Home Chef

The only reservations I have are the frequent use of green beans as the vegetable, the preparation and cooking of the green beans being more work than they are worth, the lack of labels on the meat packages and the difficulty opening the meat packages.
Everything else is great, freshness/​quality of food, labeling of contents, arrival of package, packing, price for what you receive, ease of recipe, plenty of food.

After trying several home-​delivery companies, including HelloFresh, there is what I come up with
Pros (which is also what other competitors offer):
— Arriving on time. Website is intuitive to use.
— The shipping and packaging feel safe and fresh.
— I like the individual packs of each menu so it is not confusing.
— A great chance to learn how to cook different things.
— No need to grocery shopping.
Cons:
— Their food simply TASTES BAD. I know it’s cook-​it-​yourself-​type of deal, but I have tried three other companies doing the same thing, and their menu taste a lot better. Even my homemade meals without following recipes are a lot better.
— Menu often too salty and not healthy: heavy sauce, sodium. Many seasonings are pre-​packed, so you are not really sure what has been added in there, not fresh or healthy. So now I only add ²⁄₃ of seasonings they give you.
— The portion is slightly too small. I am 105lb, ⁵⁄₁ female, and that’s what I feel… I can’t imagine what a man would feel like.
— For $ 9.95 per meal it is WAY too expensive, time costly, and just taste plain bad. Without a groupon or other deal, it’s not worth it at all.
— Instructions on the menu isn’t always time saving, so each meal ends up costing about 40 – 50 minutes.
Overall:
The bad taste of the food just isn’t going to do for me, definitely switching. I don’t even think I can finish the current shipment, just too bad.
HelloFresh is a lot better in terms of taste, although it also takes a lot of time to cook.

Interesting menus. Arrived on time.
Quality/​freshness was suspect on my first delivery. Had to throw out half of the produce.
The plus is that it stretches my culinary skills.
The negative is the expense, freshness, HUGE amount of waste of plastic, shipping materials.
The verdict first week in is… I can do better on my own. Will give it a 2^nd week and see where it goes.

I have been using Home Chef for about 5 months now. I love the meals and am happy when I see my box on the front porch every Tuesday. I am happy with the portion sizes.
Pros: Keeps me out if the grocery store. No purchasing strange spices or oils that sit in the cabinet forever. Quality cooking time with my teenage daughter — she likes to help. No wondering what to make for dinner.
Cons: Fish choice is almost always salmon. Not my favorite. Sometimes it seems steaks are not very fresh. Too much kale.
Overall I am very happy with the service and would recommend it.

Home Chef is by far the best Do it Yourself meal prep subscription. Not only are my weekly meals easy to manage online but there are more options to choose from then HelloFresh. The packaging is great, everything is labeled, instructions are descriptive, and there are even helpful tips and notes that I would have never known. ex) why you cook veggies before you add noodles and chicken to stir fry. I am BRAND NEW to cooking so this is exactly what I need. All produce is fresh and taste amazing! I already am recommending to everyone. I also love that you get a binder so you can store your recipes :) Another pro… you can attempt recipes you never thought you would! I never thought I could make a steak sauce from scratch but with HomeChef I did and it was amazing!
I know the price can seem a bit much… average $ 10 per serving… but you are not only paying for the ingredients, but the recipe, the packaging, the delivery (if you spend $ 40 you get free shipping!), and the CONVENIENCE. Living in the Midwest, if I don’t have to go to the grocery store to pick all this up then I would rather not.
I think this is fairly priced so if it is not worth it to you then search recipes all day long, download them, go buy all the ingredients at the grocery store, and make it yourself.

I started HomeChef 8 or so months ago. When I first started the meals were great. The menu was diverse and accommodated my food allergies. The concept of HomeChef is similar to that of Blue Apron or Plated. (I have experience with Blue Apron and Plated also) The basic rundown is you pick your dinners for the week in advanced, the items are fresh packed and delivered to your door with a walk through recipe card. You get home, unpack the box and prep when you are ready. This was a perfect service since I work full-​time and attend school full-​time. I was able to eat healthy without having to meal plan or grocery shop. So back to the beginning, the food was arriving fresh with perfect portioning. The menus to choose from were welcoming. Somewhere around month 3 HomeCheffers experienced the the great Kale-​ocolypse of 2015. Fried kale, crisp kale, wilted kale, shredded kale, Every meal had Kale as a filler. After the Kale-​ocolypse the I noticed the protein quality was slowly declining. I had a steak that arrived bad /​opened and a few peices of salmon that I swear expired 2 weeks before I received them because the date said 10/​2015, but I continued because all growing businesses have hiccups and they were wonderful in the customer service department. The next issue was that 2 nights of entire meals (4 Plates total) were missing. They said it was an issue with the distribution center and happily gave me a credit and I continued on with the service. As of this week the protein is much smaller, the meals are smaller over all, and the quality has gone down sharply. I think at this time I will pause my service with them until they work out their growing pains.

