The agency estimates how much people and families spend on groceries under four different meal plans, with the constraint that all food is prepared at home. Department of Agriculture publishes data each month on the cost of food at home. Here's why that's a completely unreasonable number. If a family of four paid that much for every dinner for one year, it would cost about $13,125. Blue Apron's family plan, meant for a family of four and priced at $8.99 per serving, costs $36 per meal. I don't need to add up ingredient costs to know that these claims are bunk, or at the very least misleading, and neither does anyone who cooks at home even semi-regularly. In its IPO filing, the company said: 'We believe that our meals offer compelling value when compared to purchasing similar ingredients at grocery stores in the amounts necessary to recreate a given week's menu after taking into account costs related to delivery and food waste.' After tallying ingredient costs at stores in various cities, the company concluded that shopping at the grocery store was 60% more expensive on average than its service.īlue Apron's marketing no longer emphasizes value as much as it used to, but the company still touts value as a key selling point. In a 2014 blog post, Blue Apron made a bold claim about its value proposition. But even with lower prices than its competitors, Blue Apron is far from a good value compared to the grocery store.

It's the worst of both worlds.īlue Apron is among the least expensive meal-kit services, with its per-serving prices ranging from $8.99 to $9.99. You're paying restaurant prices, but you still have to cook. These services are far more expensive than grocery shopping, despite marketing that says otherwise, and per-serving prices are in the same ballpark as a typical meal at a fast-casual restaurant. But Blue Apron's biggest problem, and the biggest problem for the meal-kit industry in general, is pricing. Investors are right to be concerned about all those things, particularly Amazon entering the meal-kit business.

Blue apron cost per meal