Whole Foods vs. Blue Apron 2025: Who Wins?

The question of Whole Foods vs. Blue Apron seems complicated to answer, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a few key differences between these 2 companies that you’ll need to know about to make an informed decision. Find out what the differences are in this article.

Blue Apron offers meal kits, and Whole Foods offers grocery items you can use to craft your own meals. But that’s not all. I’ve taken a deep dive into both companies to find out about pricing, menu variety, ingredient quality, prep times, customization options, ease of use, and more.

However, overall, Blue Apron is the clear winner. It offers a very large menu of meal kits, prepared meals, extras, sides, snacks, desserts, and much more. It’s excellent for those who prefer convenience above anything else. Best of all, no grocery shopping is required. However, Whole Foods may suit certain people’s preferences as well.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: Blue Apron

Blue Apron

At Blue Apron, you’ll find tons of choices in terms of cuisines and meal options. There are around 15+ meal kits on the menu for any given week. Specific menus include:

• Signature

• Vegetarian

• Wellness

• Signature for Four

• Add-Ons

You’ll find that some items overlap on more than just a single menu. 

I like that there are several types of meals. These include ready-to-cook, oven-ready meals, standard meal kits, and even a few prepared meals every week. However, most of the items are indeed regular meal kits.

There are plenty of different cuisines on offer. These include Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, classic American, Middle Eastern, Indian, Latin American, Greek, and even Thai. I find the options here to be pretty impressive.

You can find around 4 to 6 Asian dishes, 2 to 3 Middle Eastern ones, and roughly 2 to 3 Italian ones at any given time. The rest is a mixture of the above. For example, the BBQ Cheeseburgers are an example of a classic American dish that takes only around 25 minutes to make.

All-in-all, though, around half the menu can be pretty exotic and fancy. If you have kids or picky eaters in your household, you might be better served by a service like HelloFresh. Find out how the service is a much better family-friendly service in my colleague’s HelloFresh review.

In terms of extras and add-ons, this is an area where Blue Apron excels. If you click on Add-Ons on the primary menu, you’ll find options like baked goods, prepared meals, and a bunch of different meat and protein add-ons. Protein add-ons include steaks, chicken, shrimp, salmon, and more.

You can also find some desserts like cookies, pies, crepes, and a few others. However, the Blue Apron add-ons aren’t as extensive as some other competitors nowadays.

I also really like Blue Apron’s market add-ons. Here, you’ll find different seasonal holiday bundles. These include Thanksgiving Boxes, Christmas Boxes, and a wide variety of other ones that become available close to many major holidays.

The vast majority of meal kits can be ready in around 20 to 40 minutes. I find that most take around that 30 to 35-minute mark, which is impressive. Most recipes also require between 4 to 7 steps. These may not be as simple as some other competitors, but at least the full list of instructions can be found on each recipe card on the website.

I would also not call most of Blue Apron’s meals kid-friendly. Meals tend to use gourmet ingredients and spicy ingredients that kids may not like, depending on their age. This is up to each individual family to decide, though.

Portion sizes are 2 servings per menu item. Depending on how much you eat, you can feed 2 people with each meal (at minimum). To find out how much you can order and how much it’ll cost, head down to my Pricing section to learn more.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods is completely different from Blue Apron. It primarily delivers groceries and grocery-related items. It’s an Amazon subsidiary offering the delivery of any items you’ll find at your local supermarket. You can also shop in person, which you simply can’t at Blue Apron.

The store offers a wide selection, including vegan, gluten-free, and non-GMO items, along with prepared meals and bakery goods. There are also dry items like pantry staples, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, kitchen rolls, and everything else in between. Think of it as almost like an online Wamart sort of thing.

You’re also able to order some prepared meals like pizzas, sandwiches, and more. They’re available via pickup and even delivery. However, you can only do this via your iOS device, which you can learn about in my section about ordering, delivery, and unboxing. (Unfortunately, ordering prepared meals for pickup or delivery is currently unavailable on Android or PC).