I adore Home Chef. I’ve recommended it to countless friends and family who have signed up and enjoy the service as well. Is it perfect every week? No. Is the food you cook or go out to eat perfect every week? Absolutely not. That being said, any issue i’ve had with the taste of a dish was easily solved with an addition of my own (this is rare). Any issue i’ve had with an ingredient they’ve sent I’ve notified them about it and they’ve corrected (also rare). I love the variety and the quality of the recipes and ingredients. They even bring back dishes fairly quickly if they know people enjoyed it quite a bit. Again, I just adore Home Chef.

Decided to try this when they offered a Groupon. We live in a Metropolitan area so being charged $ 10 for a small portion of food that I have to cook myself wasn’t that attractive, but with the Groupon it came down to about $ 6 – 7 per meal. So, my hubby and I decided to see for ourselves why some people love this service so much.
The pros: The produce comes clearly labeled and separated by meal. Clean-​up post cooking is relatively easy since you’re not dealing with large Styrofoam packaging for your meat products. The recipes are very clear and offer pictures and some explanations for certain more ‘esoteric’ steps for the novice cook (for example, why we need to let a pork chop rest after cooking). Being so-​so to poor at cooking, I was able to make the meals within their allotted time (usually 40 minutes) and the meals all come out looking pretty nice plated. Of course, the main draw of services like Home Chef, Blue Apron, etc. is the fact that you don’t have to worry about shopping for your own food and looking up your own recipes week after week.
The cons: I thought I got sent salmon that had a best by date labeled two months ago. I double-​checked with my husband and another friend to make sure they’re seeing what I’m seeing on the label, since the type can make it difficult to read. When I contacted Home Chef, they said:
«The expiration date on the salmon is actually 2016. The salmon we source is a high-​quality frozen, Norwegian Atlantic product that is flash frozen at source. As long as it’s frozen, the salmon is good to eat for 18 – 24 months. This is why you’re seeing an expiration date that’s so far out in the future.»
I attached the picture so you can judge for yourself. It was hard to get a good angle because of the glare. It is possible I could be wrong.
The packaging, although they tried their hardest to sell the customer on it being «sustainable», is still a huge waste. Spraying something with a «film that encourages biodegradation» is not the same as it being «biodegradable.» Lots of plastic that can’t be recycled, and the carbon footprint is probably pretty big for being sent food of such small portions. This isn’t a critique unique to Home Chef, but is still something to consider.
Lastly, since I mentioned small portions, the dishes pack substantial calories but do not leave my husband satisfied, and he is a healthy, trim man in late twenties. After I cook a Home Chef meal he always ends up needing to grab a second «mini-​meal» from the fridge. I barely get full myself. Home Chef may be fine for those with smaller appetites, but it didn’t do the job for us. If anything, this is the biggest reason (low bang for our buck) that we will not be continuing our subscription to this service.
Note: You are expected to have basic ingredients (salt, pepper, olive oil) in your pantry, and the produce are not pre-​washed.

Best thing yet! Really great meals all easily prepared in 30 mins. We chose low cal but received five star favors. Unique and interesting sauces, ingredients, and spices complete the experience. Perfect for anyone who works or is busy but still wants to cook– simple prep, easy to follow directions with great pictures. Includes plating suggestions and recommended wine pairings. Had broadened our palette to include items we normally wouldn’t choose such as rutabaga and also includes spices and sauces so the guess work is out as well as multiple trips to the grocery store.
Had one issue with delivery in July as we are in Texas– food arrived warm but they cheerfully issued a credit. Plus you can suspend delivery any time.

I’ve tried Blue Apron, Plated, and by far Home Chef is the best. The boxes come in time and I love that you can pick all the meals. I feel like they have a lot of options to choose from too. I’m sticking with Home Chef!

I am very disappointed with the quality of the produce with this delivery service. I have had two boxes so far and every single meal kit had something I had to replace.
The issues I had: red peppers in two of the meals had quite a few soft spots and I had to cut around them. Green beans in two meals were not fresh and I had to throw half of them away. Arugula was wilted and had mushy pieces I had to pick out, I was able to use about half. They sent a red onion instead of a shallot for one of the recipes. Finally, the basil was brown and definitely not fresh.
They ship from Chicago and I live in Chicago, so there definitely is not enough time for all of this produce to go bad by the time it gets to my door. I can only assume that it is being packaged like this. I recommend checking the food before you start to prepare it in case you need to run to the grocery store.
I wish I could tell you that I am just being nit-​picky, but I’ve tried Plated, Hello fresh and Blue Apron and have not had any issues like this. For the price Home Chef charges I would expect the produce to be very fresh.

