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When Allure started sending out promotional emails for a new subscription box from Bon Appetit, I was really excited. Mr. Subscription Addict is a foodie and we cook a lot, so this seemed like the ideal box for us. Bon Appetit has a big name so let’s see if this box lives up to it.
About Cook with Bon Appetit
Remember when we had to sell magazine subscriptions as a fundraiser for school? My family always purchased the food related ones and Bon Appetit was a favorite. We would pull out the recipes that looked good and put them into sleeves in a binder organized by category so we could try them out.
With Bon Appetit’s new subscription service, they are doing part of that work for us. Every month they send out five recipes cards and one of the specialty ingredients for each recipe. It also includes a binder to store your recipes in.
Bonuses include free online access to Bon Appetit and Epicurious, discounts on the brands featured in the box, and online instructional videos.
Pricing
Month-to-Month the price is $34 per box with free shipping. Paid upfront, you can get down to $28 per box or $366 for the year.
I opted for a quarterly plan, which was $32 per box or $96 total.
Box Contents:
- Gimme Roasted Seaweed Snacks – Amazon has packages with more seaweed for $2.94 today, normally around $3-4. The Kroger version is $1.25 in stores.
- Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisps – This retails for about $10 on Amazon and at Walmart, but it’s three times the size.
- New York Shuk Preserved Lemon Paste – Online this is $15, but it’s about $12 at Whole Wallet
- Maille Dijon Mustard – It’s about $5 in stores.
- Spice Walla Garam Masala – You’re unable to buy this as a single on Amazon, but other brands offer it for less. For example, this jar for $9 and it’s much larger. In stores, other brands are $5-6 as well.
For food products, Amazon often isn’t the cheapest place and it looks like ordering all the products there would be about $46. Looking at store prices, I would pay about $28 for the same ingredients shopping on my own.
I have to admit that based on this, I’m struggling to see the value the box is providing because there isn’t much of a savings over shopping at the store.
September 2024
Box Contents:
- The Spice House Kashmiri Red Chile – I am not familiar with this spice or brand and I’m excited to try it! Retails for $9
- The Spice House Chicago Fire BBQ Rub – Another new-to-me product. Retails for about $10
- Bionaturae Linguine – Popular enough to be out of stock online right now! I love that they have a gluten-free version available for our gluten-free readers! Retails for $3.75+ Shipping on the company site.
- Madhava Agave Syrup – I did not have agave syrup yet! Retails for about $10.
- Lee Kum Kee Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce – We actually didn’t have this because we prefer Tamari. Retails in packs of 6 for about $4.50 each for the pictured size.
- Jacobsen Salt Co Disco Di Sale – As a bonus item, these were included and are supposed to be the perfect amount of salt for pasta water.
Looking at what we received this month, the value is definitely higher than the first box and I received more ingredients that I didn’t have already have.
We haven’t had a chance to try any of the recipes yet and will update this once we do.
October 2024
Box Contents:
- Diaspora Co Turmeric – Another new-to-me brand that retails for $12.
- Fishwife Albacore Tune in Spicy Olive Oil – I have never seen in this stores so this is exciting to receive. Retails for about $11.33 each in a pack of 3, so $34 total.
- Yellow Bird Blue Agave Sriracha – I don’t really care for Sriracha, but this seems to be well reviewed online. Retails for $11.99 for a larger bottle.
- Seed + Mill Organic Tahini – We already had tahini, but we’ll gladly try another brand since my current brand always tastes bitter. Retails for about $12.
- Yasaman Kyoto Uji White Miso Paste – We’ve been getting the Trader Joe’s brand, so I’m excited to try a new one. Retails for $18.44.
I’m happy to report that the value of this box is also higher than what we paid for it. This seems to be trending in the right direction.
We haven’t had a chance to try any of the recipes yet and will update this once we do.
The Experience
All the recipes sent are available on Bon Appetit’s website. While you can only access a few before it wants you to sign up for a trial and ultimately pay for a subscription to their site. You can access a couple for free before you run into the paywall. Here are the recipes from the first box:
- Chicken Noodle Salad With Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Black Bass with Preserved Lemon-Pistachio Sauce
- Lamb Keema Tacos
- Creamy Bucatini with Roasted Seaweed
- Spicy Ceasar Potato Salad
Each recipe featured one of the ingredients in the box, but some seemed to have the ingredient as an afterthought. For example, potato salad uses a half teaspoon of the mustard. Meanwhile, the Chicken Noodle Salad uses the entire jar of chili crisp oil.