Aside from the small selection of prepared meals, the service is in direct contrast to Blue Apron. Instead of offering meal kits, you’ll need to come up with your own recipes. Fortunately, the website features a Recipes section with ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, brunch, desserts, drinks, salads, smoothies, and more.

You can even find recipes for specialized diet plans. This includes recipes for keto, paleo, vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian, dairy-free, high-fiber, and many more meals. A couple of my favorites are the Seared Sea Scallops for dinner and the Turmeric-Spiced Shakshuka for breakfast.

If you’re looking to cook for a special occasion, the company even provides recipes for that. You can find recipes for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even St. Patrick’s Day (plus many more). Realistically, combining the above-average marketplace with these recipes means you’ll rarely run out of ideas! Interestingly, the company also offers catering.

A Note About Your Local Whole Foods Market

I find it interesting that you can browse online for items at your local store. Just click Browse In-Store on the website, enter your zip code, and browse away!

This is a neat feature if you’d like to get an idea of what’s available before heading down to the store. There’s nothing worse than wasting time going out to buy something that is simply unavailable.

Sample Meals

Blue Apron

Navigating the Blue Apron menu is a breeze. There are really only around 15 or so options on the menu for any given week. Here are a few that stood out to me:

• Best calorie-conscious dish: Sweet & Spicy Cod with Rice & Bok Choy

• Best vegetarian meal: Egg & Cucumber Sandwiches with Smoked Gouda Spread & Persimmon Salad

• Best ready-to-cook recipe: Gnocchi Mac & Cheese with Spinach, Mushrooms & Breadcrumbs

• Best carb-conscious meal: Seared Chicken & Dijon Pan Sauce with Mashed Potatoes & Brussels Sprouts

• Best pescatarian dish: Salmon & Avocado Rice Bowls with Marinated Vegetables & Sesame-Yuzu Sauce

Whole Foods

Since Whole Foods just delivers groceries, I can’t recommend specific dishes since the entire world of food is at your fingertips. There are tons of options for any diet or combination of foods you can think of. This includes low-calorie, carb-conscious, pescatarian, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, or any other combination.

Meal Customization

Winner: Blue Apron

Blue Apron

Blue Apron wins this category since you’re getting convenient meal kits and prepared meals. These can be customized in a few ways. For one, you can choose your main menu category including Signature or Wellness, and you have access to a variety of menu labels.

With the labels, you can choose from Pescatarian, Vegetarian, Carb Conscious, and 600 Calories Or Less. This allows you to easily narrow down what you need in a matter of seconds. 

Whole Foods

At Whole Foods, this isn’t so simple. First, you’ll need to sort the ingredients by your preferred dietary preferences. Then, you’d need to order them to your residence and cook the meal(s). This can be a bit tedious as items aren’t really specific to 1 meal kit.

However, that said, you can sort the Whole Foods store by a variety of options. This includes vegan, gluten-free, keto-friendly, vegetarian, and much more. There are around 12+ menu filters available for dietary preferences.

Ingredient Quality and Nutrition

Winner: Blue Apron

Blue Apron

Both Whole Foods and Blue Apron take ingredient quality seriously. However, Blue Apron comes out on top for its transparency. For example, the company prioritizes animal welfare. The farmers and ranchers supplying its meal kits ensure animals are raised with care. It also avoids sub-therapeutic antibiotics, ensuring a more natural growth process.

When necessary, prompt medical attention is provided to any sick animals. This approach aligns with Blue Apron's commitment to animal welfare, ensuring that animals aren’t just products but are treated with respect. Some of its ingredients are also certified organic.

Growth promoters are also not part of the suppliers' practices. This includes avoiding added hormones, sub-therapeutic antibiotics, and beta-agonists. Blue Apron's stance ensures that the meats in its meal kits are raised in a healthier, more natural fashion.

Blue Apron considers it essential to source fish and seafood that are rated either Best Choice or Good Alternative by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch at the time of selection.

