Mappy October!
In this letter:
New on MappyEverAfter: The best moments of our summer - video. And a month in Bali on a budget
Experiment: One month of Blue Apron and Hello Fresh meal kit delivery services
Travel: We booked 9 days in Yosemite, at the very last minute. Again.
Health: This surprised me: Saturated fat in eggs vs olive oil, and Protein in egg whites vs egg yolks
Eat: My 4 favorite recipes from Blue Apron and Hello Fresh
Watch: The Crown
Mental Hack: You can’t be mad for not getting things you didn’t ask for
Just Because: Penny the talking cat
Note: I will always tell you if I’m getting any referral bonuses and how much they are. There aren’t any in this letter
New on MappyEverAfter.com
Our month in Bali on a tight budget, in a few words and a lot of photos: mappyeverafter.com/a-month-in-Bali
Have a look at the best moments of our summer in one-second clips sewn into a 1.5-minute video:
Experiment - Blue Apron and Hello Fresh meal order kits
Blue Apron is a fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service. You pick the meals and the number of days a week you want to cook, and the number of people you’re feeding. They (responsibly) source all the ingredients and send them to you, along with recipe cards, in one weekly box. It’s shopping and meal planning done for you.
When I saw an ad for 65% off the first week’s box, I ordered 4 different recipes for 2 people. When the box came, it was full of precisely measured ingredients and 4 recipe cards. Instructions were easy to follow, the meals took about 30-40 minutes to make and were delicious. The introductory price came to less than $4 a plate.
I was about to cancel the subscription (because I didn’t want to pay the full $12/meal per person), when I got another Blue Apron discount through the Fetch app and then another via my credit card. We ended up eating Blue Apron meals for 3 weeks.
Then I saw an offer for Hello Fresh (which is a similar service), so we tried them for one week.
After 4 weeks of mail-order cooking kits, here’s my experience:
The Good:
You get exactly what you need for the recipes and there’s no wasted food. It’s convenient and saves time. Cheaper than eating out. Recipes are clear, quick, and tasty. The produce is very fresh. Good introductory price. Good portions. Grass-fed beef (at Blue Apron). Some recipes and ingredients you may not have tried before, so it’s a culinary adventure. You learn little tricks you can use later in your own cooking. You can skip weeks. Recipes are available online, for everyone, you don’t have to purchase a kit.
The Bad:
Much more packaging than when you shop for your own groceries. No low-carb options and few organic ingredients (although there are other services that offer these things). The full price is much higher than if you shopped for the same recipes yourself.
After one month of meal kits, we saw no change in our food budget or on the scale. Our diet in those 4 weeks was definitely more varied than usual. If the price stayed low and both the amount of carbs and packaging got reduced, I could see myself continuing the subscription.
Travel - Yosemite last minute. Again.
Same as last year, we tried to book a camping site in Yosemite months in advance and failed. Then, same as last year, we booked last minute (the day before departure) and managed to camp smack in the middle of the Yosemite Valley for 9 days. This trip features in the Best Seconds of Our Summer video.
To see how you can book last-minute camping spots in the busiest National Parks in the US, have a look at my Yosemite for Procrastinators article.
Health - This surprised me: Saturated fat in Eggs vs Olive Oil, and Protein in Yolks vs Eggwhites
Do you think that egg yolks have a lot of saturated fat and olive oil has none, or that the vast majority of the protein in eggs comes from the eggwhites? I did too. But look at this (fact-checked on the USDA website):
This doesn’t necessarily mean that they affect the body in the same way.
And here’s the protein:
So if you’re still making Mother Nature cry by throwing away egg yolks, stop now. If you’re worried about cholesterol, there’s a lot of research that shows that an esterified form of cholesterol (which most of the cholesterol in egg yolks is) doesn’t get absorbed into the body unless you’re a hyperabsorber (about 10% of the population). My favorite resources are Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Thomas Dayspring. Here’s a nifty summary of Attia’s great, and very detailed 9-part series: Straight dope on cholesterol, and here is their most recent conversation about the latest insights into cardiovascular disease and lipidology
My 4 favorite recipes
Of all of the Blue Apron and Hello Fresh meal delivery kits we tried, these are my 4 favorite recipes. No need to subscribe, they can be recreated from your own ingredients.
Sheet Pan Trout & Olive Vinigarette from Blue Apron - Baked trout with a warm salad of roasted veggies and arugula
Calabrian Beef & Gnocchi from Blue Apron - A comfort-foody, satisfying pasta dish
Chicken and Chili Roasted Broccoli Salad from Hello Fresh - A delicious warm salad
Saucy Beef & Charred Poblano Tacos from Hello Fresh - Smoky, mango-y, beefy tacos
Watch: The Crown
Y’all have probably already seen it and are impatiently awaiting the release of season 5 on Netflix (or in the library, as we do) on November 9th. I’m a bit late to the game, inspired by the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
In case you’re like me and just crawled out from under a rock, The Crown is brilliantly cast and acted. The resemblance to real people is uncanny and it’s a fun way of getting a history lesson wrapped in a creative story.
Mental Hack
You can’t be mad for not getting things you didn’t ask for.
People have enough on their own plates without having to guess your wants and needs. If you want something, don’t be shy, ask for it.
Just Because - Penny the Talking Cat
Penny is my guilty pleasure. This quirky little cat never fails to give me a giggle.
I have probably watched all of her videos, but here are my favorites, have a click: This one, and this one, and one more. And this one below too.
So there you have it. Hope you’re having a lovely October and Halloween / Dia de los Muertos / Sviatok Všetkých Svätých. And Happy Birthday to all my fellow Scorpios out there!
Be Mappy,
Mags
