.

Once you’ve placed your order, you’ll be able to make some customizations inside your account. You can include any dietary preferences, such as foods you aren’t interested in receiving. You’ll also have the ability to choose your delivery date based on the options that are available for your area.

From there, you can review the calendar to see all of the upcoming meal options. You’re able to select from a list of a few different recipes each week, allowing you to choose the dinners you are most interested in cooking. There’s never any surprise as to what will be in your box each week.

2. How much is Blue Apron?

The cost of Blue Apron will obviously depend on the plan you choose to order. With the two-person plan, the price per serving comes to $9.99. This option gets you three meals per week and will cost you a total of $59.94. The price per serving for the family plan is $8.99. If you choose the family plan and only want two meals per week, it’ll cost you $71.92. To receive four meals, you’re looking at a weekly total of $143.84.

3. Where does Blue Apron deliver?

Blue Apron delivers to all of the contiguous United States. Unfortunately, they do not deliver to Alaska or Hawaii at this time. If you’re curious to see which delivery options are available in your area, Blue Apron includes that information for you on their website.

4. Does Blue Apron have vegan meal options?

At this time, Blue Apron does not offer vegan meal options. Their website states that they’re often looking for ways to expand their service, so if this is something that is of interest to you, you can always check back at a later date.

5. Does Blue Apron have vegetarian meal options?

Yes, Blue Apron does offer a vegetarian meal plan. If you want to purchase it, you will have to select their two-person plan. You will then be given the option to select the foods you can eat, which is where you will be able to indicate that you only want to receive vegetarian recipes. The vegetarian menu is not available for the Family Plan.

You can always locate vegetarian recipes in Blue Apron’s online cookbook because they will be marked with a green leaf symbol.

6. Does Blue Apron have gluten-free meal options?

Blue Apron does not have a designated meal plan with gluten-free options. You may be able to sign-up for a box and find meals that are gluten-free, but there are no promises that gluten-free meals will be available each week. They always provide allergen information on their nutrition labels, so you will be able to easily see which meals will work for you and which ones won’t.

There’s also the possible risk of cross-contamination when ordering from Blue Apron. All of their ingredients are produced in facility that handles known allergens such as milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soy. You’ll want to exercise caution when ordering if you have a severe allergy.

7. Does Blue Apron offer wine pairing with the meals?

Yes, you can choose to receive wine pairings from Blue Apron with your meals. This service gets you access to a variety of wines from renowned makers. For $10 per bottle, you can receive a monthly wine delivery that’ll pair perfectly with any of your Blue Apron dinners. These wines are also perfectly sized for two people to share.

The cost for wine delivery will be $65.99 per month if you’re interested in trying it out.

8. Does Blue Apron have paleo options?

Unfortunately, there is not a meal plan that is designated to provide customers with paleo-friendly meals. Their two-person vegetarian plan is the only specific dietary plan they offer at this time. However, you can always choose the meals you want and in some cases, you may be able to make substitutions at home so they can suit your needs.

9. Where is the Blue Apron headquarters?

The Blue Apron headquarters is located in New York.

10. Is Blue Apron organic?

Many of the ingredients Blue Apron supplies for their meals have been certified organic by the USDA, but not all of them. They are still dedicated to providing customers with only high-quality ingredients for their meals. Their meat comes from farmers and ranchers who raise their animals without added hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics.

Blue Apron also works in partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. This is an organization that’s focused on seafood sustainability. The seafood they provide their customers is rated “Best Choice,” “Good Alternative,” or is recommended by Seafood Watch.

11. How long do Blue Apron meals last?

Because Blue Apron sends you fresh ingredients to prepare your meals, they are meant to be used the week you receive them. Not only will your order contain meat (unless you chose a vegetarian plan), but there will also be produce for many dishes. Typically, these ingredients are going to be good for anywhere between four to six days.

It’s best to plan to eat your Blue Apron meals the week the ingredients arrive. If you have any seafood dishes, you’ll want to eat those first. You don’t want to risk something spoiling before you’ve had the chance to eat it.

To make sure your ingredients last, unpack your box as soon as you can after its arrival and place any cold items in the refrigerator or freezer for safe storage.

12. Is the Blue Apron packaging recyclable?

Yes, you can recycle the packaging that’s used for your Blue Apron order. You have two options to do this. Your first option is to recycle all of the packaging materials at home. Many of the materials are accepted with your local curbside pick-up or can be taken to your nearest recycling center.

You also have the option to return your packaging to Blue Apron. You can create a return shipping label to ship it back to them. All you have to do is drop it off at your local USPS office or schedule a USPS pick-up at your home.

13. Does Blue Apron offer meal plans for one person?

Blue Apron does not offer a meal plan that has been specifically designed for one person. If you are interested in using their meal delivery service for just you, you would want to choose the Two-Person Meal Plan. This will provide you with two servings for each of your meals, which will give you plenty for leftovers that you can enjoy the next day for lunch or dinner.

14. How long does it take for a Blue Apron box to be delivered?

When ordering from Blue Apron, you will be given the opportunity to choose your preferred delivery day. This means you’ll always know when your package is set to arrive. The options you have will be dependent on your location. Typically, deliveries will take place from Tuesday to Friday each week. In some cases, there are locations that are eligible for Monday and Saturday deliveries.

Your order will be shipped out the day before it’s supposed to arrive. It’s packed with plenty of ice packs and they use insulated liners to keep everything fresh during transportation so you don’t have to worry about anything spoiling. You can expect your order to arrive anywhere between 8 AM and 8 PM on the date of delivery. You will have tracking information to keep an eye on your order as it makes its way to you.

15. Where does Blue Apron ship from?

While Blue Apron was started in New York, their fulfillment center is located in Richmond, California. This location was opened a couple of years after the company was first started. They have since opened up another fulfillment center in Jersey City, New Jersey in December of 2014. A third fulfillment center was then opened in Arlington, Texas in June 2015. They currently have plans to open another fulfillment center in Linden, New Jersey.