Mr. Meal Delivery Grade:

Table of Contents:

1. About Home Chef
2. Dietary Options
3. How it Works
4. A Sneak Peek at Home Chef’s Meals
5. Delivery Details
6. Home Chef’s Pricing Options
7. Other Home Chef Reviews

1. About Home Chef 

Started in 2013 by Pat Vihtelic, Home Chef has become one of the most well-known meal kit delivery services in the nation. In 2017 alone, Home Chef delivered over 10 million meals across 97% of the United States! That’s a mighty good sign for busy couples or families who don’t have time to go grocery shopping regularly.

If you visit their website, you’ll notice that Home Chef main selling point behind their service is that home-cooked meals don’t have to be a hassle. Their simple recipes mean that families can get a delicious home-cooked meal on the dining room table in 30 minutes or less. Growing up in a family of seven, that it is an extremely rare feat!

Along with bringing couples and families together, Home Chef also boasts an environmentally friendly service. The contents of their deliveries are either recyclable or biodegradable – which is a feature that not all of its competitors can brag about.

2. Dietary Options

Home Chef caters to following dietary preferences:

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3. How It Works

Step #1. Sign Up

Sign Up URL: https://www.homechef.com/sign-up/welcome

Simply add input your email address

Step #2. Create your taste profile

This step is basically where you build your meal plan, and requires you to make several decisions:

• How many meals would you like to cook each week? Your minimum selection is two.
• How many people are you cooking for? Again, your minimum selection is two. 
• Which of the following do you prefer to eat? Your choices are between meat, fish, and vegetables. We’ve suggested to Home Chef that they tweak the wording of this question because it makes it seem like you can only choose one, yet you can actually select all three options.
• Do you have any dietary preferences? (optional) Your options here are low-calorie and low carb. But if you ask me, that’s not really much of a selection. Where are my gluten-free peeps at?
• Would you like to avoid any of the following ingredients? (optional) Here, you can select: Pork, Red Meat, Soy, Milk, Nuts, Wheat, Mushrooms, and Shellfish. At first, I was pleasantly surprised as this was a great option for my wife who suffers from both nut and shellfish allergies. But once again, this question is misleading because if you read their FAQ you’ll discover….

“How Do You Handle Food That Contains Allergens (Like Nuts, Eggs, And Soy?)

All of our ingredients are produced in facilities that also process eggs, milk, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soy. All ingredients are individually packaged, but our facilities are not certified allergen-free. Additionally, because ingredients are packaged and shipped in the same shipping container, ingredients from one meal that contain allergens might come into contact with ingredients from another meal.”

It was disappointing to learn that although we could choose not to include nuts and shellfish in our meals, we weren’t guaranteed not to have the allergens in our meals.

Setting your taste profile is arguably the most important step in the process as it will determine your selection of assigned weekly meals at the end, so make sure you choose wisely. However, you are able to update your preferences at any time. 

Step #3. Shipping 

Enter the details of where you’d like to receive your weekly meals.

Step #4. Payment

Enter your payment details.

Step #5. Choose your meals for the week

Finally, here comes the fun part! Once you’ve gone through adding all of your preferences and personal information, you are prompted to select your meals for the week. Again, your choices will be based on the taste profile you created in Step 2.

You’ll be presented with 15 options that you can mix and match throughout the week. It can be difficult to choose because Home Chef does a great job of presenting them and they all look so tasty! Every Monday, you’ll receive an email with a new set of 15 recipes to choose from. Make sure you put your order in by 12pm (CST) on Fridays or Home Chef the week’s meals for you.

Step #6. Receive your weekly ingredients

After creating your account, you’ll begin receiving a box of your ingredients on the day of your choice (options are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday). Even if you’re not home at the time of delivery, your ingredients will remain cold (depending on the weather) for several hours since they Home Chef places several layers of ice packs in each box.

Step #7. Cook your meals!

When you open your box, you’ll notice that the ingredients are already pre-portioned and come with binder of nicely designed recipe instructions. The recipes are easy to follow and should not take you more than 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

As a whole, the process doesn’t get any simpler with any other meal kit delivery service. Check out some of Home Chef’s options below.

4. A Sneak Peek at Home Chef’s Meals

Full Home Chef Menu: https://www.homechef.com/our-menu

5. Delivery Details 

• Delivers to 97% of the U.S.
• Delivery is free if you spend more than $45/week
• Can choose to receive deliveries on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday
• Deliveries do not require a signature and will be left on your doorstep if you are not home
• Deliveries come in an insulated box containing:
  • recycled/biodegradable packaging
  • several ice packs to keep the ingredients fresh
  • easy-to-follow recipes

6. Home Chef Pricing

Home Chef meals plans are charged on a per serving basis and start at $7.99 per meal. While the pricing is uncomplicated, unlike other meal kit delivery services, there is not a discount for adding meals or people to your plan. This means that customers don’t get the savings they could by buying larger quantities at the grocery store.

7. Other Home Chef Reviews 

Take a look at other Home Chef Reviews around the web. 

From Twitter: 

I have been looking forward to this Chicken with Basil-Pecorino Cream Sauce since I put it on my list from @realhomechef. And? Well, it was delicious! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #yummy #dinner #homecooking pic.twitter.com/r6uIP5hPLJ

— Aran Seedle (@argentangel) June 15, 2018

Consumer Reviews:

Score: 2.5

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/food/home-chef.html