• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Food For Net Logo (Realistic)

Food For Net

  • [Blog]
  • Original Recipes
  • Recipe Roundups
  • Beer
  • Whiskey
  • Wine
  • Subscription Boxes
  • Meal Delivery
  • Outdoor Cooking
FoodForNet.com is a member of the Amazon Associates affiliate program, plus other affiliate programs, meaning we earn commissions from qualifying purchases through affiliate links. We strive to make all reviews honest (albeit opinionated!), so you can make the best buying decision.

Blue Apron Vs. Martha and Marley Spoon: Which Wins Out?

December 5, 2018 by Food For Net

Share this with friends!

0 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
blue apron vs martha marley spoon

There’s a lot of good to say about meal kits. They can make at-home eating a lot more exciting. At the same time, most services have simple ordering and fulfillment options that brings food right to your door, so there’s no extra time spent shopping.

They span the spectrum diet options, from vegan and vegetarian, to keto can carnivore. You can get low carb and lean, or familiar comfort foods.

In this Blue Apron vs. Martha and Marley Spoon article, I’ll be taking a look at two of the most popular home-cooking meal kit services out there. I’ve tried both of them and I liked them both.

Personally, I liked the Blue Apron meals better. They were more geared towards adventurous flavors, and plus, I really liked the wine club. Blue Apron really strived to make dinner time interesting, and that's what I really expected from a meal kit.

Blue Apron VS Martha & Marley Spoon

Types Of Meals Offered

The plans for Blue Apron and Martha and Marley Spoon are actually pretty similar.

Blue Apron offers two-person and four-person boxes with a vegetarian or meat-based subscription. There are eight meals to choose from each week. Three of those meals are vegetarian. You can choose to get food for two recipes, three recipes or four recipes each week.

blue-apron-meal-choices
Choices of Meals from Blue Apron

With Martha and Marley Spoon, boxes come ready for two people or three-to-four people, and you can also choose two, three, or four meals for each box. There are ten meals to choose from each week. A few of them are vegetarian, and some of them are meat-based. You can also get recipes that are gluten free.

example meal from Martha & Marley Spoon

The menus change every week for both companies. Both companies allow subscribers to pick and choose which meals they want from the menu selections. Using the icons on the menu pictures, you can base your choices on whether the meal is vegetarian or meat-based and how long it takes to cook.

Martha and Marley Spoon’s meal kit pictures show icons for red meat, fish and vegetarian meals and labels such as spicy, kid-friendly or low calorie.

A screenshot of two Martha and Marley Spoon menus, including Spinach and Mushroom Bibimbap and Crispy Pork Cutlets.

Beyond this, neither company has many options for tailoring meals for specialty diets or allergens, although Martha and Marley Spoon does have some allergen-free recipes and lists allergens on its recipes.

While the foods for both companies are basic, they’re tasty. Right now, both companies only offer meal kits for dinners.

With Blue Apron, you’ll find recipes like Chicken over Farro Salad or Lo Mein Noodle Stir Fry. Martha and Marley Spoon recipes tend to be heavy on creamy sauces, but there are some other types of recipes, too, such as Spinach and Mushroom Bibimbap or Braised Black Bean Stew.

A Blue Apron meal I made

There are a few areas where these companies differ. Blue Apron’s ingredients have to be sorted out by meal, but Martha and Marley Spoon’s ingredients come pre-portioned, prepared and packaged by meal. Blue Apron also has a wine club you can add on. It’s one of the few meal kit services that do.

Signing Up And Cancelling

Signing up with Marley Spoon was simple. You settle on a few food preferences and decide how many recipes you want to get that week.

It’s about the same with Blue Apron. You decide whether you want to feed two or four people that week, whether you want a meat-based or vegetarian subscription, and choose the number of meals you want to order. Then you enter your e-mail and payment information.

Cancellation is relatively easy for both companies, as well. With Martha and Marley Spoon, you can unsubscribe right under the ‘my settings’ tab in your account. Blue Apron provides both an e-mail address and a telephone number for cancelling subscriptions.

Packaging And Delivery

Most of the packaging for both companies is recyclable. This includes the cardboard boxes and the produce bags. Marley Spoon does have some additional packaging because of the pre-prepped ingredients and because ingredients are sorted into ‘dish bags’ for each recipe.

blue-apron-unboxed-with-groceries-on-counter

Shipping is usually free for Blue Apron, with one exception. If you order a two-person plan but don’t order at least three meals, there’s a $7.99 delivery fee. Delivery is always free with Martha and Marley Spoon.

Both companies ship food across most of the contiguous United States.

Pricing

For both companies, the price per serving and per box depends on how many people you’re feeding and how many recipes you order.

The Blue-Apron two-person meal plan is $9.99 per serving, or $59.94 for a box containing three meals. The similar Martha and Marley Spoon order is $10.25 per serving, or $61.50 per box.

A three-meal box for four people is $95.88 with Blue Apron and $106.80 with Martha and Marley Spoon.

Blue Apron’s four-person family plan is $8.99 per meal for two meals per week. For three meals, it’s $7.99 per serving, and its $7.49 per serving for four meals.

Martha and Marley Spoon’s three to four person box is $9.50 per serving for two meals ($76 per box), $8.90 per meal for three meals and $8.20 per serving for four meals ($131.20 per box).

