The Mediterranean diet embraces traditional food choices from countries like Greece and Italy. Studies have shown that people who maintain the dietary plan often experience low incidences of diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and premature death. In addition, the diet often helps individuals lose weight.
All of the perks have made it exceptionally attractive to many people who are seeking a healthier lifestyle.
Cooking new recipes is often daunting, especially for people on a diet and already facing daily time constraints. A few meal kit delivery companies, Like Sunbasket, Hello Fresh, and Blue Apron, offer some excellent Mediterranean options.
Blue Apron, a popular meal kit delivery service, offers meal choices to be used as part of a Mediterranean lifestyle.
The quick and easy meal kits, including all the ingredients and recipe cards, are delivered directly to your doorstep, making the planning of your weeknight dinners easier.
In this Blue Apron review, we will explore the Blue Apron Mediterranean meal options.
Blue Apron Mediterranean Diet Meals: How Does It Work?
Meal delivery services have become very popular in recent years. Everyone is living a fast-paced life, juggling careers, relationships, and family. Time has become a luxury that most people don’t want to waste on grocery shopping. Instead, singles, couples, and families opt to enroll in a meal kit delivery service to have a box of recipes delivered right to the door each week.
Picking Blue Apron’s Plans and Recipes
Individuals who subscribe to the weekly Blue Apron meal kit delivery services can go online to peruse a constantly changing menu. There are meal options to fit any taste or dietary plan. Blue Apron has emerged as a leader in meal kit delivery services.
Many of the recipes offered on Blue Apron’s menu easily fall under the criteria of being Mediterranean diet recipes.
Remember, Blue Apron does not currently offer a dedicated Mediterranean meal plan but don’t let that fact deter you from this meal kit delivery service. You’ll find that Blue Apron has a 14 dish weekly menu that features at least three to four meals that fit the Mediterranean diet.
With a Blue Apron subscription, you have the option to pick one of the following plans:
2-Serving Signature meal plan- With this plan, you can choose two, three, or four recipes each week that have been portioned for two adults. Each recipe is wonderfully robust and filling.
4-Serving Signature meal plan- Using this plan, you can easily feed a family of four. Pick from two, three, or four recipes each week for delivery.
Vegetarian Plan for two meal plan – You can choose meat-free recipes composed of seasonal produce. Blue Apron will send three vegetarian recipes each week that are pre-portioned for two adults.
Out of these three meal delivery plan choices, you can easily find Mediterranean-style recipes. For this diet, it’s most recommended to choose the signature plan.
What to Eat on a Mediterranean Diet?
When following the diet, you’ll examine the traditional cuisine choices of all of the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. The recipes are high in fresh vegetables, whole grains, lentils, nuts, seeds, fruits, and olive oil.
When following the Mediterranean diet, you’ll adhere to the following:
- Daily: Consume vegetables, whole grains like brown rice or farro, healthy fats, and fruits.
- Weekly: Consum fish, lentils, poultry, and eggs.
- Moderate your dairy ingestion.
- Limit your consumption of red meats.
Plants and Meats
Without a doubt, the cornerstone of all Mediterranean diet meals consists of vegetables, herbs, nuts, beans, whole grains, and fruits. The meal creations focus on plant ingredients. You can enjoy moderate amounts of dairy, eggs, seafood, and poultry but rarely eat red meat.
Healthy Fats
Only healthy fats like olive oil are consumed with the Mediterranean plan. You must abstain from saturated and trans fats, which are all a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers.
Olive oil is a monounsaturated fat that helps lower cholesterol and bad cholesterol (lipoprotein LDL).
Fish is a mainstay of the Mediterranean diet. Fish such as herring, sardines, tuna, lake trout, salmon, and mackerel are brimming with omega3 fatty acids, which reduce inflammation throughout the body.
Omega 3 fatty acids also lower the incidences of dangerous blood clotting and decrease triglycerides.
Health Benefits of This Diet
The main reason people are opting to try the Mediterranean diet is that it can improve your health when coupled with an exercise plan.
You can reduce your risk of developing a bevy of severe mental and physical problems and might even increase your lifespan.
Heart Diseases and Stroke – Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death worldwide, and in many instances, it is preventable. Limiting your intake of processed foods, red meat, and refined loaves of bread can improve heart health, reduce blood pressure, and alleviate the likelihood of suffering a severe stroke.
Maintaining Muscle Mass and Bone Density – As you age, your body’s muscles become weaker and your skeletal system frailer. In women and some men, osteoporosis becomes a threat that can lead to fractures. However, diet plays an essential role in muscle development and strong bones, which aids with agility well into a person’s golden years.
Lowering the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease – Reducing blood sugar levels, promoting blood vessel health, and controlling cholesterol can lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.
Parkinson’s Disease – Antioxidants reduce the damage to cells caused by oxidative stress, which cuts the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Many researchers believe a diet high in antioxidants can lower the likelihood by as much as half.