We loved the Chicken Noodle Salad with spicy peanut sauce and have made it a couple of times. The seaweed pasta and fish with lemon-pistachio sauce were all good, but I’m not sure if they will become part of regular rotation. The Lamb Keema Tacos were excellent, but far more work than any of the other recipes. We hate potato salad so we skipped that one, sorry!
Timewise, they came together in about a half hour (except for the tacos), so they could be cooked on weekdays. It was nice to have some elevated meals that didn’t require intense preparation or lengthy cooking times.
We’re still working on the recipes from the other two boxes.
Pros & Cons of Cook with Bon Appetit
What I Love
- Encourage trying new recipes more than a cookbook or Pinterest pins
- May help you break out of a food rut
- Comes with a recipe organizer
- Most recipes could all be made on a week night
- Enjoyable date night activity
- Exposure to new brands and products
The Less Desirable
- Some recipes are super basic (pasta in cream with seaweed on top)
- Already had some of the ingredients in the box
- One recipe used 1/2 tsp of an 8 ounce jar while another uses all of what was sent
- The ingredients are not necessarily the star of the recipe
- Other ingredients in the recipes may be harder to find, like Black Bass, but the recipe does offer some other ideas if you can’t find it.
Verdict
The first box was pretty simple with easily attainable ingredients. It looked like the target audience was a newbie cook looking to level up their meals. The value was about the same as the price of the monthly subscription fee, but it was missing something to make it feel special.
The value of a box like this comes in the exposure to new ingredients or access to products that you can’t get off the shelf at the average grocery store. You’re essentially paying for a new experience or something out of the ordinary, which is what the first box failed to provide.
The subsequent boxes showed major improvements. Products got a little less common, the brands got a little nicer, and the value jumped up to around $40. We are still working our way through some of the recipes so I can’t report out on all of them yet, but what we have made has been enjoyable.
To me, this box is more giftable than one I would continuously order for myself. It would be a cool housewarming gift or great for someone that loves to cook but doesn’t need more kitchen stuff. This would also be a nice date night at home to cook together or a solid alternative to a meal kit. If you’ve been stuck in a food rut and need to add some excitement to your meals again, this would also be a good option.
If you already have a fully stocked kitchen filled with spices and exotic ingredients and consider yourself one professional headshot away from being ready to battle it out on Iron Chef, this may not be exciting for you.
If this would help elevate your meals or get you out of a food rut, you can sign up here.
Alternatives
I’m not aware of a true alternative. Bon Appetit has a digital subscription now that would give you access to all the recipes, but you’d have to source all the ingredients yourself.
Not in to Commitment?
When I was in a food rut, I made it my New Year’s Resolution to try one new recipe a week. Similarly you could buy a cookbook and commit to 1-2 recipes a week from it. If you pick something large and versatile, like The Dean & Deluca Cookbook, you can really expand your cooking skills and repertoire.
Michael Symon’s 5 in 5 and Michael Symon’s 5 in 5 for Every Season are great for fast meals that can help you learn to cook. They take longer than 5 minutes with prep time, but they are fast and delicious meals.
2 comments
If you got this as a gift, do you think that you would like it more? Without the financial commitment of paying for it, do you think it would be something that you’d use? I’m considering it for a gift for my over 60 brother who just married his partner after 25 years of being together. Both he and she like to cook, and they live in San Francisco (so foodies by default). I didn’t want to get them another thing, but still want to acknowledge their official union . . .
I would probably enjoy this more as a gift. Even though my post is a little critical, we enjoyed cooking together and have remade a couple of the dishes because we liked them so much. One of the nice things about getting this instead of the magazine subscription or a cookbook is that it encourages you to get cooking, rather than just collect recipes on a shelf.
As a side note, Bon Appetit has been asking for feedback on the boxes and implementing it. For example, I suggested category dividers for the binders and they showed up in the next box. I anticipate this box improving since they are taking the feedback seriously.