My husband and I have been using HomeChef for about 7 months now and we love it! We get 3 meals each week so I now have a huge binder full of recipe cards that I could use to recreate a meal at any point if I wanted to. I have learned so much about different cooking methods that I hadn’t known. This isn’t to say that the methods are complicated — I just didn’t have a lot of cooking experience! The recipes are easy to follow and the meals are almost always good! There have been a few that haven’t hit the mark for me, but that’s to be expected over a 7-​month period. I actually feel like I like cooking now… I never would have said that last year.
A few other reviews said that HomeChef doesn’t adequately pack their meals, but I lived in Central Pennsylvania until two months ago and I never had a problem. I now live in Ann Arbor, MI so I’m only about 4 hours from Chicago… but the packaging is the same. There are about 6 ice packs as well as insulation. That’s my one concern actually, is all of the waste from the packaging. But the ice packs are able to be dumped down the sink and the plastic is recyclable… so I do end up recycling everything except the insulation.
Another concern I saw in other reviews was how many calories the meals have. That is true for many of the meals, but there are always at least three low-​calorie meals to choose from each week. We have ours defaulting to low-​calorie. You can also default to things like gluten-​free, vegetarian, nut-​free, pork-​free, etc. So I don’t think this is a very valid concern… there are normally good low-​calorie options!
I speak very highly of HomeChef to all my family and friends. Whenever one of them is interested, I can send them a link to get a free box, up to $ 50 worth. It’s just a really great company! I haven’t tried the other similar companies so I can’t compare them… but I would definitely recommend this one! :)

I have been extremely happy with all shipments and recipes! I live 2 plus days for shipping and everything arrives fresh. The recipes are unique and easy to do. My husband approves on everything cooked and that speaks volumes! Thank you home chef for making my life easier:) life is great again!

Consumers beware: A lot of plates are over 1,000+ calories PER serving! If you don’t live in Chicago, your food will be in transit for at least 3 – 4 days with insufficient icepacks.
The purpose of services such as these is so that you can eat healthier. For about the same price range, I can order takeout but the only thing that stops me are the calories. Half of the choices for Home Chef are over 1,000 calories PER serving. Other competitors are around 700 calories per serving at most. The food is decent but you should see the amount of butter and heavy cream these kits come with. Why in the world should I slave around in the kitchen for 35+mins and still consume the same number of calories as I would with instant takeout? It kills me to see that all the options I want have way too many calories. I feel safer browsing other competitors’ menus knowing that anything I choose are no more than 700 cals and they all look and taste just as delicious too!
Another thing that really concerns me is the shipping method. I live in New York so my food was shipped out on Monday and was received Thursday. When I got home, the bottom of the box was wet and the top was caving/​sagging in as a result. It looked like a ship sinking in the middle of the ocean. I opened up the contents to find that all of the ice packs were completely melted. Cold water is not enough to store raw meat so I called customer service and explained the situation. The guy on the phone responds, «So you’re just not comfortable at all to try it out?» After a few minutes of explaining the dangers of possible food poisoning, he issued me a credit. I asked him if they can make sure the packaging will have sufficient insulation and icepacks in the next delivery and his response was «I don’t know.» There wasn’t even an apology OR a statement to try and get everything right the next time. What is the point of having another delivery of rotten produce/​meat? I can’t wait to pick through all the wasted contents and try to salvage anything that’s edible.
Customer service is lacking and potentially harmful because they wanted me to try food that was potentially contaminated, the delicious looking meals have way too many calories and the low-​cal ones look like something I can whip up in 10 mins for a fraction of the price, and their delivery option (FedEx) is terrible because your food is out in transit for 4 days with very poor packaging. They do not add sufficient ice so that they save on shipping which is dangerous, negligent, and completely unprofessional. Until they can sort these issues out, I will not be a customer.

I received my shipment yesterday. I haven’t cooked the food yet, so this is not an assessment of the recipes, but the delivery and the ingredients. I was not impressed with how the box arrived. It was delivered by fedex and I had been tracking it. Since I live quite a distance from Chicago this service is not a good option for me. The box was packed on Monday, and I got it on Thursday night. It arrived intact, although beat up, and half of the ice was melted. The meats were still cold but the veggies were not.
I was also shocked to see that 2 out of the 3 recipes included a CANNED food. I was expecting everything to be fresh. Even worse, is that they were the cheapest brands. If they were going to send canned beans and tomatoes, they could at least be ORGANIC and/​or LOW salt. I wanted to like this service because they have many options and you can choose what kinds of meals you want each week. However, I cannot pay for a service that sends me ingredients that are such low quality. I would not buy that myself – I would buy fresh or dried. If I bought canned foods, they would be ORGANIC. This would take me backwards as far as eating heathily. For some people quick preparation is more important and they don’t care about eating lower quality ingredients, so this might be fine for them. Also if one lives in Chicago this would probably be a better option since you’d be close to the assembly site.

