Are you an aspiring Chef?
Or do you simply want to impress your family with ultra-delicious meals at home and improve your cooking skills? Either way, meal kit services are a great place to start! Meal delivery services have been around for a while and have helped many families decrease the stress of dinner time while still enjoying tasty home-cooked meals. A couple of big players in the meal kit delivery service universe are Green Chef and Blue Apron, which are both widely praised. Today, we’ll compare these two – Green Chef vs. Blue Apron – to see which ones provide the ultimate meal plans for chefs at all levels of expertise.
The main difference between Green Chef and Blue Apron lies in their company mission and goals. While both Green Chef and Blue Apron fall under the umbrella of meal kit services, Blue Apron aims to teach you different cooking techniques and how to make delicious meals at home. They are also focused on reducing food waste. On the other hand, Green Chef caters to those wanting quick and easy meals that taste delicious and are healthy. This is ideal for someone who doesn’t necessarily care about mastering the art of cooking and only has limited time.
Let’s dig deeper into their offerings…
How Do They Work? A Peek at Meal Kit Company Offerings
Both meal kit services – Green Chef and Blue Apron – offer premium meal options with high-quality ingredients. Here’s a rundown of their features.
Green Chef
Green Chef is a meal kit delivery service that sends you organic ingredients and nutritionist-approved recipes, allowing you to make delicious meals quickly at home. On average, meal kits from Green Chef take about 30 minutes to complete.
To get started with Green Chef, you need to create an account on their website. They’ll inquire about your dietary preferences, such as gluten-free or plant-based options, along with the number of servings and meals you need weekly. The cost of Green Chef will vary depending on the meals you choose and how many servings you want.
Here’s a table with all the plans that Green Chef offers:
| SERVINGS | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| MEALS PER WEEK (based on servings) | 3 or 4 | 2, 3 or 4 | 3 or 4 |
You can pick meals from Green Chef’s selection, which offers a combination of classic flavors and new taste adventures. Once you’ve decided on the number of meals and servings, simply pick a delivery date, and your Green Chef box will soon be coming. The deliveries arrive in a cold insulated box to keep all the food fresh.
You can easily skip weeks if needed, and cancellations can be made in your account. Also, Green Chef offers a free nutrition coaching session when you sign up. A professional will help you choose the meals that will help you meet your health needs/goals.
Green Chef also offers “premium meals” that you can choose to add to your meal plan. These meals cost extra, but you’ll get more protein and ingredients. They claim it’s worth it!
Blue Apron
Blue Apron is another meal kit delivery service that sends subscribers fresh ingredients and recipes to make excellent home-cooked meals. Blue Apron meals usually take around 25-35 minutes to make.
Getting started with a Blue Apron subscription is equally simple. Head to their website, choose how many servings you need per meal, the type of meals you’d like (family-friendly, wellness, fast & easy), and how many meals per week you need. The more servings and meals you get weekly, the lower your cost per serving.
Here’s a table with all the plans that Blue Apron offers:
| SERVINGS | 2 serv. | 4 serv. |
| MEALS PER WEEK (based on servings) | 2 days – 5 days | 2 days – 5 days |
| Estimated COST PER SERVING | $11.99- $9.49 | $9.49 – $7.99 |
The more servings and meals you get weekly, the less your price per serving will cost!
Once you pick the best plan for you, check it out. Then, select a couple of recipes and a delivery date, and yummy meals will come to you! Blue Apron does not have a minimum commitment, allowing you to easily cancel your subscription, skip weeks, or order extra boxes if need be. What’s really cool about Blue Apron is that they also offer “premium recipes” designed to help teach their subscribers more advanced culinary techniques.
So COOL!
Pros/Cons
Both of these meal kit subscriptions could be better for larger families.
Green Chef
The biggest PRO for Green Chef is that they offer different dietary preferences such as vegan, plant-based, pescatarian, etc. Their biggest CON is that they don’t offer serving sizes larger than 6.
| PROS | CONS |
| Organic and sustainably sourced. | Not as many options on their menus as other meal subscription services do. |
| Meal kits are customizable. | Their max portion size is 6 servings which may not work depending on how large your family is. |
| They offer options for different dietary preferences (plant-based, meats, pescatarian, etc.) | |
| There’s no minimum sign up duration for this subscription. | |
| Insulated packaging to keep your food fresh during delivery. |
Blue Apron
One of the biggest cons for Blue Apron in my book is that they only have a few serving-size options available. They only have 2 and 4-serving plans. And the 2-serving plan is significantly more expensive than the 4-serving plan. Not great for individuals or larger families. A PRO aims to teach you how to cook and decrease food waste.
| PROS | CONS |
| 80% of ingredients come directly from producers. | Not very customizable. |
| Flexible subscription (cancellations, skips, etc.) | Not great for small orders. They’re more expensive than larger orders. |
| Carbon neutral company. | Some meals take a while to make. |
| Their goal is to teach you how to improve your cooking techniques. | |
| Reducing food waste. | |
| Different options based on dietary preferences. | |
| No minimum sign up duration for the subscription. | |
| Good packaging to keep your food fresh until you can bring it in the house.. |
How Much Do They Cost?
Let’s see which subscription is a better price…
Green Chef
There is no set cost for a Green Chef subscription. Instead, what you pay each week depends on what meals you choose, how many servings you want, and how many meals per week you need. The range per serving is $11.99 to $13.29 per serving. The more meals you order in a week, the lower the cost of each meal.
There is a shipping fee of $9.99 per box. If you add a premium meal to your week, the cost will increase from $6.99 to $9.99 per serving.
Blue Apron
Like Green Chef, Blue Apron doesn’t have a set cost for each plan. What you pay depends on your order, but their meals start at $7.99 per serving. Like I said earlier, the more you order, the less expensive it is. And if you add a premium meal, you’re paying an estimated $13.99+, depending on the recipe.
Blue Apron does have a shipping fee of $10.99 per box.
What do you get in the boxes?
Green Chef
Each week, you’ll receive a large, cold insulated box full of all the ingredients needed to make your meals. They also include easy-to-follow instructions to complete your 30-minute meal. Usually, the vegetables come pre-cut, and many of the seasonings and sauces are pre-measured so you can quickly assemble your meal.
Blue Apron
Your order from Blue Apron will include all the ingredients you need to make your meals for the week and the recipe cards for instructions. Everything will come in a cold insulated box, so you don’t need to worry about spoiling your ingredients. Blue Apron also pre-measures sauces and spices for you. The only ingredients you will need to supply yourself are salt, pepper, and olive oil.
Final Thoughts
Blue Apron is your box if you want to improve your cooking skills and learn more about different culinary techniques! We love how they want to teach the art of cooking but still offer quick, tasty, family-friendly meals. And you can continue to improve your skills by choosing recipes that are more difficult to make. Although Green Chef is an excellent service, it is more focused on providing quick and easy meals for you at home.
For these reasons, we would choose Blue Apron for chefs at all levels, while still acknowledging Green Chef as an excellent service for those with specific dietary needs, like gluten-free meal plans.