One thing I like about both these companies is that their prices per serving aren’t exorbitant. While they’re still probably a little more expensive than shopping in a grocery store, they’re reasonable for meal kit services.

This is a screenshot showing the price per serving for two servings or four servings at three meals per week for Martha and Marley Spoon.

If you go by the cost per serving, the difference between the two for similar plans is within a dollar of each other, too.

Customizable Options

Both companies allow you to pick and choose from the weekly menu, so you can get exactly what you want each week. You can also change the number of people you’ll be ordering food for and how many meals you want to order.

Skipping weeks or pausing subscriptions is doable with both companies.

What makes each meal kit unique

Of all of the meal kit services I’ve reviewed so far, these two could be the most similar. From the types of food they offer to their packaging, delivery, and pricing strategies, Blue Apron and Martha and Marley Spoon run neck and neck.

Here are some of the things I liked and didn’t like about each of them.

Blue Apron

Pros:

  • Blue Apron has a really great freshness guarantee.
  • I like Blue Apron’s wine club.
  • Blue Apron has been a steady, dependable go-to for me, and I’ve used this company’s services more than once.

Cons:

  • It’s still a little bit more expensive to order food from Blue Apron than to pick it up at the grocery store.
  • While the food is tasty, sometimes it’s a little bit too familiar. I’ve been a little bored with Blue Apron’s menu a few times.

Martha and Marley Spoon

Pros:

  • One really fun about this company: the 18,000 or so recipes the company uses are all Martha Stewart approved.
  • Martha and Marley Spoon is being marketed as less expensive than shopping in a grocery store.
image of grass fed beef burger and cooking process including recipe notes, ingredients, and baked asparagus side
A classic burger with crispy fried asparagus from Martha & Marley Spoon

Cons:

  • I’m not a huge fan of super-creamy sauces, which Martha and Marley Spoon dishes seem to be a bit heavy on.
  • Even though Martha and Marley Spoon’s cost per serving size is relatively inexpensive, you still pay a little bit more by the serving size than you do with Blue Apron.

What Are The Alternatives?

For more adventurous cooking similar to (but better IMO), try Sun Basket. It's my all time favorite. I really liked their meals. Dinnerly is another great option, and the cheapest meal kit out there.

If you have the time to cook, Plated was one of my favorites too. Very tasty stuff. Their meals are more involved, but the flavor reward is greater!

Conclusion

There’s a lot to choose from. When it comes to Blue Apron vs. Martha and Marley Spoon, it’s really a toss-up for me. I like Blue Apron because it’s a standby for me, but the Martha Steward recipes were really easy to make and very familiar.

If I had to pick one, I'd choose Blue Apron. Which one will you choose?

Get Blue Apron Here

Get Martha & Marley Spoon Here

Category: Meal Delivery ServicesTag: Meal Kit Comparisons, Meal Kits
Previous Post:Blue Apron Vs. Good Eggs: Which Method Makes Sense To You?
Next Post:10 Gluten Free Snack Subscription Boxes That Are Bound To Satisfy

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sidebar

About The Owner 🍕🍺🥩🥃!

cooking bbq pizza outside

Hi! My name is Rick and foodfornet.com is just a website about food and drink that I like. That includes sous vide, slow cooking, grilling, smoking, and homemade pizzas.

I also make my own beer, wine, cider, kombucha, and sake… and am a whiskey enthusiast!

Subscription Boxes

Meal Kits By Category

Monthly Clubs

Weight Loss Subscription Boxes

Baking Subscription Boxes

International Snack Subscription Boxes

Manly Food Subscription Boxes

Japanese Snack Subscription Boxes

Kid Friendly Subscription Boxes

Keto Subscription Boxes

Diabetic Subscription Boxes

Korean Snack Subscription Boxes

European Snack Subscription Boxes

Tea Subscription Boxes

Wine Subscription Boxes

Paleo Snack Subscription Boxes

Coffee Subscription Boxes

Gluten Free Subscription Boxes

Chocolate Subscription Boxes

Hot Sauce Subscription Boxes

Diabetic Meal Kits

Family Meal Kits

Weight Loss Meal Kits

Senior Meal Kits

Vegan Meal Kits

Dairy Free Meal Kits

Organic Meal Kits

Vegetarian Meal Kits

Gluten Free Meal Kits

Paleo Meal Kits

Keto Meal Kits

Cheapest Meal Kits

Low Carb Meal Kits

Eco Friendly Meal Kits

Soy Free Meal Kits

Nut Free Meal Kits

Kid Friendly Meal Kits

Cheesecake of the Month Clubs

Macaron of the Month Clubs

Candy of the Month Clubs

Bacon of the Month Clubs

Olive Oil of the Month Clubs

Cupcake of the Month Clubs

Spice of the Month Clubs

Meat of the Month Clubs

Cookie of the Month Clubs

Gourmet Food of the Month Clubs

Cake of the Month Clubs

Fruit of the Month Clubs

Pie of the Month Clubs

Balsamic Vinegar of the Month Clubs

Charcuterie of the Month Clubs

Salami of the Month Clubs

Pizza of the Month Clubs

Steak of the Month Clubs

Copyright © 2022 · Privacy Policy · Food For Net · Instagram · Twitter · Pinterest

FoodForNet.com is a member of the Amazon Associates affiliate program. We earn commissions from qualifying purchases through affiliate links.