Recognized sustainability certifications, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, and Best Aquaculture Practices, are also key considerations. In certain cases, smaller fisheries engaged in Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) are considered.

Transparency is a priority, and customers are encouraged to learn about the origins of their seafood. Participation in The Ocean Disclosure Project allows anyone to access information about the country of origin, catch or production method, and sustainability rating of the seafood.

Whole Foods

On the other hand, all of Whole Foods’ edible items are free from 150+ ingredients. These include hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup, and certain colors, flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners.

All meat and poultry in the Whole Foods Market Meat department must adhere to strict Quality Standards, which emphasize animal welfare. This includes fresh beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and turkey, each subject to over 100 animal welfare standards. Except for kosher turkey, these meats are also Global Animal Partnership Animal Welfare Certified.

In the Seafood department, all wild-caught seafood is certified or rated for sustainability. Additionally, farmed seafood is verified as Responsibly Farmed by third parties.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: Blue Apron

Ordering

Blue Apron

Blue Apron wins this category by a landslide. I found that ordering is much more straightforward on Blue Apron’s website. All you have to do is visit the homepage, click On The Menu, browse for meals, click Get Plans, and checkout.

Blue Apron’s minimum order is 2 meals with 2 servings (4 portions) per week, but you can order up to 5 meals with 4 servings per week (20 portions). The more you order at a time, the lower your price per serving.

Whole Foods

Navigating and using the Whole Foods website is a tedious and complex process. From the moment you land on the homepage, you’re bombarded with so many different options that it’s nearly impossible to know where to click. I think the company could do a lot to make the user experience much better overall.

However, that said, I do have to say that I somewhat understand this. Where Blue Apron simply offers meal kits, Whole Foods Market offers tons of different options. It’s not easy to present this information in a simple manner.

At any rate, you have a few options on the main navigation bar:

• Browse In-Store (at your local location)

• Weekly Sales

• Grocery Pickup & Delivery (at Amazon.com)

• Catering

• Shipped to You (special note here)

• Lunch & Dinner to Go

• Recipes

This is way too many options, some of which even seem to overlap. But once you sort through the messy website, it’s pretty simple after that. Browse In-Store lets you view and order items for pickup that are available at your nearest location.

Weekly Sales lets you see whatever is on sale at your nearest location. Grocery Delivery & Pickup is available at Amazon.com through Prime. Catering allows you to order food for pickup for larger occasions or events. 

Shipped to You comprises marketplace essentials shipped directly from the Whole Foods website, and Lunch & Dinner to Go are prepared meals available for pickup or delivery available only to iOS users. As I said, the experience here is unnecessarily convoluted. And, we haven’t even gotten into how to change or cancel your orders!

Note: I checked out the Ship to You section on several different web browsers and couldn’t get it to display anything. Even though it said there were tens (if not hundreds) of options, nothing would show up. This was on my Mac using Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. Your experience may be different.

Delivery

Blue Apron

Blue Apron is available to anyone living in the 48 contiguous states. Unfortunately, delivery currently isn’t available in Canada, Puerto Rico, Alaska, or Hawaii – but this could potentially change in the future.

Delivery days are user-selectable and depend on your zip code. In this example, I’ve chosen Beverly Hills, CA (90210). I can choose Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday at least a week in advance.

Changing your orders or canceling them outright is also very simple. To do so, log into your account dashboard and choose Upcoming. From here, you can choose Plan Settings, Skip, Pause/Cancel, and more. Please keep in mind that your subscription to Blue Apron renews automatically unless you cancel it.

You can make any changes to upcoming weeks up to 5 weeks in advance, which includes skipping weeks. Any orders that have already been processed can’t be changed, however.

Make any necessary changes before your cutoff date and time. Every customer has their own cutoff date and time. Yours can be located by logging into your account, choosing Upcoming, and then Account Settings. From here, you can view the Changeable Before date.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods offers 2 types of orders: in-person pickup or delivery. The chain has numerous physical locations throughout the US and Canada. Available pickup and delivery locations depend on your zip code. I recommend checking the site to find out if there’s a store near you.

