Do you ever wish someone would just deliver the ingredients for dinner to your door, so you could skip the grocery shopping? You may remember that I tried out and reviewed Hello Fresh a few weeks ago here on my blog. In case you missed it, you can read my review on Hello Fresh. And if all you really need is faster grocery shopping you could try the Kroger ClickList or the similar service Walmart is now offering. Well, my experience with Hello Fresh went well enough that I wanted to try some of the other options that are out there and see how they stack up with each other. So, as I continue to try new services, I will post my thoughts and opinions. Today's review is on Green Chef.
Green Chef is a meal subscription service, or also known as a meal kit service, where fresh, pre-measured ingredients and accompanying recipe are delivered right to your doorstep which is the same model as Hello Fresh. It provides everything you need for a home-cooked meal in 20 - 40 minutes. One of the major ways Green Chef differentiates itself from Hello Fresh and is it is certified organic and utilizes ingredients that are fresh, from sustainable sources, and free from pesticides, genetically modified organisms, artificial ingredients, growth hormones, and antibiotics. Of course these desirable traits does raise the price per person per meal over Hello Fresh.
Green Chef offers six types of boxes:
- Vegetarian ($10.49 per meal/person) - Hello Fresh was about $9.08
- Omnivore ($11.99 per meal/person)
- Vegan ($11.99 per meal/person)
- Carnivore ($13.49 per meal/person) - Hello Fresh was about $9.90
- Gluten-free ($13.49 per meal/person)
- Paleo ($14.99 per meal/person)
These Green Chef prices do not include the $9 shipping and handling also charged per box. You can modify the frequency of boxes to every 2 or 4 weeks. You can also increase the number of people to be fed per meal to 4 or 6. You can modify your plan up to 7 days before you scheduled delivery. Re-vist my Hello Fresh review for more comparison pricing information.
We tried the omnivore box for 2 people. Each type of box comes with 3 meals (sent weekly) so you can see how it adds up quickly for $11.99 per person for three meals. Each omnivore box will cost about $72.00 for three meals each designed to feed two people (plus shipping). For this review, a friend, who uses Green Chef, sent me a free box to try it out. I still had to pay for shipping.
Once you decide on the type of box you want, then you can select a specific day of the week for delivery that fits your busy schedule and they deliver it right to your front door. Just don't forget!
Let's Get Started!
Opening the box! Love the recycled packaging.
Getting ready to cook our first recipe!
Oops! Skewers don't fit my 10 inch skillet. We have to improvise.
The Results...
Moroccan meatballs (not skewered) with apricot couscous, sauteed carrot & zucchini with cumin-lime yogurt. This was absolutely DELICIOUS! So Good!
Herb pesto-topped chicken with carrot-beet slaw, sauteed chickpeas, chard & corn with hemp seed topping. This was very good!
Eggplant ragout with cumin spiced polenta & cauliflower, zucchini salad topped with feta cheese. This was good.
What I liked:
- Pre-measured ingredients for a specific recipe. Truly everything was pre-measured!
- Delivered to my door
- More and different vegetables than I usually buy for dinner
- Adults really enjoyed each meal and there was more variety between the meals than Hello Fresh.
- Everything was organic
- Ingredients had color coded labels so I knew when to use them
- The fresh herbs in my recipes were easier (read: faster) to work with than the ones in our Hello Fresh boxes. The fresh herbs really do taste great.
What I didn't like:
- While the adults really enjoyed the recipes, the kids refused all recipes and defaulted to our back up food. They also did this with the "family friendly" Hello Fresh recipes so I wasn't surprised.
- My 10 inch skillet was too small for the meatball skewers, we improvised but it's still annoying.
- The cost. We live on a tight grocery budget. I only had to pay for shipping and handling in order to try it, but the price of this box is even higher than Hello Fresh
- Because everything was pre-measured the recipes would be very difficult to try and replicate on my own. I don't really know the exact ingredients or amounts in the spice blends, yogurt topping, etc.
- It was a multi-step process to cancel. And you must cancel before your seven day window.
The Verdict
If you have the room in your budget, Green Chef is a tasty (and organic) option! Be aware that there are alternate (less frequent) delivery schedules if you have limited money (or time for cooking). I have a few more companies to try but I will definitely reconsider a less frequent schedule with Green Chef; I really liked it!
Let me know in the comments section below if you have tried a meal kit service before and your experience. What did you like and not like? Would you do it again? Or have you tried any of the other competitive brands? Let me know! I would love to hear from you!
Don't forget that Health Happens at Home,
Erin Marie
P.S. The Green Chef links in this post are not affiliate links. They are just for your convenience.
An image to pin on Pinterest!
A review on the new 100 Days of Real Food on a Budget Cookbook!