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. Everything looked good and was cold!
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).
The raw meat 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.
DEAL: Get $30 of free food when you sign up – just use this link to get the deal!
Each recipe came on a card with detailed instructions and calorie counts, prep level and cook time, etc.
Barbacoa Steak Tacos with Queso Fresco and Pickled Vegetables ($9.95 per serving, Intermediate, 679 calories per serving) I really enjoyed the steak quesadillas I tried in a previous shipment and was hoping this would be similar.
Here’s everything that came with the kit, plus there were steak strips in another bag.
I started by prepping the vegetables, and everything looked good, with the exception of a mushy jalapeno, but I used another one I had on hand.
I marinated the jalapeno and some of the shallots in the lime juice.
I mixed cilantro into the sour cream for a topping.
Drying the meat with paper towels helps it brown better.
After browning, I added the rest of the shallot and cooked for a couple of minutes before adding the chopped tomato, water, and seasoning mix.
It cooked down and left behind a coating of sauce and lots of flavors.
I only ate 1/3 of the recipe (2 tacos instead of three) so this was enough for three people or for leftovers the next day. The flavor was really good, sweet and smokey, and my only complaint is that the steak had tendon or something that was unchewable but the rest of it was ok. I don’t remember the quesadillas being that gristly. The cotija cheese was salty and kind of reminded me of feta.
Wood-Fired BBQ Chicken Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Ranch Drizzle ($9.95 per serving, Easy, 945 calories per serving) I liked the sound of this pizza, which reminded me of one I tried at a stately pizza kitchen restaurant.
All of the items for this meal! As I was reading through the recipe I realized that I was missing two items – shredded cheddar cheese, and ranch dressing. Luckily I have those items year round but I did contact Home Chef and they promptly issued a credit.
I started by drying off the meat and then placing it in the oven to bake.
In the meantime, I started caramelizing the red onions in some olive oil.
Don’t they look yummy?!?
I sliced the chicken when it was finished, and then started to assemble the pizzas. I cut one of the flatbreads in half for my daughter since she doesn’t like onions, and then spread BBQ sauce over them all. I topped them with chicken, onions, and cheese and then baked as directed.
When they came out of the oven I tossed the arugula on top and drizzled with ranch dressing to serve. They were absolutely delicious and my husband loved them. I can’t believe he didn’t even complain about the arugula!
Strawberry Malt Smoothie with Greek Yogurt ($4.95 per serving, Easy, 227 calories per serving) A few months ago I tried a smoothie and wasn’t impressed, so I waited a while and tried again. Boy, am I glad I tried this one, it was awesome!
Everything was in the bag.
I have been wanting to try almond milk and I am going to start buying it for all of my smoothies from now on! Also, I need to buy some of that malted milk powder, it tastes like the inside of a Malted Milk Ball!
Just dump everything into the blender, blend, and then add ice and blend some more.
This had a classic strawberry milkshake flavor and was sweet and creamy and icy and just delicious. I can’t wait to get it again!
I have really enjoyed moving out of my comfort zone with meals from Home Chef! Sometimes it pairs something classic (chicken pizza) with something new (arugula and ranch). I love that I get to choose from several different entrees and when I had a complaint they quickly responded to make it right. The portions are generous and I either split the meals between 3 people or someone gets a bonus lunch the next day. This month’s shipment was $49.70. Now that the weather is cooling off I am looking forward to choosing more meals that require time in the oven!
Have you tried Home Chef? What did you think of your meals?
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