Chefables

I am not happy with Chefables as a parent of a school whose daycare requires us to sign up for Chefables. What I have noticed is that they will frequently substitute an unhealthier commercially available food for what is listed on the menu. For example, the menu one day read «homemade carrot cake» and they substituted a commercially available sugar sweetened cereal. Or, they will put «wholegrain pancakes» on the menu, and substitute little english muffins. I observed both these changes in one short week.
They tend to serve the cheapest fruits available (sliced oranges, waxy red delicious apples with little taste). So whenever the menu lists ‘Fresh Fruit” you can easily substitute orange slice or waxy apple, as that’s likely what is being given out.
I resent the misinformation that Chefables gives and I don’t believe it’s the healthy food that their menu implies. I think they go for cheap and easy substitutes.
Of course, they have a *tiny disclaimer* at the bottom of the menu saying that they reserve the right to substitute foods if what is on the menu is not available. That usually means they will substitute a cheaper, less healthy option than what was originally promised.
I have asked my daycare to make Chefables optional. I don’t trust their menus or the health of their food offerings. Parents, please be cautious.

I hate this service almost as much — no, wait, MORE — than making the lunch myself. After a year and month of being a full time customer, I’m quitting them today. They suck. Here are my complaints:
1) The user interface you need to navigate when ordering is cumbersome. It’s slow, it’s hard to find by doing a Google search, you have to scroll way down the screen. It’s something you don’t want to do any more often then necessary.
2) They only allow ordering on a monthly basis which means I do have to navigate that terrible site far more often then I like.
3) My daughter does not like any of the food except for the cheese pizza and the chicken nuggets. She doesn’t even like their cold sandwiches (and she does generally like sandwiches). She liked about 20 different lunch items from the schools’ previous vendor but from this one I can only order those two things.
4) They send emails on a very inconsistent basis announcing that next month’s menu is available for ordering. As often as not, those menus are in fact NOT available when they send this irritating email.
5) Customer support complaints to the company regarding #4 go unanswered, even when I ask nicely for the actual date upon which the menus WILL in fact be available.
6) They don’t always send the reminder emails each month so usually my kid has no lunch for the first 5 days of the month (I sometimes forget to pro-​actively order). Why 5 days? Because the ordering closes 3 – 4 days before any given lunch is made.
So I have decided this month that I’m done with this garbage. I hate this company — their product, their service, their administration. If you are a school administrator considering them, please look elsewhere. These guys do not do parents any service — they do a disservice. Pass them by and your parents will thank you!

Our daughter’s daycare offers Chefables as an option for lunchtime food. The food is bland but fairly edible. The website sucks — it’s extremely slow and buggy. Their communication sucks, big time. Inaccuracies in mass emails are common, and there’s no recourse when they screw up an order, or disseminate incorrect information. Unfortunately, there’s no other option for feeding your youngster, other than taking the time to prepare and pack food yourself. If you’re as busy as we both are, then it may still be worth your $ 5.50 a day to know that something will probably be there for your kid to eat, regardless of your business trips or all-​night meeting prep.

I haven’t actually seen or tasted what my children’s lunches delivered by chefables for over a year now. The don’t complain and their teachers tell me they eat well.
When I used to pack their lunches, in a thermos jar so that it would stay warm, at least half of it came back untouched.
So I figured I might as well save myself the hassle. I just make sure they get plenty of fresh fruit, dairy and veggies when they eat at home.
The one complaint I have about chefables is their dismal ordering website. I can’t believe there is still something that slow in 2013.

My sons’ day care uses Chefables for their snacks. I think my children get most of their sugar from those snacks. Most snacks consist of a fruit and a cookie/​scone/​muffin/​etc. Chefables has a surprisingly hard time incorporating vegetables into their snacks. Looking at the Dec 2013 menu, of 40 snacks, only 4 contain vegetables. August was similar. If they’re better at baking than cooking, why not serve zucchini bread and minimally sweetened carrot cake, maybe some broccoli croquettes? Why is it so hard to serve roast vegetables?
The company refused to tell me how much sugar is in any of their baked goods. When I’ve tasted snacks off my children’s plates, they were all sweet enough to call cookies. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with Chefables trying to get some sense of how much sugar is in the food. The closest I got to an answer was that they only use fruit to sweeten their baked goods, which shocked me because most of their pastries look like they’re just made with white flour with no visible sign of fruit. When I asked what fruit they use in their graham crackers, they replied «brown sugar», further confusing me. I suspect they heavily process fruit in-​house to make some sweetener. The person I spoke with gave me his email address at the end, so I emailed later to ask why sweeteners made in-​house are better than other sugars. I was told not to ask.

Having this service has really helped to alleviate the load of having to pack lunches for my daughter every day. Luckily, my daughter will eat anything, especially when she is hungry.
I rely on them heavily since I can’t always make lunches for my child.

Their cheap ingredient «fresh baked goods» are on the menu, breakfast, lunch, and snack! If you want your kids to live on melon and dough, this is It.

