Two Leading Meal Kit Services Head To Head – Including Our Hands-On Experience.
The meal kit industry is rapidly growing and constantly evolving. Over the past few years, many new companies have entered the industry while the established companies continue to thrive and increase their products and services.
When you start looking at using a meal kit delivery service, it can be confusing to choose which company will provide the best service to fit your needs. This is where we come in! We provide information on all meal kit delivery services, make comparisons, review the different recipes and generally give you an overview of the industry in one convenient place.
This comparison will look at two exciting meal kit delivery services – Martha & Marley Spoon vs. Blue Apron.
Martha & Marley Spoon is the meal kit company created by the mother of all American home cooking – Martha Stewart.
Blue Apron is one of the industry’s pioneers and remains one of the most significant meal kit delivery services today.
Both companies provide great service, but they do have some major differences. So, let’s start diving into the comparison.
Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon Vs. Blue Apron
Main Differences Between Martha and Marley Spoon & Blue Apron
The main differences between Martha & Marley Spoon and Blue Apron are:
- Martha & Marley Spoon delivers Higher Quality seasonal ingredients.
- Martha & Marley Spoon offers more weekly recipes than Blue Apron.
- Martha & Marley Spoon servings sizes are generously portioned.
- Martha & Marley Spoon supports special diets like vegetarian, gluten-free-friendly, low-calorie, dairy-free, and more.
Read our FULL comparison to see how we made our decision…
Variety of Meal Plans
Martha & Marley Spoon offers two types of plans, both of which come with some great flexibility, with the option to choose all meals from the extensive weekly menu:
- Two-person plan – with two to six meals per week
- Three-Four person Family Plan – with two to six meals per week
Blue Apron offers two meal plan options:
- Two-person plan – with either two or three meals per week
- A Family Plan for four people with a choice of two to four meals per week.
As part of the process of choosing your meal plan, you can select your preferences for chef favorites, family-friendly, wellness, vegetarian, and/or fast & easy recipes. This can help the service match you with the best recipes for your needs.
Variety of Meal Kits On The Menu
Winner – Martha & Marley Spoon
Regarding variety, Martha & Marley Spoon has the upper hand, with a menu that includes 45 recipes every week!
This weekly selection comes from more than 18,000 of Martha’s favorite recipes. The weekly menu includes dairy-free, low-calorie, low-carb, no-gluten-added, kid-friendly, and vegetarian meals.
With Blue Apron, you can choose from around 20 chef-designed weekly meals. You will find vegetarian, weight watchers approved, and Mediterranean diet dishes among these.
Our Experience With Marley spoon And Blue Apron
Winner – Martha & Marley Spoon
Our mission at The Meal Kit Review is to aid you in making informed decisions about meal delivery services. As part of our review process, we order and taste recipes from each meal service for at least three weeks. We make sure to give an honest review based on this purchasing and testing process.
We enjoyed our experience with both Marley Spoon & Blue Apron. The home-cooked meal kits involve, as promised, easy meal prep and satisfying results.
Meals We Tried From The Menu
Spicy Chicken & Snow Pea Stir-Fry by Blue Apron
We found this dish quite disappointing. It was ok in terms of taste, but certainly nothing more. We love experiencing delicious new flavors when using a meal kit service. However, there was nothing new or exciting about this dish. Unfortunately, we also had an issue with the portion size of this dish. For two people, it was a small serving. Not only were we left craving flavor, but we were also left feeling hungry! Overall, it was quite an underwhelming dish.
On a positive note, the dish was straightforward to cook, as was promised on the recipe page. All you needed to do was cook the rice and then stir-fry the chicken with the snow peas, sambal oelek, honey, and tonkatsu sauce which was quite simple.
Creamy Tortellini Casserole by Martha & Marley Spoon
This tortellini pasta dish from Martha & Marley Spoon was impossible to fault. It was delicious, and so satisfying, and we loved everything about it!
One of the wonderful things about receiving a Martha & Marley Spoon Meal delivery is that the quality of ingredients you receive is impeccable. You notice it when you first open a delivery box from Martha & Marley Spoon.
With this meal, the fresh pasta tortellini looked amazing, the baby spinach looked so fresh, the shallots were of the best quality, and the Mozzarella was mouth-wateringly good! It was just so lovely to receive this delivery. The portions included were also very generous.
There was a big chunk of mozzarella to make the casserole super creamy, and a nice portion of fresh spinach salad was included too.
The cooking process was very easy. It was just a matter of cutting the shallots, grating the mozzarella, cooking the sauce, baking the casserole, and mixing the salad. It was so easy, almost like child’s play! It is so lovely to have a delicious but easy meal to prepare after you have been working all day.
The results were super delicious and very comforting, and there was also a lovely freshness from the wonderful baby spinach salad.
