If you’ve never heard of Blue Apron, you have either been living under a rock or you like cooking so much that it has never occurred to you to outsource your grocery shopping and meal planning to someone else. I was one (or possibly the other) until very recently, when my friend Monisha (note: she is infinitely hipper than me) hooked me up with a free trial. Here’s the way it works: subscribers get a weekly box of ingredients that they use to follow three prescribed recipes for two-person dinners. (There’s also a family plan that is for four people, two or four times per week.) And when I say they send you the ingredients, I mean ALL the ingredients, right down to itty-bitty bags of pre-measured spices and toppings that they label “knick knacks.”

The week of my free test run I chose the vegetarian box (obvs), which happened to be farro and sumac-roasted sweet potato salad, poblano chilaquiles topped with avocado and an egg, and roasted butternut squash with stewed white beans and gremolata. (I know, right? If you don’t have to look any of those words up, hats off to you.) I will admit that, in advance of the box’s arrival, I was a wee bit skeptical, mostly because it is in my nature to be skeptical.

But I am here to inform you that it was actually kind of awesome. First, there’s the oooh-and-ahhh Christmas present feel of opening a big box of interesting stuff. Second, it made me consider cooking recipes that were outside my typical repertoire. Third, there is a mindless pleasure in following a set of beautifully written directions, and Blue Apron must know this, because the recipe cards are like the supermodels of the recipe card population. Fourth, the portions are generous, which I was concerned about in advance, because I like eating a lot of food. And fifth, the two that I have made so far tasted great. As evidence of these claims, I submit to you two quotes from Jason: “I think this is the first time farro has been eaten in this apartment,” and “These are the best chilaquiles I’ve ever had.”

Farro and hazelnuts and mint! Oh my!

There are a few drawbacks. While you can opt out of any given week, the three recipes are set, so if you’re in, you have to be all in. That means that I ended up with a butternut squash recipe that I still haven’t gotten around to making, and since butternut squash is my personal “Will Mikey eat it?” vegetable, that one will be a true test. Maaaybe tonight? (On a related note, here’s a tip from Monisha: sign into your account and opt out of the next several weeks, then when the menu is announced, you can opt back in if you want to. That way, you won’t forget and end up with a box you weren’t expecting or don’t want. That’s the kind of perfectly logical thing that would never occur to me to do. That is also why people pay Monisha as a consultant. You’re welcome; you got that one for free.) Also, I’m pretty comfortable in the kitchen, but there’s no way I could meet the 25-35 minute preparation estimate listed on the recipes. It was more like twice that.

And the price, while not exorbitant, isn’t exactly a steal. It’s sixty bucks for the week, meaning twenty dollars for each two-person meal. That’s less, obviously, than you’d pay at any restaurant except maybe a crappy fast food joint, but considerably more than I spend at the grocery store for one meal’s ingredients.

All things considered, though, these are pretty small complaints. There will probably be more Blue Apron boxes in my future, though I’ll wait for weeks when the menu is unusually intriguing or my schedule is unusually busy. It’s pretty clearly designed to appeal to people of a certain lifestyle or personality type, but if you’ve read this far in this review, you might very well fit into one of those categories. So crawl out from under that rock and give it a try already.