Blue Apron while working full-time: surely this is possible

January 17, 2018 2:11 PM

I'm interested in trying Blue Apron, or some other such service. But I work full-time in an office, and I live in an apartment building without a doorman, where delivery people do not have access to my apartment door if I'm not home. Surely some other person in this situation has made this work - what am I missing?

When I get packages from, say, Amazon, I have them delivered to work, and then I bring them home on the subway. How big are Blue Apron boxes? Could I still do this? Can I have them delivered to my apartment but only before 9 or after 7? Again, I feel like I must be missing something obvious.

posted by Ragged Richard to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

I work full-time in an office, as does my partner, and this is legitimately a challenge for us, who use a different meal plan delivery service. (We live & work in Philadelphia). Some of our solutions:

* There's a local business that acts as a delivery point and redelivers packages between 7 and 9pm * I assume you don't have this kind of option.
* I often bike to work, and I distribute the package contents between panniers on either side of the bike (it fills both sides nicely).
* I take a taxi/uber/lyft home when I have a delivery, and I factor this into our costs to use the service.
* I've also broken it apart and left half in the office fridge overnight, taken the other half home, and brought the 2nd set home the next day. Obviously this requires the right kind of office.
posted by Tomorrowful at 2:15 PM on January 17, 2018

You could also look at getting a P.O. Box, if one is located between home and work in a convenient way.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:17 PM on January 17, 2018

Blue Apron boxes are too heavy to tote around but the majority of that weight/bulk is the ice packs, which you could discard at the office. The food itself will fit into a bag and would not be too awful to lug home on the subway (well, I wouldn't want to personally, but it's not like they send you a gallon of milk).

Some areas can get Saturday delivery too, you know.
posted by acidic at 3:20 PM on January 17, 2018 [6 favorites]

What is your buzzer situation? Could it call your cell phone, or is it hardwired to a button in your apartment?

And how many other folks live in your building? In my building, most delivery services have at least a few packages on any given day. Typically, at least one person is home to buzz them in (or coincidentally going in or out, and happy to provide access). My building has ~75 units, and delivery people usually gain access without buzzing me.

If you have a much smaller building, let us know your buzzer situation, and maybe someone can suggest a creative way to make it work from your office.

I don't think a P.O. box will necessarily work, because I suspect Blue Apron uses specific carriers to ensure food is only in transit for 1-2 days.
posted by reeddavid at 3:27 PM on January 17, 2018

I get grocery delivery from a (different Canadian) place. They suggest giving them your spare building key so they can get in. When I signed up, I asked and they already have a key to my building. Blue apron is big enough that this may be true for you? Call and ask? Also, we tried a cheaper service who won't do this, and I agree, it was impossible
posted by Valancy Rachel at 4:20 PM on January 17, 2018

I want to second acidic's suggestion. I did this when living in a city. I used a backpack and walked about a mile home. It was maybe a little heavy, but not bad once a week.

If your office has a fridge, you could also spread the transport over more than one day.
posted by alphanerd at 4:38 PM on January 17, 2018

My coworker gets a similar meal plan (Hello Fresh) delivered to the office; the weekly delivery is a large box that contains a separate package for each meal. He unpacks them into the office fridge -- each is roughly the size of an old brown paper grocery bag with a shoebox in it -- then he generally takes one home each night on the train. Your office fridge and fridge politics may vary - they take up an entire shelf in the fridge, but we're a small office without a lot of fridge use.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 4:40 PM on January 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

I don't have a blue apron box at home, but maybe someone else does, my recollection is it's a roughly 2ft cube, but a lot of the outer material is insulation to keep things cold with the included icepacks. If you have a fridge&freezer at work and a insulated bag, and not too long of a Subway ride you could probably make it work with work deliveries.
posted by TheAdamist at 5:27 PM on January 17, 2018

I don't know about Blue Apron, but my boss does Hello Fresh and has them delivered to work. She walks home and she just carries it. You could likely do this on the subway. As others mentioned, you could take out the ice packs right before you leave the office.
posted by radioamy at 6:42 PM on January 17, 2018

Just another person who agrees with acidic. I get three meals a week (so the heaviest box) and I'd have no trouble carrying the contents home in a canvas tote.

I wouldn't want to carry the box with the icepacks. It would be possible, but heavy and bulky enough that it would be awkward.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:58 PM on January 17, 2018

I think Blue Apron boxes would be a bit much to carry home.
I just checked my account, though: you can choose your delivery day, and Sat/Sun are an option.
posted by maryrussell at 8:58 PM on January 17, 2018

Well TIL I am very lazy and/or have very lax food safety standards. I used Blue Apron for a couple weeks in a similar situation and I just let them leave it on my doorstep. If my neighbors got home before me, they would bring it in to the hallway, and if not, I just brought it in when I got home. I lived to tell the tale.
posted by leeloo minai at 8:58 PM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

This was a problem for me when I lived in an apt where packages couldn't easily be left and I got Blue Apron. They would not leave the vox outside the door, so it got returned many times. Very frustrating! I would not want to carry that box on the subway. But, if you could transfer the contents to a grocery bag that you leave in the work fridge, that would be manageable. It might take two grocery bags.
posted by pazazygeek at 11:04 PM on January 17, 2018

We live in a rowhouse with 4 apartments and our Blue Apron box (and our neighbor's) is always just left on the stoop. They pack it well and I've never had contents spoil (sometimes the seafood is still a bit frozen when I open it up).
posted by CiaoMela at 6:37 AM on January 18, 2018

One of the ones I use sometimes is HelloFresh, and while the food is not my #1 fave (that is--oddly enough as an omnivore--Purple Carrot, the vegan one), it is solid and two things about it might help you out here:

1. The packaging, as described above, is the most neatly organized...it would be nothing to bring home the one you want to cook that night and leave the others in your work fridge, if you wanted it delivered to work on a weekday, and

2. Saturday delivery is an option if you'd prefer that.
posted by lampoil at 6:41 AM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Blue Apron delivers to us on Sunday, and the box has sat outside but under a porch for HOURS. They plan for this.

We really like Blue Apron. We cook together, so the timing is usually shorter than predicted. I do the weekday cooking and find it makes things much easier, as I have far fewer decisions to make. Get out the recipe. Get out knives and cutting boards and bowls. Get out the ingredients. Go!
posted by JawnBigboote at 7:13 AM on January 18, 2018

Blue Apron has Saturday delivery, as others have noted.

(As an aside, HelloFresh does too, and if you haven't tried it yet, I can tell you as a working person that the HF meals take FAR less time to cook than the BA ones do. I just can't do BA while working full time but the HF ones are manageable for me.)
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:54 AM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]