Other Meal Options We Tasted
Martha & Marley Spoon Meals
- Fast sheet pan steak fajitas with guacamole & salsa
- Gluten-free friendly sumac chicken thighs with quinoa tabbouleh & tahini
- Cottage pie with grass-fed ground beef & scalloped potatoes
- Family chicken & gnocchi dumplings with pot pie gravy
Blue Apron Meals
- Yuzu-orange glazed trout with roasted vegetables
- Miso mushroom & brown rice bowls with spicy mayo & fried eggs
- Spanish-spiced burgers with charred shishito peppers & lime salt
- Heat & eat soy-miso chicken & udon noodles with bok choy & mushrooms
Style and Complexity of Dishes
Winner – Martha & Marley Spoon
In general, most of the meal kits we tasted from Blue Apron, and Martha & Marley Spoon have been very good.
With Martha & Marley Spoon, The dishes were all about classic home cooking with an impressive amount of beautiful veggies. Many meals can fit a nice family dinner with kids that are picky eaters. Moreover, the recipes are generally straightforward to cook, with a few recipes every week that are ‘one pot meals’ and under 30 minutes to cook.
With Blue Apron, the dishes varied, ranging from classic dishes with a twist to a little more sophisticated. The recipes are easy to cook, follow a comprehensive recipe card, and usually take 30-40 minutes to cook.
Quality of Ingredients
Winner – Martha & Marley Spoon
Both Blue Apron and Martha & Marley Spoon include high-quality ingredients in their meal kits. However, it is important to note that, on occasion, the portion sizes that Blue Apron delivers are too small.
The quality of products Martha & Marley Spoon offers, from our experience, is beyond amazing! Martha & Marley Spoon works directly with the finest purveyors to deliver ingredients like grass-fed beef, Berkshire pork, American-caught shrimp, artisanal cheeses, and more to your door.
When looking at Blue Apron, the service guarantee that they only use meat with no added hormones, and all vegetables are farm fresh and, where possible, organic. All seafoods are sustainably sourced.
The Box Of Blue Apron and Marley Spoon
Winner – Martha & Marley Spoon
Both Martha & Marley Spoon and Blue Apron use specifically designed and labeled carton boxes. Both delivery boxes contain recipe cards with detailed notes on how to make the meals, and the cooled items are located on the bottom of the box with sufficient ice-packs.
There is, however, a significant difference between the two companies regarding packaging and delivery.
Martha & Marley Spoon ensures that each meal kit is individually organized in its labeled paper bag. The box is very organized, and all the cooled items come in a specially insulated bag with ice. The way the meal kit deliveries from Martha & Marley Spoon are organized means that no sorting of your delivery is required as it has all been done for you. You simply need to put the organized ingredients away in the pantry or the refrigerator.
Blue Apron, however, does not provide individual labels on the meal ingredients, and they are all packed together in the box. So, you will need to sort out the ingredients of each dish. The only thing wrapped in a small bag with the spices and seasonings.
Sorting out your ingredients from a Blue Apron delivery can be pretty time-consuming, so it is something that you need to factor in when ordering a Blue Apron meal kit delivery.
Ease Of Use Of The App and Website
Winner – It’s a Tie
Both Martha & Marley Spoon and Blue Apron offer a well-organized and easy-to-use website and app. Everything you need to do to manage your account can be completed online.
That means you can register online, select your plan and delicious recipes for each week, define your eating preferences, change your payment method, etc. – all online very easily and effortlessly.
Can I Skip Weeks Or Cancel My Account Online As well?
Winner – It’s a Tie
With both companies, the service is available as an ongoing subscription. However, both will allow you to skip weeks if necessary, and you can cancel the account whenever you desire with no extra cancellation charges.
Add On Options
On top of the regular dinner meal kits offered in the Martha & Marley Spoon subscription, the menu selection includes desserts, breakfast meal kits, and ready-made meals for fast lunch or dinner.
Blue Apron offers a selection of wines as a monthly subscription of four wines per month. As part of this subscription, the service can recommends the right wines to accompany each dish on the menu!
Blue Apron also offers a retail market service that provides pantry spice blends, cookware, and other kitchen supplies.
Final Verdict – Our winner Is Martha & Marley Spoon!
Both meal delivery services are great options to make your dinners easy and enjoyable and to change your eating habits for the better.
Martha & Marley Spoon is an option that is all about classic home cooking at its best. The options provided by Blue Apron is quite varied, with a range that includes more traditional dishes and dishes that are real gourmet meal at home.
After trying boxes from both companies, we think Martha & Marley Spoon meal delivery service is the better option for most needs.
First, the meals are just plain and simple good! Second, in terms of variety and style of the dishes, the menu offers a much larger variety, with classic yet creative recipes, perfect for a cozy and delicious dinner at home.
Lastly, we were impressed by the quality of ingredients we got from this meal delivery service – everything, from the poultry, meats, and local farm-fresh vegetables.