First, I want to preface with the fact that I have tried three food delivery services — Plated, Blue Apron, and Home Chef. The best aspect of Home Chef is that the meals are very easy and quick to prepare compared to the other vendors. Time from prep to table is usually 30 minutes. I also found the recipes to be quite tasty and less exotic compared to Plated/​Blue Apron, which for me is a good thing. There are a large number of recipes to choose from, and no fixed requirement as far as number of meals/​week, which allows customization options that are lacking with Blue Apron.
The reason I cancelled my subscription was the delivery service (FedEx). On multiple occasions the box arrived damaged, with holes in it for example. The ice packs were frequently already melted. And the food (in particular greens) arrived mushy/​soggy as mentioned by another reviewer. This may in part be due to the fact that they ship from Chicago and I live in Dallas, TX. If this company improved their delivery service I would consider giving them another shot.

I have been using a competitor for the past several months and I am extremely pleased with their product. I saw a pop up for Home Chef and decided to try them. Good eats, well, one can’t have enough. My box arrived yesterday and included the goods and instructions for Teriyaki and Sriracha Flat iron steak as well Agave — Ginger glazed salmon. The latter is what I just prepared now. I do not eat fish. Hubby loves it and gives me a fair assessment of taste and texture. I eat all the good side fixins! The edamame purée surprised me. I love the bean /​legume however never would have thought to purée it with lime and cilantro! The sauteed bok choy and agave/​ginger/​orange glaze were superb!
Very good product. Looking forward to tomorrows’ dinner.

Not a fan. I found the food to be bland with small portions, hardly worth the money. They also use FedEx for delivery which I am not a fan of. We prepared two of our three meals, shrimp lettuce wraps and chicken thighs. Yes chicken thighs… eeek.
I like that they pack each meal and its respective ingredients together– this is nice for fridge organization as someone else mentioned.
The lettuce wraps were good, but more of an appetizer and not something I would consider dinner.
The chicken thighs were very fatty (I had to do a decent amount of trimming) with a ridiculously sad little portion of fresh green beans and a HUGE portion of plain vanilla white rice. It was almost laughable.
Photos attached– I cancelled my subscription tonight. I wish them the best but there’s a lot to be improved upon here.

Wanted to love it but didn’t. Ingredients showed up mushy, one of the containers had opened and spilled in the bag so the contents in it soured, «refrigerated» box wasn’t cold when it showed up at my door (important in Texas), and the spices/​sauces (example: Home Chef dipping sauce) they provide don’t have contents listed out so if I wanted to repeat the recipe, I couldn’t.
Go with Plated. Costs a little more but much better quality.

My husband and I have been using Home Chef for about a month or so now and we love it! It’s similar to Plated and Blue Apron, but seems to be a much smaller company. It’s also based here locally in Chicago, which I love. We picked Home Chef over the alternatives because it’s local, they allow you to choose which meals you want, and it generally just seemed less complicated and constricted.
Unlike alternatives, Home Chef allows you to actually control what meals you receive. They do give you customized suggestions based on any taste preferences or dietary restrictions that you may have, but you’re not forced to pick the meals they choose for you, like you are with other services. I like that it gives me a choice because while I do often go with their suggestions, sometimes I see something on the menu for that week that I know I’ll like better, so it’s nice to be able to switch it out for something else.
I also prefer the packaging over Blue Apron because they actually sort all of the ingredients for you and separate them by meal, which saves time. It also keeps the meals all neatly packaged and organized within my refrigerator, so it’s simple to pick one out when dinner time rolls around.
So far, we’ve enjoyed all of the meals and it’s been fun cooking outside of our comfort zone. We’ve already learned some new techniques and discovered new recipes that we wouldn’t have thought to make on our own. It’s also neat that they show you the chefs who have created the recipe and give you some biographical information about them. We’ve noticed we tend to go for the meals created by Justin Paruszkiewicz, as they tend to be the most creative, in my humble opinion. They describe him on the website as «innovative, resilient and avant-​garde», which I’d like to think is a pretty accurate representation of myself. ;)
Overall, for 10 bucks a meal, I don’t think you can really go wrong if you’re using it for a few nights a week. It saves us money since we used to go out at least 3 nights a week for dinner and after you include tip, that’s almost double what it costs for us to order Home Chef 3 nights a week. Also, I’m sure our bodies appreciate the switch from eating out so much, since the Home Chef meals have all been pretty healthy and surprisingly low in calories — a totally unintentional and pleasant surprise!