Type 2 Diabetes – Diets rich in fiber are slowly digested by the body, which normalizes blood glucose levels and helps to maintain a healthy weight. All of these factors combined prevent type 2 diabetes.
Blue Apron Mediterranean Meals We Tried
Below are a few delicious Mediterranean meal choices that we have tried and enjoyed. Although each of these meals isn’t labeled as a Mediterranean diet meal, they easily fall into the criteria.
Sheet Pan Cilantro Chicken with Shawarma-Spiced Vegetables & Tahini Sauce
From beginning to end, the recipe took only 40 minutes to create before we were dining on a tinder cilantro chicken breast sitting beside a bed of spicy veggies covered in tahini sauce.
Each ingredient we got for this recipe was remarkably fresh. The cooking methods outlined in the recipe card were easy to follow and relatively easy – simply marinated the chicken breasts, cut the veggies, put everything on a sheet pan in the oven, and mix the tahini sauce to go on top.
Overall, we were impressed with this tasty and healthy recipe. It had the right touch of spice and flavor to tantalize our taste buds.
Roasted Cauliflower & Lentil Salad with Jalapeño Vinaigrette & Creamy Salsa Verde
This is a vegetarian dish that can also double as a Mediterranean meal.
The jalapenos pair remarkably well with the scallion vinaigrette to give the dish just the right amount of heat on your tongue. However, nothing is too overpowering so that you can taste the lentils, fresh tomatoes, and lightly roasted cauliflower.
The soft boiled egg compliments the dish with the perfect touch of protein and warm softness. It came in a good combination with the crunchy sliced roasted almonds on top.
Even though it’s a vegetarian recipe, it was remarkably filling, full of proteins, and offered a flavorful Mediterranean healthy experience.
Seared Salmon & Salsa Verde with Farro, Kale & Pickled Peppers
If you wish to load up on your Omega 3s, this meal is a good way. You really should try this Blue Apron recipe!
The salmon was ocean-fresh, and the homemade salsa verde gave the dish a lovely kick, paired with the tang and sweet pickled peppers and capers. The farro and kale bed was delicious, giving this dish an extra healthy feeling.
The recipe was quick and easy to cook. It took less than 35 minutes, so it is a great meal option to try when you are rushed for time and don’t want to put a lot of effort into cooking.
Other Blue Apron Meditteranean Recipes You Can Try
Below are just a few of the other Blue Apron meals you can have delivered to your home. All meals are packed with fresh and healthy ingredients.
Order the recipes you want to try online when you fill out your weekly menu choices, which you can do few weeks in advance.
- Roasted Vegetable Grain Bowl with Crispy Chickpeas & Yogurt Sauce
- Garlic & Olive Tilapia Over Stewed Chickpeas & Vegetables
- Spaghetti Squash, Pepper & Carrot Shakshuka
- Seared Salmon & Shallot-Dijon Vinaigrette with Roasted Potatoes & Sautéed Green Beans
- Romesco Chicken & Poblano Pepper with Currant Couscous
- Sheet Pan Panko-Baked Cod with Tomatoes, Green Beans & Butternut Squash
- Italian-Style Pork Chops & Lentils with Caper & Roasted Pepper Relish
- Chicken Paillard & Olive-Raisin Sauce with Warm Fennel & Potato Salad
Blue Apron Wines and Mediterranean Cuisine
Having a single glass of merlot or other red wines is a recommended essential factor in the Mediterranean dietary lifestyle.
Blue Apron also offers wine delivery services. If you decide to enroll in their wine club plan, you’ll have exclusive access to various leading wines that are sized perfectly for two.
Select the wines you love and have them delivered directly to your home each week. You can pick a box of your favorites and the offers are superb on the website.
Benefits of Using Blue Apron Mediterranean Meal Options
Here are the variety of benefits for using the Blue Apron meal delivery service if you’re a fan of the Mediterranean lifestyle:
- Upscaled chef-designed recipes that change every week.
- The convenience of having meal kits delivered directly to your doorstep.
- High-quality ingredients that are remarkably fresh.
- Healthy and balanced meals.
- Easy to navigate website and services
- Save time by not needing to grocery shop or stop for take-out.
- The box, ice pack, and plastic packaging are eco-friendly and can reduce your carbon footprint.
- Affordable meal kit delivery service.
- Wine Club available as well.
Bottom Line – Do We Recommend Trying Blue Apron For Mediterranean Dieters?
The answer to this is a resounding YES!
Even though blue Apron does not have an official Mediterranean plan on offer, there are a variety of great recipes to match this diet every week. The recipes (offered for two or four-person) are constantly changing. The meal-kit ingredients provided are superior, and the chef-designed recipes are created to make you excel as a home cook.
If you wish to start your journey with the Blue Apron meal kit delivery service today, don’t forget to use the great beginners’ promo code we are able to offer our readers!
