How Are Green Chef Meals Packaged And Shipped
The Green Chef delivery box arrived on a Sunday afternoon and was left on my front porch for a no-contact delivery. It was medium in size and easy for me to carry into my house. The ingredients inside were neatly packaged in their own individual brown paper bags, encased in recyclable, leak-proof materials.
Each recipe bag was clearly labeled, with the recipe cards stacked on top. Each recipe card has a photo of the meal, ingredients, the recipe itself, and information regarding calories per serving and cook time. I arranged the four recipe bags in my refrigerator for the week and was able to easily dispose of the packing materials.
Although I ordered the option for 4 meals to feed 2 people each, I ended up with plenty of leftovers for the next day to feed myself and my children lunch.
Does Green Chef Taste Good
Yes! We tried the Balanced Living plan for this Green Chef review, under the 2-person, 3 meal plan. It was perfect for my husband and I for work-at-home lunches.
Id say Green Chef meals have a bit more of a health focus than the HelloFresh meals. However, I was pleasantly surprised that they did not sacrifice flavor for nutrition. We truly enjoyed every Green Chef meal that we made. Heres what we tried:
- Cajun Shrimp & Pickled Corn Relish with Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Collards
- Blackened Tilapia with Chipotle Aioli with Lime, Roasted Veggies & Pepitas, and Guacamole
- Chili & Ginger Pork Meatballs, Stir-Fried Broccoli, Cabbage, Bell Pepper & Shiitakes, Rice
Yum, am I right?!? I was really feeling the southeastern U.S.-inspired meal options from both menus. All these meals were in the 700-800 calorie range .
They all tasted as decadent as they sound and would definitely not be mistaken for diet food. I appreciated that Green Chef was generous with the cheese and butter in the cheddar mashed potatoes, for instance. Since youre cooking at home, you could choose to cut back, but they havent forced it on you.
All of that said, youre getting nourishing, meals with organic ingredients and a whole foods focus. The blackened tilapia was a Paleo meal, and the vegetarian meals also sounded lovely. Whether your preferred way of eating is low-carb, plant-based, or label-less, youll find wholesome meals with Green Chef.
How To Contact Green Chef Customer Service
There is a lot of information on the Help Center & FAQs page on the Green Chef website, regarding the company itself, recipes and ingredients, shipping and delivery, billing, and managing your subscription.
You can participate in an online chat with customer service on Monday through Sunday between 9 am and 7 pm EST.
You can also speak to someone on the phone on Monday through Friday between 6 am – 11 pm EST, or Saturday and Sunday between 7 am – 7 pm EST.
How to request a refund is not clearly detailed in the FAQs, however, it does seem like their customer care team is eager to assist with any concerns you may have regarding your delivery.
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High In Fat And Calories
Speaking of nutrition, this brings me to another drawback to Green Chef. But, to be fair, its true of every meal kit service Ive ever tried. They are all fairly high in calories. And they use a lot of oil.
As someone who is watching what she eats and, at this point, counting macros as well, the nutrition facts for our meals gave us pause. For example, the Sweet & Smoky Fried Cheese meal included more fat grams that I try to eat in an entire day, let along a single meal. It was 64 grams.
Green Chef Flavor And Quality
Overall, I thought Green Chef’s meals were flavorful and contained quality ingredients. As a light eater, I found the portion sizes to be perfect, but my husband could’ve eaten more. And a few of the spices and sauces were too strong for my taste.
Out of all the meals we cooked, my husband and I both liked the Greek Feta Burgers best. We received four servings so we had enough left to freeze for another meal. We also really enjoyed the Pork Chops With Truffle Sauce, although we only used a little of the truffle spice as recommended in the cooking instructions. My least favorite meal was the Tilapia With Mango Salsa. The cauliflower rice and green beans with toasted almonds that came with the dish were delicious, but the quality and texture of the fish were disappointing.
One of my favorite things about Green Chef is that it encouraged me to experiment with new spices, like jerk seasoning, and side dishes, like cauliflower rice. Many of the recipes required roasting vegetables on a lightly oiled, foil-lined baking sheet at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. I usually don’t cook at such high temperatures, but I’ll try this method again because the vegetables cooked quickly and had a nice flavor and texture. Another new technique I learned was to start by searing on a frying pan before transferring the pan over to the oven to finish cooking.
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Green Chef Dietary Options And Programs
The six dietary options offered by Green Chef include the following:
Keto + Paleo – This option includes recipes fit for individuals looking for carb-conscious, high-protein recipes that dont contain legumes, soy, grains, and gluten.
