> We used blue apron for almost a year, and another competitor for quite awhile as well. Blue Apron recipes seemed almost specifically designed to be hard to replicate and over-complicated. They always used strange ingredients you'd never have in your kitchen, far more pots and pans than necessary

Huh? Don't think I ever had BA need more than two pots/pans total (usually, at most one each, sometimes with the pan reused. Often just the pan.)

> took 2-3x the quoted time for my wife and I to prepare TOGETHER

Usually took slightly longer than quoted alone; but that's going to vary a lot by skill in the kitchen and equipment quality; if you have crappy or poorly maintained knives or poor knife skills, for instance, prep time goes way up.)

> and the pan-searing time for meats was always half of what was required to get it remotely cooked.

Cooking times IME were exact, or a little long; again, though, equipment (stove and cookware) play a role.