Home Chef Review (Updated for 2022)

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Home Chef is a meal delivery service that delivers to your door once per week. It's really a convenient way to make healthy, delicious meals at home without all the grocery shopping, meal prep, and spending time in the kitchen. Meals can be tailored to different dietary needs as well as allergies, making it a great option for everyone! As my first experience with this service, I'll share what I thought of my first delivery and how easy it was to use Home Chef.
Why Foodies should try Home Chef
It's ideal for busy people who want to eat healthily or those with dietary restrictions. And it's educational because you can be guided on how to cook each meal; receive recipes, advice, and tips from experts.
How Home Chef works
Home Chef will deliver your meals on the day that works best for you (each week). Each meal is all ingredients (including non-perishables) for three meals, so once it's delivered you only have to use the number of ingredients for each meal. A lot of the work is done for you, which means even people who do not like to cook can make these meals.
The box came with a recipe card (for each meal), recipes online, and an ingredient card for each menu item.
How much Home Chef costs
The subscription costs $60 per week + $9 shipping. It might be expensive for some, but it's more affordable than eating takeout every day at almost the same price. Home Chef offers a lot of meal variety, so you will never get tired of the foods.
Pros and cons about Home Chef
PROS: Convenient; all ingredients are delivered to your door. Savvy because you can learn how to cook new dishes that you may not have known how to make. Educational; receive recipes, advice, and tips from experts. Healthy; made with fresh ingredients that are locally sourced, natural, and minimally processed.
CONS: Pricey; a lot of people will not be able to afford this service.
Menu options
Home Chef's menus are divided into four categories (healthier options, vegan/vegetarian dishes, gluten-free dishes, and raw) so you don't have to order the same meals every week. For people who want full control over their diet at any given time, it might be too overwhelming to choose from ten different categories each week.
How to keep your meals fresh
Keep your meat/fish in a container in the fridge (refer to your recipe card). I kept each meal in its original bag and then placed it all in a bigger container with the ingredients that needed refrigerating.
Home Chef features
Hearty breakfasts
Mini pizzas
Pizzas
Pasta bowls
Soups, stews, and chilis
Sides and snack boxes
Bowls and salads
Meat/fish entrees (including seafood)
What I cooked and how it went
This is my first time using Home Chef and I decided to try three meals: creamy tomato soup, shrimp fideo, and lamb meatballs with cumin-yogurt sauce. I made the cumin yogurt sauce a week in advance to allow the flavors to blend.
Next, I made creamy tomato soup and the lamb meatballs. There is one mistake I made with the soup—I added all of the ingredients to the pot at once instead of adding it to only enough to cover the contents. The result was that I had soup with a lot of tomato skins and pieces of garlic. The lamb meatballs were only supposed to take five minutes on high, but it did not seem like they were done even then so I left it for another two hours. Overall it was a good experience with the meatballs.
Lastly was the shrimp fideo, which I made while my family was watching television. This meal was supposed to take about 30 minutes, but it took about an hour to make and I almost forgot that it needed to be cooked until it smelled really good. It turned out great!
Home Chef Customer Service
I had a few questions and issues with my first delivery, which I emailed them. Their response was prompt and helpful, which I really appreciated. They have a chatbox function which I found very helpful.
Home Chef's Packaging
The packaging was very innovative. It was a box with a clear cover on the top that you could take off if you wanted to peek at what you got for your meal. It also had a booklet with recipes and other information. The food bags were also in separate little plastic bags, so I loved how everything was beautifully packaged. But I especially liked the description of each food on the recipe card because it helped me decide which things to get in my box.
Will Home Chef help me lose weight?
The answer is yes! Home Chef will help you lose weight because the meals are portioned out for you. This means that you do not have to look at how much food is getting wasted because you could not eat it all. Aside from not wasting food, you will also be eating less calories by weighing and measuring your own portions instead of eyeballing it (which is a common thing that people do).
Flavor Factor
My verdict is a 5 out of 5 stars on flavor because some of the food was so delicious that I was sad it had to end. My favorite flavor was the lamb meatballs with cumin-yogurt sauce and the shrimp fideo.
Delivery
I had no problems with shipping because it was delivered on time. The company even called me to confirm my delivery address, which I thought was awesome because it showed that they actually cared about their customers. When the delivery arrives, it's in a simple brown box that is convenient for storing in your refrigerator until you are ready to cook. All of the meals come with easy-to-follow directions so cooking is a breeze. You can use the ingredients within two to three days, but if you can't use them all I recommend freezing them (it was easier than I thought).
Nutrition Profile
I got to try four out of the five meals, which were all healthy. There are many meal plans that accept customers who want to lose weight and are also diabetic-friendly. Foods were well balanced and low in fat and sugar.
Did I like Home Chef?
Yes, I did! It was easy, convenient, and fun to prepare these meals because most of them only took thirty minutes to make. There was only one meal that took a lot longer and it was still really delicious. Overall, Home Chef is a great service to try out because it is fresh, healthy, and a lot of other things. It's convenient to have these meals delivered to your door so you don't have to live on fast food or drive-thrus that only make you crave bad foods.

Richard is a Consumer Advocate and amateur chef who enjoys trying fun recipes and writing about them. His reviews are from an everyday perspective to help consumers make the best meal delivery choices.