The company doesn’t let you choose your own delivery day or date for its delivered products. However, this makes sense since it’s basically an Amazon company. Amazon doesn’t let you do this, either. On a positive note, though, at least you can see when delivery will be available for any particular item.

For catered items, you can change your pickup time. To do that, just visit your Local Store Orders page under Your Orders. Then, head to the order in question and select Track or view your order. You can then update your pickup date and time by selecting Edit under Pickup Address. You can’t change pickup orders scheduled to be picked up in fewer than 48 hours.

On that note, any order you place can be canceled quite easily. You’ll need to do so up to 48 hours before your scheduled pickup time. You’ll need to have your order number from your confirmation email, email address, and ZIP code to hand.

Unboxing

Blue Apron

Unboxing your Blue Apron meals is pretty straightforward. Everything comes neatly organized in a box. If any of your items are frozen, like the frozen prepared meals, they’ll come with refrigerants like ice packs to keep them cold. Boxes also include insulated thermal liners to further maintain appropriate temperatures.

Aside from that, everything is labeled for easy recognition. Every meal kit comes with all the ingredients you need. Some of the produce will be loose and not necessarily labeled as part of a specific meal kit. You’ll have to refer to the recipe cards to figure out what goes with what. Other than produce, all other ingredients come labeled.

Storage instructions differ for each item. Seafood should be consumed within 2 days of placing it in your fridge, unless you freeze it. Blue Apron doesn’t offer specific storage instructions – but you can always contact customer support with any questions. You can also refer to Blue Apron’s comprehensive storage instructions webpage for more details.

Most of Blue Apron’s materials can be recycled – roughly 80%. The only exceptions are plastic bags and plastic films. The gel ice packs can be recycled as long as you drain them first. Just wait for them to thaw, cut them open, and drain the contents down your sink.

Whole Foods

Unboxing your Whole Foods package really depends on what you order. The company delivers virtually any grocery item on the planet, including paper products like toilet paper and kitchen rolls, sundries, toiletries, and any food item.

For this reason, every item will ship differently. Anything that doesn’t need to be cool or frozen during transit will come in a regular cardboard box, like anything else from Amazon. Frozen items or items that need to be cooled during transit will be shipped in an insulated box with ice packs.

In terms of recyclability, Whole Foods is committed to environmental stewardship. Many of its products are free from non-recyclable materials. However, again, the number of products it offers makes it impossible to state exactly which products will or will not contain recyclable materials.

Meal Prep

Winner: Blue Apron

Blue Apron

Again, Blue Apron wins this category for very specific reasons. When you order from Blue Apron, you get everything you need to make specific meals – no more, no less. There’s zero food waste as everything is used. All of the instructions you need are included in your delivery box.

Most meals can be cooked within around 30 to 40 minutes. There are quite a few meals that take as few as 20 minutes to make, but some do take 50 to 55 minutes to prepare.

If you order prepared meals, these will need to be prepared differently depending on whether they’re fresh or frozen. If frozen, microwave for 2 minutes. Then, remove the plastic film, stir around a little, and continue microwaving in 1-minute increments until the meal is hot.

Many of the ingredients will come prepared. You may not have to make all the sauces from scratch, but you’ll probably have to mix a few liquids together to make certain sauces. This largely depends on what meal kits you order. Any produce you order will have to be chopped down on your own before being cooked.

Whole Foods

Meal prep with Whole Foods depends on the contents of your order. It’s like shopping at a grocery store, so this really depends on the dish. You can find items that are as simple to make as ripping open the bag and eating it cold. Examples include muffins, granola bars, etc. You’ll also find that some recipes can take 30 to 60 minutes to make (or beyond).

It would be impossible for me to tell you exactly what to expect in terms of prep times. Unlike Blue Apron, Whole Foods doesn’t send you regular meal kits. If you decide to use the iOS app to order prepared meals, this can be as easy as just eating the items or heating them up for a few minutes. Again, it depends on what you order.

