What happens when there is an unexpected delivery on your front porch?  You punt. (A Blue Apron Box arrived unexpectedly on our doorstep on Tuesday, the day the Menu Plan Week 76 began.)

An unexpected delivery, that is exactly what happened.  Our daughter recently moved to Indiana.  She changed her billing address on her Blue Apron account, but neglected to change the shipping address.  On my doorstep…3 meals.  The option of shipping the box to her was out of the question…the cost, prohibitive.  Sooo, guess what?  I am revamping the entire menu plan that I just posted.

I have been exposed to Blue Apron, in fact a customer.  Introduction to Blue Apron

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed their meals.  I dropped the program completely as I eased into the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan.  Most of the Blue Apron meals were not compliant.

My daughter in law has interest in one of the dinners, I will deliver it to her.  The two meals remaining are the Spicy Pork and Korean Rice Cakes, and Baked Cod in Tomato Sauce.

Since I refuse to waste food and I prefer to use food that has been shipped promptly, especially fish, I needed to incorporate these meals into my menu plan as soon as possible.  That means that at the offset of my new menu plan 76, there are significant changes.  The Baked Cod moved to Wednesday, and the Spicy Pork will be served on Friday.  Since we planned to purchase the gourmet burgers fresh, later in the week, they will be removed from the menu plan completely, and Amy’s Chili will not appear either.  The ‘Ole Buckeye’s cook once/eat twice sausage and peppers will become the game day fare.  The other cook once/eat twice meals will appear on Thursday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday…at least that is the current plan.

Fortunately these Blue Apron meals are the new Whole 30 additions that Blue Apron recently made to their entree choices. Although they are not totally THM compliant they come fairly close and are definitely healthy.  (Whole30®: 🐮 Dairy-Free, 🌾 Grain-Free, 🍯 No Added Sugar, 🍗 Paleo Friendly)

We enjoyed our first Blue Apron Meal last night…the baked cod in tomato sauce.  Outstanding.  The ‘Ole Buckeye enjoyed the potatoes, I simply sampled them.  The fish and the sauce were delicious and I will definitely make fresh fish using this method in the future.

Blue Apron Baked Cod in Tomato Sauce as it appeared straight out of my oven.

Another lesson learned…planning is important but being flexible is a necessity.  I will admit that my menu plan and shopping were not effected nearly as much as my daughter’s.  My unexpected delivery was her expected delivery.  She does not have three meals that she had planned.  She does not have the ingredients needed to create substitutions.  That means planning and grocery shopping are not in her budgeted time management nor her weekly budget for meals.  My unexpected delivery was much more of a game changer for her.

Our meal planning and healthy eating journey continues, regardless of Unexpected Deliveries!  Bon Appetit.