Home Chef is a meal in a box subscription – every week, you choose from a variety of recipes and have all the ingredients and preparation instructions delivered to your door. The basic concept is the same as other weekly meal delivery services, but it has its own unique features and recipes. Their meal options include many great Asian, Indian, African, and South American inspired dishes, along with more traditional American home-style and steakhouse fare.
When you open your box it has the recipe cards on top and special packing to keep it insulated. This is more environmentally friendly than styrofoam and is just shredded cotton clothing wrapped in plastic. You can slit the plastic and throw the contents in the trash or compost and then recycle the plastic. One (or more) of the many ice packs burst so there was some gel on the paperwork but other than that everything looked good and was cold!
There was a little booklet and coupon code for children’s clothing line Hanna Anderson.
Home Chef offers an incredible 10 selections available for 2, 4, or 6 people, a breakfast choice, a smoothie choice, and a fruit basket selection. Meals for your box are suggested based on your preferences, but you can change the selections any time. The portions are large, and this is currently the least expensive and has the most choice out of any similar major subscriptions (for 2 people) – $9.95 per person per selection (they typically have one meal option a week that’s a premium meal and costs a little more, though).
I picked an extra and decided to go with the seasonal fruit.
DEAL: Get $30 of free food when you sign up – just use this link to get the deal!
The chicken was wrapped separately and placed in its own zipper bag to avoid cross contamination.
The rest of the items were packed together depending on which recipe they belong to.
Each recipe came on a card with detailed instructions and calorie counts, prep level and cook time, etc.
My Seasonal Fruit Basket came with two red pears, two Fuji apples, and one navel orange.
Sweet Chili Lime Chicken (25 – 35 minutes, easy, 722 calories per serving) I grabbed the bag that had all of the ingredients for my dinner and laid it out on the counter and started prep work.
I placed the jasmine rice in a pot along with water and brought it to a boil before covering and letting it simmer until finished.
I rinsed the produce and got to chopping as directed, including setting some items to the side for the plating later.
I mixed the ingredients for the cooking sauce.
Checked on the rice.
I cubed the chicken, coated it with cornstarch and pepper, and sauteed until cooked through. Any time it said to add salt I ignored it since soy sauce is salty all on its own.
I placed the chicken in a bowl and then sauteed the veggies. I didn’t think the broccoli was cooked enough so I added a couple tablespoons of water and placed a lid over it to let it steam.
I added the chicken and the sauce and cooked it until it was heated through and the chicken was lightly glazed.
I placed it over the rice and topped with the reserved green onions and a lime quarter. This is 1/3rd of the recipe, I managed to feed three people with this meal! My husband loved it, my daughter didn’t care for it, and I liked it but thought it could do with more sauce.
Avocado Detox Farro Bowl with Cucumber and Miso-Ginger Vinaigrette (20-30 minutes, easy, 598 calories per serving) I picked a meat-free entree for lunch that sounded delicious and because I have never tried farro before and wanted to see what it was like.
I placed the farro and some water on to cook, covering it when it came to a boil and then letting it simmer. It doesn’t turn all the way soft like rice, it’s supposed to be kind of chewy.
I prepped the veggies, setting aside those green onion tops for later.
My arugula looked bad. I’m not very familiar with this green but I don’t think it’s supposed to look like this! I found a few leaves that looked ok and picked out the mushy ones.
I received an avocado dicer in another subscription box and it fit this ginormous avocado perfectly!
I tossed the veggies together in a bowl.
I drained the farro. I gave it a rinse to cool it off a bit but it didn’t call for this step.
I mixed up the ingredients for the miso-ginger vinaigrette. It was at this point that I realized that the ginger wasn’t in the box – they didn’t send it! Luckily I had a fresh knob of ginger on hand for a recipe I’m making later this week so I grated it into the bowl. I didn’t add any salt since miso is pretty salty and I figured I could always add it later if needed (it wasn’t needed).
I whisked it all up.
I placed the farro on a plate, spooned the veggies on top, and then drizzled with the dressing. The farro was pretty hearty and chewy, the rest of the veggies (other than the arugula) were fresh and tasty, and the dressing was very good. I couldn’t eat the whole dish, it was very filling.
Overall, I have enjoyed my shipments from Home Chef! There is usually some kind of damage to a vegetable each time, but this is the first time I’ve had a missing ingredient. The meals are very tasty and the prep is easy. The items have always arrived chilled with ice packs still frozen. I specifically went with recipes that didn’t call for using an oven since it’s very hot where I live and I appreciate that there are stove-top recipes. The serving sizes are always more than what I can eat, I can usually get 3 servings out of a recipe meant for two people. Leftovers make a nice lunch the next day! My box as shown cost $49.70, and delivery via FedEx was free.
Have you tried Home Chef? What did you think of your meals?
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