Customer Support

Winner: Tied

Blue Apron

Blue Apron offers support via live chat, phone, and email. Phone is available at (646) 891-4349 or (888) 278-4349. Live chat and phone are both open from Monday through Friday from 10 am to 9 pm as well as Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm ET. The site also features an in-depth FAQ section that answers many questions you may have.

Whole Foods

In terms of Whole Foods, the same can be said – support is available via live chat, phone, and email. Phone support is available at (844) 936-8255. Both live chat and phone lines are open from 6 am to 12 am everyday. An extensive FAQ section is also available at Whole Foods.

That said, I wanted to find out how well each competitor performs via live chat. I found that the experience was virtually identical. Both chat agents connected quickly (within 1 minute) and answered my questions professionally, courteously, and in a friendly manner.

Pricing

Winner: Tie

Whole Foods

We can’t compare Whole Foods to Blue Apron in an apples-to-apples fashion. Blue Apron only sends meal kits and prepared meals. It doesn’t offer grocery-style items. At Whole Foods, you have a gigantic online grocery store at your fingertips.

For this reason, you could buy something as cheap as $0.99, like bananas, or something as expensive as $100+, like multiple packs of toilet paper, for example. There’s nothing stating that you must spend a certain amount of money, like with Blue Apron.

Shipping also varies widely depending on what you order and whether you’re a Prime member. For example, Prime members incur a service fee of $9.95 Non-Prime members may incur additional charges on rush orders.

Keep in mind that Whole Foods accepts SNAP EBT benefits as well. To use your SNAP EBT card, head over to Amazon’s SNAP page to learn more. This can save you quite a bit of money.

Blue Apron

Blue Apron’s pricing starts at around $4.00 per serving. This is if you spring for the largest order of 5 meal kits of 4 servings each. The more you order, the lower your prices will be.

Market items are also available, like seasonal holiday boxes or meal kit boxes. These can range anywhere from $79.99 for the Pescatarian Meal Kit box (3 recipes of 2 servings each) all the way up to $180+ for a Holiday Roast (beef) box, which serves 6 to 8 guests.

Orders of less than $50 before taxes incur a $5.99 shipping fee. Free shipping is available on orders of at least $50.

Whole Foods vs. Blue Apron – Quick Overview

And The Winner Is: Blue Apron

Blue Apron offers much more convenience compared to Whole Foods. You receive pre-planned, pre-portioned meals delivered to your doorstep. This eliminates the need for individual item selection and saves valuable time.

Cost-effectiveness is a key advantage of Blue Apron over Whole Foods. By providing exactly what’s needed for each recipe, Blue Apron reduces food waste and unnecessary spending on extra ingredients, making it a more budget-friendly option in the long run.

The company also excels in offering a diverse range of cuisines, simplifying the exploration of new culinary styles. This contrasts with Whole Foods, where sourcing multiple ingredients for different cuisines can be daunting and expensive, especially for rare or specialty items.

Blue Apron not only delivers meals but also fosters culinary skills and knowledge. Each kit comes with detailed recipes, providing a learning experience that Whole Foods' ingredient-only approach lacks. This makes it ideal for those looking to improve their cooking abilities.

FAQ

Do meal kits actually save you money?

Blue Apron's pricing varies depending on the plan, with costs starting at around $4.00 per serving.

Does Blue Apron save money?

Yes, in some instances, it can save you money. Blue Apron offers pre-portioned meal kits, reducing food waste and overspending on groceries. It's especially cost-effective for those who frequently dine out or order takeout, as it provides a cheaper alternative to eating out or buying gourmet ingredients at the supermarket.

What are the cons of meal kit delivery?

At first glance, meal kit delivery services might seem pricier than grocery shopping. However, choosing the right service can save you time spent on grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. These kits can even be cost-effective in the long run. For these reasons, I recommend Blue Apron for its convenient meal kits and prepared meals, streamlining your daily dinner routine.