Peachtree Roadies |

As much as I enjoy cooking, the last thing I want to do after I get home from work is figure out what we’re having for dinner. I am certain that I am not alone in feeling this way, and there are only two of us to prepare for! Between the lack of meal planning (who has time for that?!) and struggles with getting to the grocery store on a somewhat regular basis (we freeze a lot of things), we often start throwing together dinner around 8:30-9 pm most nights, with the hopes of eating before 10 pm. Due to our lack of pre-planning meals, we usually just have a few standard dishes we make on the reg, which does not lead to much variety.

When I saw Blue Apron on Gilt City Atlanta a month ago, I thought why not give it a try? It was just becoming popular in NYC before we moved and I didn’t even realize it was offered in Atlanta. Then, a few weeks later, Meg and I discovered PeachDish – a local version of the service and they sent Peachtree Roadies two complimentary meals to try out. (Love them!)

If you’re not familiar with Blue Apron and PeachDish (or these meal-delivery services in general), here is some info from their respective websites:

Blue Apron is a new concept in grocery delivery, built around incredible cooking experiences. We offer a once-a-week subscription service where we deliver all the fresh ingredients you need to make 3 meals, in exactly the right proportions. We’ve designed our service to teach you fun new recipes, save prep time and also reduce unnecessary waste. By letting us shop for you, we can bring you fresher and higher-quality food than you can get on your own in the supermarket, and for better prices!

Preparing and sharing a meal with people you love is the most universal way to connect. PeachDish packs that into a box and mails it to your home every week. People often limit themselves by only consuming what is convenient and familiar. That’s why the PeachDish team develops a menu for you every week with ingredients that are southern-infused and seasonally inspired. Keeping true to our Atlanta upbringing, we continually honor our Georgia roots, southern hospitality & seasonal simplicity.

Seems pretty simple, right? Now for the nitty-gritty: With BlueApron you can get up to three meals per week at a cost of $60 and PeachDish offers up to two meals per week at a cost of $50. With both services, you can skip a week whenever you like, but check closely for the timeline for doing so (usually it’s a couple days before you’re scheduled for delivery). This is a great feature for a week you might be out of town, or have plans to eat out a lot, etc.

Based on the ingredients that we received, there is also flexibility in when you actually prepare each dish. For example, with Blue Apron, we received three meals on a Tuesday. We made one dish on Tuesday night, one dish on Wednesday night and then ended up eating out on Thursday and Friday, so we saved our third dish for Saturday lunch. Everything was still completely fresh, and we probably could have made it until Sunday dinner – maybe freezing the meat and some of the veggies earlier in the week to be safe.

Blue Apron vs. PeachDish – which one is #PeachtreeRoadiesApproved?

Ease: PeachDish: I will caveat that we made two meals in one night and had three people working in the kitchen, but the recipes were easier to follow than the Blue Apron offerings. [Side note: A negative for both IMHO, TOO MUCH CHOPPING! I personally hate spending lots of time chopping up veggies and often throw them in my mini Cuisinart to save time. However, I have polled others and some people LOVE chopping and think it is very soothing and relaxing. To each their own, I guess 🙂]

Heartiness: Tie: Plenty of food to go around with both services and we even had leftovers (read: you get your money’s worth). No one left the meal hungry.

Flavor: Blue Apron: Minus the bony salmon the first night, we loved the different spices and ingredients in the meals. The spices on the meat we had night 2 made the dish melt-in-your-mouth tasty. I have never cooked with coconut milk, but it was easy and delicious. I will definitely be adding it to our meal repertoire.

Healthiness: PeachDish:each dish came with an extra side salad, which we love! (#roadtofitness people) We try to eat lots of veggies with dinner, but having the extra salad really rounded out the meal. And, it felt like being at a restaurant where you typically get salad + entrée/side.

Variety: Blue Apron: We would have NEVER thought to make the dishes that they sent. We were introduced to multiple new ingredients and recipes ideas that we would probably take bits and pieces from to create our own simplified versions.

Peachtree Roadies Pick: PeachDish is our “winner winner chicken dinner.” We have to applaud our local Atlantans here and love that their dishes are Southern-inspired. Plus, they include salads with the meals for added healthiness. The recipes were simple enough that we would tackle them again. I also personally prefer the two nights a week system because that is about all I can stand to cook during the work week.

Have you tried another meal delivery service or one of these? What was your experience?