Home Chef meal kits along with other meal kit subscription boxes are on the rise in popularity as more people are looking for healthier options. The meal kits usually contain all the ingredients and instructions that are needed to cook a healthy meal at home. Meal kit companies have different approaches to cooking and ingredients, so their meal kit boxes will be slightly different depending on the brand.
The Home Chef meal kit is one of the very affordable options on the market with a price of $8.99 per serving depending on the current available menu and options. Home Chef is also very accessible with their kits being available in grocery stores such as Kroger, Fred Meyers, Harris Teeter, and many more. But what exactly comes in a box?
First of all, it is important to know how Home Chef works before we get to the box into your home. Provided you do not yet have an account with the meal kit company, you would first go on the Home Chef website or the mobile app. From there you would select your preferences by answering a few questions about your tastes, serving size and delivery preference. Home Chef needs that information to personalize your menu and then create your account.
Then, you would pick from a variety of new recipes each week. Home Chef has a too, the Customize It too, which you can use to upgrade, swap, or double up on your favorite protein.
Your meal kit will be boxed, and shipped to you, right at your door.
What’s In the Box?
As stated above, in the box comes the meal kits that you ordered, along with easy-to-follow recipe cards. You may also receive a large green envelop which contains more deals, as well as another smaller one which contains gifts for one or two friends. Now, these do not always come with each box, but sometimes they do, and if I had to guess, then I would say that it may depend on the time of the year. But I did receive two boxes from Home Chef and each one had the green envelop. The deals within the green envelop, depending on the time of the year and the partner companies of Home Chef running deals at that same time.
Everything inside the box is well insulated within the box as it is surrounded by a soft, recycled, compostable, biodegradable textile fibers blanket. Once you lift up the lid of this insulation cover, you will find ice packs, which help keep the food fresh during transit so it would arrive fresh. Then, you have the food. Each recipe is packaged separately with its own ingredients and well-portioned for each recipe. Also, meats and fish have their own individual packages so they would not leak to anything. They’re also air-tight sealed.
You can catch this Home Chef unboxing video if you’d like a visual of what I just described.
What I Liked
Variety. I have tried a few meals from Home Chef and not all. So, I cannot talk about all the meals that they offer. However, the variety is definitely there, and no meals seem to be repeated in the same year. You can also make selections between various diet preferences: low-calories, vegan, gluten-free, etc.
Simplicity. The meals that comes in the box are packaged separately and each dish with its own ingredients. The meals are simple, easy to follow from the provided recipe cards.
Convenience. Everything you need for each meal is provided in your meal kit box. Plus, Home Chef has an app available for iOS and Android devices, and you can navigate through it as easily as you would on their website.
Taste. The meals that you receive are delicious and satisfying. The recipes are from chefs who know their stuffs, and you can tell from the first bite.
Flexibility. You have the ability to customize your meals by swapping ingredients, including the proteins that you receive.
What I Did NOT Like
Portion sizes. This could be relative, but I found the portions too big. That could also be in the fact that the meals are made to accommodate relatively anyone. I would slightly divide the portions for myself.
Missing nutrition facts. Each meals comes with easy-to-follow recipe cards as mentioned already, and each meal has its own nutrition facts. They can also be fund on the website for each recipe. However, I did notice that some of them were missing, such as fibers, saturated fats, etc.
High calories, high fats. As mentioned previously, the portions are somewhat big, which would affect the calorie and nutritional values. But what I also noticed from the meals that I received, they were high in fat. This could be different based on the preferences selected such as vegan, or low-carb, etc. The good news is that each meal can also be edited provided you have the knowledge to do it in a way that they remain tasty. The Home Chef meals are healthy, but they can be healthier.
Premium pricing. Though I did not make any payments for my trials, I still find the premium price to be high. Usually, the prices vary with market costs, but you can expect a 20 USD per serving with premium pricing. Yikes.
How Much Is Home Chef?
Prices vary according to the current market costs as the current available menu. But unless otherwise noted, all dinners are priced at $9.95 per serving while lunches cost 7.99 USD per serving. Free shipping for orders 45 USD and more and 9.99 USD for any others less than that. So, an order for 3 meals per week for 2 people could cost you around 55 USD each week.
My Thoughts
Overall, the experience with Home Chef was very positive and pleasant. I enjoy cooking. So, putting the ingredients together was a thrill. As a personal trainer and nutrition coach, I am divided on whether I would recommend Home Chef to my clients. Hear me out, or read me out, should I say. I would definitely present them with the option between Home Chef – for the United State residents – and Evolution Nutrition, which is included in my services. They would decide whether they’d want to spend more with a meal kit. In short, Evolution Nutrition is a meal planning software – available on web browsers and iOS and Android devices – that provides you with a meal database flexible enough to let you select meals based on your goals and diet preferences, just like Home Chef. Unlike Home Chef and meal kits in general, you do not get ingredients delivered to your door. However, you do have a shopping list for your weekly meals, as well as recipes for those weekly meals.
Meal kits in general can also be more expensive as you are mainly paying for convenience. Again, your groceries and ingredients delivered to your door. Another minus point that gives meal kits in general and not just Home Chef is that there is less control over the macros and calories. And again, this is my take as a nutrition coach who uses Evolution Nutrition. This software populates meals based on the client’s diet preferences and their calories and macros – calculated by me for their goals. This approach would give them a higher rate of staying within their daily nutritional values. They could do so with meal kits as well but would have to make more work through adjustments for instance.
Outside of my services, of course, I would recommend Home Chef with no hesitation. The service is running deals a lot of the time and you could try them through those deals and make up your own mind. As a member, you can skip deliveries without any penalties as long as you pause them at least 5 days before delivery. This is definitely another plus, especially for those who travel a lot or find themselves in the middle of moving. You can see me unbox the latest kit here.
Meal kits are a great way to get in touch with cooking and lose weight. They contain everything you need, so even if you are not an experienced cook, you can still make a delicious meal at home. They can be a time saver if you don’t have much time to go grocery shopping yourself. But if you are serious about your health and losing weight, you will find the time for your meals. Have you tried a meal kit before? have you tried Home Chef? If so, what is your experience with the service? Let me know in the comments.
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