Not a fan of cooking? What about meal planning and grocery shopping? Eating at home can take a lot of planning and prep, which not everyone has time or energy for! Whether that is the reason, or cooking just isn’t your thing, you probably have two options: eat out a lot, or begrudgingly cook meals at home. Or you could simplify it all, while still eating healthier meals at home, by trying out a meal kit subscription service! These companies have helped many people who don’t have the time or desire to plan, shop and cook their meals. We’ll be comparing Green Chef vs Home Chef today to see which meal subscription is better.
One of the main differences between Green Chef and Home Chef is that Green Chef is a USDA-certified Organic and Home Chef isn’t. That’s not to say that Home Chef doesn’t have good quality food, I’m sure they source their ingredients responsibly as well. Another difference between these two food subscription companies is the type of foods that they offer in their meal kits. Home Chef tends to be more classic in their dishes (steak and potatoes, burgers…) whereas Green Chef meals tend to be more unique and mostly plant based. Let’s compare them some more!
How Do They Work
To see which service is better, let’s compare how they work.
Green Chef
Green Chef is an Organic meal kit subscription. They send you a box of all the ingredients you need to make delicious meals, and pay special attention to making healthier foods available to their subscribers. These meals take on average about 30 minutes to make.
Getting started with Green Chef is easy! You create your account and answer some questions about your food preferences, portion sizes and how many meals you’d like to receive per week. What you choose will determine the price you pay per week for this subscription.
| SERVINGS | 2 | 4 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MEALS PER WEEK (based on servings) | 3 or 4 | 2, 3 or 4 | 3 or 4 |
Once you have decided on your subscription type, then you’ll pick a delivery date for your first box! It’ll come between 8 am to 8 pm, but you don’t have to be home for the delivery. They’ll just leave it on your porch in cold packaging so you can take it in when you’re ready. It’s that easy.
Green Chef makes it easy for you to customize your boxes, choose your meals from the weekly meal plan, and skip a box if you don’t need it that week. COOL TIP: they also offer a free nutrition coaching session if you’d like help in choosing the best meals to meet your health needs/goals.
Every week, Green Chef also offers a “premium meal” for you to choose to add to your meal plan. This is an extra cost, but you’ll get more quality protein/ingredients. They say it’s worth it!
Home Chef
Home Chef is a weekly meal kit subscription service that sends its subscribers meals and recipe cards each week for them to make easy and delicious home cooked meals. They also offer meal kits in Kroger owned stores, so if you’re wanting to try a kit out before you subscribe, you can do so! I’ve seen them at Whole Foods before.
To get started with a subscription, you’ll fill out a quick taste profile where you decide which types of meals you’d like to receive, how many servings, and how many meals per week you want. There are two types of plans to choose from: the STANDARD meal kit plan, and the FAMILY meal kit plan. Here’s a chart I pulled directly from Home Chef’s website…
| Family Plan | Standard Plan |
|---|---|
| Family friendly menu | Home Chef menu |
| Sold in 4-serving increments | Sold in 2-serving increments |
| All family-style meals each week | 1-3 family-style meals each week |
| Proteins not customizable | Ability to customize proteins on a meal |
Once you’ve chosen your meals, and the delivery date, all you have to do is sit back and wait for your groceries to come TO you. When it comes, you’ll put your ingredients in the fridge, and use the recipe cards to make the meals when you’re ready!
Pros/Cons
No subscription box is without pros or cons…
Green Chef
| 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, fish etc.) | |
| There’s no minimum sign up duration for this subscription. | |
| Insulated packaging to keep your food fresh during delivery. |
Green Chef has a lot going for it! It’s main con for me is the lack of options in serving sizes, especially for larger families.
Home Chef
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Offer Family Kits at a good price. | Not organic or transparent about sourcing. |
| Meal kits are customizable. | Higher shipping cost depending on the amount you get per week. |
| Easily skip a week or cancel your subscription. | |
| Mix of difficulty levels in recipes. | |
| Insulated packaging to keep your food fresh during delivery. |
Home Chef is a great price for what you get, and we love that they have family sized options available!
How Much Do They Cost
Green Chef
The cost of your Green Chef subscription will depend on how many meals per week you’d like in your box, and how many servings of each meal. You can expect the meals to range from $11.99 to $13.29 per serving. The more meals per week you order, the lower the cost of each meal.
There is a flat rate shipping fee of $9.99 per box. You can also add-on a premium meal to your week with the cost increasing another $6.99 to $9.99 per serving.
Home Chef
Home Chef’s subscription cost also varies depending on the plan you choose, how many servings you’d like per meal, and how many meals you want per week. Standard meals are $9.99+ per serving, but depend on the size of your order. The larger it is, the smaller the cost per serving. Home Chef has a minimum order amount per week of $50.95 for the Standard Home Chef Plan, and $82.91 for the Family Plan.
Shipping depends on the size of your order, and how many boxes they send, but it starts at $10.
What do you get?
Are the ingredients washed? Cut? Pre-measured? We cover all of this in this section…
Green Chef
Each week you’ll get all the ingredients you need, and an easy-to-follow recipe card, to make your delicious 30 minute meals. Some of these meals will have pre-cut veggies, and pre-made sauces. It should all be very easy for you to follow the instructions, and throw the food together real quick. The meals will be color coded for ease. Green Chef sends you your meals in an insulated box to keep the ingredients fresh, and they use packaging that can be recycled or composted. Better for you, better for our planet too!
Home Chef
Your weekly meal kits will come in a freezer insulated box to keep your ingredients fresh. Each meal you choose will be separated by bags, and will include a step-by-step recipe card as well as pre-measured spices, sauces and other ingredients. They try to make it as simple as possible for you to quickly make a delicious meal at home!
Like I said before… If you’re wanting to see if a Home Chef subscription is a good fit for you, check out any Kroger owned store and grab a meal kit!
Final Thoughts
If you’re not a fan of cooking and all the prep/work that comes with it, give a meal kit subscription box a try! Or you could eat out all the time… We just compared two great meal kit subscription services: Green Chef vs Home Chef.
Between these two subscriptions, we like Green Chef more. Even though it is pricier per serving than Home Chef is, we feel like you’re getting better quality ingredients at a good price. We also like how it’s plant based, organic and sustainably sourced and packaged. It just overall seems like the better option for your body and for the earth.