My son is one of the PICKIEST eaters around. He is mostly a simple «carbetarian» whose diet consists of breads, milk, smooth yogurt, and a handful of other select plain foods. No meat and hardly any fruit and vegetables — certainly no peanut butter, hummus, or anything with a «strange» or sticky texture. I was starting to worry about his nutrition, even though he looked healthy and his pediatrician assured us that he was fine.
I used to pack the same lunch for him with shells and cheese, no chunk yogurt, and peeled Fuji apples every day, but realized that the same limited foods would never expand his palate. Somehow I didn’t have it in me to experiment with what he would try and refuse, and experience all the food waste. I decided to try my son’s school lunch program, Chefables, since many of his classmates were already eating the fresh individual meals delivered daily to my son’s preschool. I think they use organic ingredients when possible, but I didn’t see anything on their website about that.
Before the start of the month, I go onto the Chefables website and choose from the four options (including kosher and vegetarian) per day. The following are examples of options I had for three days in May 2011:
Tuesday
* Chef Ken’s Turkey Chili (M)
* Red Bean Chili (V)
* Buttered Noodles (P)
* Turkey Sandwich on Whole Grain Bread (K)
Wednesday
* The Cheesiest Pizza (M/​V)
* Natural Chicken Tenders (A)
* Pasta + Red Sauce (P)
* Bagel + Real Philly Cream Cheese (K/​V)
Thursday
* New: Chicken and Cheese Empananda (M)
* Mac + Cheese (V/​P)
* Cheese Pizza (A)
* Hummus Sandwich on Whole Grain Bread (K/​V)
I try to choose the least «objectionable» menu items like buttered noodles for my über-​fussy eater, and slowly branch out. Each lunch comes with vegetables or fruit, and is made by Chefables (not processed). The benefits to this program are that my son actually has now eaten broccoli, spinach, and chicken (not sure why he won’t do it at home yet — last night he spit out his broccoli at dinner).
I was surprised that he actually ate chicken tenders — and eventually liked it. He gnawed on one small piece of chicken for 45 minutes for the first few times according to his teacher. When he was 3 years old, he threw up from eating chicken — no joke. That’s progress.
My son’s teacher sometimes saves the leftover food so we can see what he’s eaten and what’s leftover. We’ve tried some of the Chefables food — hubby and I like the it, especially the cheese tortellini.
I have to commend Chefables and our son’s preschool teacher for getting him to try new foods. That, and a bribe that he could have a whole milkshake at his favorite «milkshake restaurant» if he ate new healthy foods. Our «milkshake incentive program» in conjunction with Chefables seems to be making a difference.
For about $ 5 per lunch, it seems like a worthwhile investment to me. Getting a young discriminating eater to try and like new healthy foods is huge.

I am a teacher for an early childcare center and Chefables provides their meals, Monday to Friday. Specifically, I am an infant/​toddler teacher so I know what is appropriate for the children. For six months straight, this company supplied cantaloupe and honeydew melon for the children in huge chunks. Choking hazard! They claim on their menu that they provide a variety of fruits following their lunch course… false! After many complaints, they changed their fruits to apples/​oranges/​kiwi at five days a week. STILL in huge portions and they are hard fruits… choke hazards! This is hardly the quality food that the children should be receiving.
In regards to their lunch entrees, the children are served either burrito, nasty rice and beans, cheese quesadilla, or something disgusting like those mentioned. There is no variety and I feel so sad for the children that are vegetarians because all they ever receive is as follows:
cheese burrito
cheese pizza
hummus & pita
rice and beans
This menu may sound appetizing, but when these are the only choices that you have been offered for several months… you will refuse to eat as all of our children have.
Parents– do yourselves a favor and do not pay for chefables. POOR quality food without variety.

Chefables is wonderful. I signed up with them to provide our son lunch and «tea-​time» at his Bright Horizons campus preschool for two reasons: he gets exposure to a variety of healthy foods, prepared from scratch daily and delivered as a hot meal; and it is extremely convenient, which ensures he always gets a healthy lunch regardless of our schedules.
Lesley is wonderful to work and all communications I’ve had with her via email or phone have been great.

My 2 year old has been eating Chefables for about half a year. We only have it on Tuesdays and Thursdays to lighten the workload of preparing lunch every day.
The food is good. I know because I sometimes eat it when my son doesn’t like it. I love him, but he’s a picky eater so the days where he doesn’t eat can be frustrating.
The main tray is healthy and a side dish of fruit is always included. It’s good because, again, I eat the fruit cup every Tuesday and Thursday (day care is right downstairs from my office).
For no additional charge, I now choose which chefable meal he wants. Hopefully that will allow us to keep using the service.

This has been a great service. Our picky 2 year old gets exposure to a variety of different foods, a hot meal, fresh fruit and veggies, and it saves me a ton of time worrying about and preparing lunches every day. We tried some of their dishes, and the veggies and fruit are especially yummy. The staff also work with families, and are responsive to feedback.
Our daycare will save leftovers, which we will bring home for him to snack on until dinner is ready. Thank you chefables for helping us start good eating habits with our son.

The guy that runs the business is very nice.
Thinking your kid is going to get a fresh, hot, organic lunch at school is nice.
Finding out 2 months and $ 300 later that your kid has not been eating any of her food, that the portions are too small even for 2-​year olds, that the food is delivered too early, that the packaging makes the entire meal taste like cardboard, and that it’s not until you threaten to cancel that they offer you a «choice plan» — all of that sucks.