Eating with your family and your kids is more important than you perhaps think. Taking them for granted is a trap we can all fall into and while we can't necessarily eat with our kids or parents every day, trying to do it perhaps more often than we already do is something we can all strive for, whatever your age. Here are five reasons to try:

1. Cooking with the kids is fun

Life happens in the kitchen, they say. And so it should - making dinner with the family is brilliant. It's about the best place in the house for an active family activity, apart from a game of Twister in the living room, of course. And the results from the kitchen are less likely to twinge your back muscles and more likely to be tasty and satisfying.

Sure, the kids enjoy eating your cooking, but getting them involved in helping to make it is a great way for them to value it even more. Whereas taking them to the store to help you pick ingredients may be less interesting.

This is where Blue Apron comes in, because it will deliver the exact ingredients you need for the dish you're making, with no waste – everything is precisely measured for you. That also means there's no anxiety that you, or Junior, has put too much or too little of anything into the mix. And if there are items like chilli or garlic in the meal, you can be grateful for that.

2. With the best ingredients and recipes, the results are great

There are more benefits to not schlepping round the supermarket with the kids in tow. Of course, there's the time saved because Blue Apron delivers right to your door. But additionally, Blue Apron prides itself on very high-quality ingredients. These are sourced direct from the producers, so they don't have to withstand the time and multiple journeys via wholesalers to regional warehouses on their way to the grocery stores.

With Blue Apron, everything comes direct from the producers to Blue Apron and then straight to your door, eliminating the extra costs that those middlemen include. This means they can provide the best quality ingredients at stronger value than the grocery store would offer.

That means BN Ranch grass-fed, pasture-raised beef, for instance. All the meat is chosen to be free of added hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics. The seafood is sustainable (as recommended by Seafood Watch) and Blue Apron requires its suppliers to certify that their products and their ingredients are all free from GMOs. The company is looking to build on this by developing non-GMO alternatives for animal feed, too.

3. Recipe cards mean the whole family can understand

What's more, all the ingredients – literally everything apart from salt, pepper and olive oil – are carefully delivered with detailed recipe cards full of clear step-by-step instructions so preparing dinner is easy and enjoyable.

Everything is delivered in refrigerated containers with ice packs and insulated liners to make sure it arrives fresh and stays fresh even if you’re out. And the Blue Apron Freshness Guarantee means you can be confident it’s been picked to stay fresh – though a good tip is to cook the fish and seafood in the first meal for maximum freshness. 

4. The more variety in the cooking, the more they'll learn

Your kids are never going to get bored by cooking the same stuff over and over: Blue Apron has a policy that it never repeats the same recipes in a year. You - or your littl'uns - can give feedback through the Rate My Recipes tool and only the best-loved recipes will be repeated after a year.

Anyway, the recipes you receive are kid-friendly and designed to be served family-style, which makes things more fun when you’re eating as well as cooking. 

5. The meals - and great cookery experiences - keep coming

Each recipe serves four and you can pick from a two-recipe a week plan or four recipes. Note that if you're not a family household, you can instead pick a two-person plan with three recipes a week delivered.

Finally, the recipes are tremendous. Don't check the Blue Apron website if you're hungry unless you're prepared to see tempting things on offer. Like seared steak and fingerling potatoes or Cajun-spiced chicken or spinach and ricotta cannelloni. It all looks mouth-watering.

Each serving costs from $8.74 to $9.99 and delivery is free, and what's more, Blue Apron are offering $30 off on your first order