I tried Blue Apron once (probably with a discount). In addition to the dark pattern of we'll send you meals next week by default they pretty much all used, they all seemed to have a really narrow use case.
Basically, you had to be fine with cooking sometimes fairly time-consuming recipes for 2+ people three days a week, but didn't have a well-stocked pantry or interest in doing a grocery shopping.
In NYC/HCOL areas where the groceries are practically luxury priced, having a discounted meal kit delivered does add up savings-wise.
I think it's like some of the other HCOL urban business models that won't / didn't scale nationally during/after COVID. Favorite example is Peloton. $40/month virtual gym is a great option in NYC where a "nice gym" might cost 5-10x that. In the rest of the country where you can get a serviceable gym for $20-50/mo and NICE one for maybe $100/mo.. it's not a compelling offer! People think I'm joking but my hometown which is 75mi outside NYC has a $20/mo gym. Why would anyone there get a Peloton?
But I agree with your basic point. More than a meal at McDonald's is probably a lot to many people.
Previously, we tried a few services. It would often take an hour for me to cook a meal. These weren’t anything special either. I had four major complaints:
* it often felt like recipes would include unnecessary steps just to make you feel like a cook. Things like mixing siracha and mayo to make the dressing when they could have simply sent it combined.
* reading the instructions was a ridiculous slow down. After a full day of work, it wasn’t fun having to interpret the overly zealous recipes.
* the time estimates were clearly made by someone who preps food all day.
* they still expected you to have certain basics. Not really the end of the world, but part of the point was to not worry about any other shopping.
i'd still recommend it to anyone who's never cooked before at all and wants to start