Meal Plan Delivery Review: Home Chef

Our Summary

When it comes to meal delivery, Home Chef is a modern household name. This meal kit and food delivery company, based in Chicago, Illinois, was founded in 2013 and acquired by Kroger in 2018. Home Chef has distribution centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Georgia for convenient delivery to all of the lower 48 states.

Each meal kit comes complete with recyclable packaging, pre-portioned ingredients, and easy-to-follow meal instructions. Home Chef's menu options rotate, including up to 15 weekly meal options for dinner, with the ability to add breakfast, lunch, smoothies, and fruit baskets to subscriptions.

Today, Home Chef is consistently ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among leading meal kit companies. Customers love Home Chef because the subscription is incredibly flexible. In addition to the available base meal options, Home Chef subscribers can customize almost every aspect of their selection, from swapping proteins to avoiding a food allergen. Home Chef also offers convenience and simplicity when it comes to the ordering process. Subscribers can order online or through the mobile app, as well as buy Home Chef products in stores at Kroger.

These features have made Home Chef incredibly popular—last year, they delivered over 10 million meals!

Meal Plan Options

The extensive meal plan options are where Home Chef really shines. One of the most useful ways to customize a recipe is by substituting one protein for another, such as swapping ground turkey for ground beef in a meatball recipe. Customers can also double up on protein or upgrade to organic ingredients in a recipe by paying just a bit more per serving.

Don't have time to spend picking out a menu for the week? No worries! Simply select Staff Picks, which generates an editable menu based on your dietary restrictions and preferences. Don't have a lot of time to dedicate to cooking? No problem there, either. Home Chef has options such as 15-Minute Meal Kits and Oven-Ready recipes that make cooking at home faster and easier than you ever thought possible! Through the app and website, subscribers can use a variety of filters when exploring Home Chef's meal plan options, which include:

Vegetarian
Vegetarian favorites that may contain dairy or eggs. Currently, Home Chef does not have a vegan meal plan option.
Breakfast
The most important meal of the day is done right with your favorite breakfast classics, designed to fuel your busy morning.
Smoothies
Easy to prepare and ideal for a breakfast on-the-run, mid-day snack, or meal substitution.
Salads
Get your daily dose of greens with fresh, entree-sized salads.
Nut-free
Dedicated meal options for anyone with nut allergies.
Protein-specific recipes
Customers can select recipes with their favorite proteins, such as chicken, pork, salmon, shrimp, and more.
Forbidden ingredients
These filters make it easy for people to avoid specific ingredients or allergens such as nuts, wheat, soy, or milk.
Customer Favorites
Enjoy top-reviewed recipes from existing Home Chef customers. This is a reliable option if you're interested in mixing up your usual staples..
Calorie and Carb Conscious recipes
Low in calories and carb count, but full in flavor.
Culinary Collection
Enjoy high-end ingredients like lamb chops and filet mignon at a slightly higher price point than other meals.
15 Minute Meals
Pressed for time? Try these quick 15-minute meals that are still as tasty as ever.
Oven-Ready Meals
Like a TV dinner, but only fresh and delicious.

Cost of the Subscription

Meal prices will vary depending on the particular recipes chosen and any customizations added. Prices start as low as $6.99 per portion, and shipping costs vary by the order's size. Make sure to sign up using our link to take advantage of the most up-to-date offers and discounts!

How to Order

Like most home meal delivery subscriptions, signing up is simple and only takes a couple of minutes to complete. To get started, you'll want to go online to Home Chef's website. New customers will start by taking a short quiz that asks about dietary preferences, food allergies, and more. You'll then create an account with a username and password, select your first round of meals, and enter billing and shipping information.

Once you are a subscriber, you can select your weekly meals online, through the app, or by reaching out to customer service via telephone. If you decide to sign up and give Home Chef a try, do so using our link! This allows you to take advantage of the most up-to-date offers and discounts.

We get it... with a busy schedule, it can be hard to dedicate time and energy to meal planning or prepping. Luckily, the most work you’ll do when signing up with Home Chef is deciding which recipes you want to make that week!. Home Chef's comprehensive filtering system makes it simple for customers to quickly identify which recipes meet their dietary needs or preferences.

New subscribers start by choosing how many meals they want per week, along with the number of servings they'd like for each meal. Currently, Home Chef subscribers can choose between two and six meals per week, with options for two, four, six, or eight servings per meal. Home Chef never locks subscribers into a specific meal plan—you can adjust your meal preferences from week to week, or even skip a weekly delivery if necessary.

After the first order, all customers must submit their order by the cut-off time on Friday, a week before delivery. This can be done online or over the telephone with a customer service representative. Home Chef delivers from Monday to Friday, and subscribers can choose the day of the week that is most convenient for them.

Unpacking the Box

A great bonus feature of Home Chef is that all the meals come in recyclable or biodegradable packaging. This makes it an ideal meal plan option for eco-conscious consumers! The ingredients for each meal come in separate bags marked with clear labels, making it easy to open the fridge, grab a bag, and get cooking!

In addition to the individually packaged ingredients, subscribers get full-color recipe cards that simplify each step of the cooking process. Recipes are easy enough for those without too much cooking experience and can be saved to replicate later! All Home Chef boxes include ample ice packs—the food should remain ice-cold even after sitting on the front porch for a few hours.

When it comes to customization and control, it's hard to beat Home Chef's meal delivery options. If you'd like to give it a try, sign up using our link to take advantage of the latest deals and offerings.