Home Chef Review
- Good pricing that compares well with other meal services
- Pre-prepped veggies and sorted ingredients saves even more time for the customer.
- Flexible meal delivery schedule that can easily be cancelled, paused, or changed.
- A variety of meals to choose from as well as breakfast, lunch, and smoothie options.
Home Chef is a meal kit company that was started in 2013 by Pat Vihtelic. Theingredients are shipped in a brown box with a recipe card. Please note, the meals are not pre-made for you. Cooking is required with Home Chef (hence the name of the company). There are a variety of options offered, however Vegan options are scarce. Meal subscription services are not for everyone, but convenient for some. They provide a way for those lacking time to cook and enjoy a healthy meal at home. There are many different meal services to choose from nowadays. The difference between companies comes down to instructions, ingredient sources, and the recipes that are offered.
How Does Home Chef Work?
You will begin by adding your e-mail address into the system. You then proceed with selecting multiple varieties of food you enjoy eating (seafood, meat, veggies). If you have any allergies such as soy, gluten, or nuts this is where you will specify those preferences as well.
After your preferences are chosen, you then choose how often you want your deliveries to happen and how many meals per week. You are able to “favorite” 15 recipes at a time. This adds variety in each of your deliveries. The chef ultimately chooses what recipes come to you based on your preferences.
For more clarity on the meal selection process the company states,
back to menu ↑“When you sign up with Home Chef, we’ll automatically assign you some of the meals our chefs have created. We always recommend that you review the ingredients in each recipe so that you can choose recipes that work for you. You can edit your selections, or skip a weekly delivery anytime, up until the weekly deadline. Skips on deliveries or edits to your menu selections, must be received by 12pm(CST) on the Friday prior to the scheduled delivery day.” [1]
How Much Does Home Chef Cost?
The ingredients are somewhat organic, but not always. Where the food is sourced, determines whether or not it is organic. The meals are priced at $9.95 per serving. You can choose meals in pairs of 2,4,or 6 servings per week. They are mainly dinner options for either 2,4, or 6 people. Lunch servings are also $7.99 as well as smoothie and fruit baskets. Shipping is free if your order is over $45.00, and $10 for orders less than $45.00.
Home Chef differs from the other company simply because there are not “plans” to choose from, rather you are choosing the amount of meals and it’s the frequency the meals come. If you plan on adding a smoothie it will cost $4.95 per drink. On top of dinner and lunch options, you can also add breakfast options too for $9.95 per serving along with fruit baskets ($4.95 per serving).
Lastly, delivery days are only Tuesday through Friday, so that leaves four entire days of no deliveries which can pose as somewhat of a problem for many people. Other meal subscription services offer 7 days for deliveries.
Is Home Chef Safe?
This company is completely safe to use, and it is convenient for many people who do not have the time to grocery shop and cook meals at home. It will cost you at least $45 a week, or more if you have to cook for more people and get more meals to your household. The ingredients are not all organic, but some of them are. Also, the vegetables come already per-prepped so it takes the “danger” out of using knives to chop up your veggies.
When it comes to the product and freshness, it is also safe. The meals come insulated with cold packs to make sure the food is safe to eat when prepped. All of the ingredients are sorted by meal which saves time and energy when pulling together a meal.
Meal Examples
Creamy pesto chicken salad, Mesquite Sirloin Steak, Ginger- Ponzu Salmon, Barbacoa Steak Tacos, One sheet pretzel crusted chicken, Empanada Rice bowl, and Italian sausage and peppers rigatoni. [2]
Pros And Cons of Home Fresh
There are pros as well as cons to be aware of before making a decision to sign up and purchase the meals. Let’s start off with the pros of this company first.
PROS
- Good pricing that compares well with other meal services
- Pre-prepped veggies and sorted ingredients saves even more time for the customer.
- Flexible meal delivery schedule that can easily be cancelled, paused, or changed.
- A variety of meals to choose from as well as breakfast, lunch, and smoothie options.
CONS
- You can choose how many meals you want (no limit) but you will get charged shipping if you don’t order at least $45. [3]
- You cannot choose your exact recipes, and if you like a certain recipe a lot the menu will change and you are not likely to get it again.
- They only deliver a few days a week, which can be inconvenient for some.
Conclusion
The meal delivery service Home Chef competes well on the market when it comes to flavor of the meals, and cost of the service. They score high in comparison to their competitors, and give the customer a no hassle experience if something potentially goes awry. This company doesn’t offer a lot of Vegan options, so if you prefer to dine more plant based this might not be the company for you. Overall, the company does a great job in providing a good variety of recipes to choose from as well as detailed recipe cards to follow in your portioned out box.
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