Vegetarian – This category of meatless recipes is made with a focus on predominantly plant-based ingredients, though may contain some dairy or egg products.
Mediterranean – This preference is full of recipes that highlight Mediterranean flavors, including healthy fats and plenty of vegetables.
Fast & Fit – This category is designed to provide convenient, calorie-conscious recipes using fresh ingredients emphasizing keto and veggie options that can be made in approximately 25 minutes.
Vegan – For those who want to take it one step further from a vegetarian diet, these recipes are fully vegan, using a wide range of plant-based proteins, grains, and vegetables, while free from animal-derived products.
Gluten-Free – This preference will deliver healthy, wholesome recipes that are flavorful and dont contain soy or gluten.
Can I Freeze My Green Chef Meals
You may be able to freeze certain Green Chef meals, but its not recommended until after youve cooked them. The fresh produce Green Chef sends for the recipes will not freeze well without being cooked first.
Soups, stews, curries, and meats generally freeze well, while dishes such as salads typically dont.
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I Ordered A Week Of Green Chef Mealsheres How It Went
When I went to order from Green Chef, I was pleasantly surprised to find that their menus had been broadened. While its still a bit confusing to choose between their many plans, there are about 10 meal options offered per week per menu, which is an improvement from the offerings when we first tested in 2018.
Because Im now cooking for five at dinner, I decided to order three two-person meals to have for weekday lunches with my partner. I selected Red-Miso Steak Stir-Fry, Chicken with Harissa Apricot Sauce, and Italian Breaded Pork Chops. Only after did I realize I forgot to choose any vegetarian or vegan meals. Sorry, vegetarians.
My box arrived on the scheduled Friday afternoon with each meals ingredients packed snuggly into their own labeled brown bags. I appreciated being able to toss the bags into the fridge without organizing individual ingredients. As always, the proteins were packed separately in the cardboard box, below the bags and next to the ice packs. I put the steak in my fridge to prepare on Monday, and froze the other meat for future cooking.
Green Chef Review 202: A Great Meal Kit To Get Out Of A Cooking Rut
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- Lack of variety for vegetarians
- Recipes rely heavily on rice
If you spend your days working a demanding full-time job and your evenings wrangling a feisty toddler in the midst of a Stop it! phase , while also trying to provide balanced, vegetarian meals for one food lover and two picky eaters that actually take 15 minutes to make: Hi, this vegetarian meal kit review is for you.
In terms of meal kit delivery services, I can only really compare this Green Chef experience to my years of ordering Blue Apron when I was a single, childless person living in my own apartment with all the time in the world to julienne a carrot just so. . So when I decided to take on Green Chef for a week, I was admittedly nervous about the amount of prep, cook time, and clean-up this would entail. Spoiler alert: It was more time-intensive than my regular throwing-things-in-a-pan cooking, and honestly, that was kinda nice. Lets jump into the specifics in this Green Chef review.
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Choosing Meals: Straightforward No Customization
Choosing Green Chef meals is very straightforward. Menu choices that show up as options for ordering will be limited to the plan that was selected upon signing up. There are nine to 12 choices per week the meals can be prepared as lunch or dinner, but this service is designed and marketed primarily for dinners. Customers are limited to choosing between three and four recipes per week, fewer than many other meal subscriptions services. The number of servings per meal can be adjusted and increased to six for larger families or those who want leftovers. Modifications can be easily made online, but they must be made prior to 11:59 p.m. ET at least seven days before your delivery date. Any change requests within that seven-day window must be discussed with customer service to see if alterations are possible.
The Spruce Eats / Eric Kleinberg
Is Green Chef Cost Effective
It may or may not be, depending on your circumstances. If youre spending a great deal on eating out or ordering in and you want to cook at home more, Green Chef may be worth it and may even offer a slight cost savings.
It may also be cost effective if youre already used to paying for higher priced organic ingredients.
However, if you dont exclusively eat organic food, you may find that Green Chef is not worth the cost.
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Is There A Green Chef App
Green Chef is an app that can replace the website if you prefer to use it on your phone. However, from reading the reviews on the Google Play store, it appears that many users feel like it could be made easier if you could use the app to pause or cancel a delivery. Some reviews also say that theres not as much information about the full menu, or available menu options, on the app as they have access to on the website.
How To Pick A Meal
You can make meal choices, schedule skipped deliveries, and manage your HelloFresh account online or with the HelloFresh app. To see the HelloFresh meals you can choose from over the next few weeks, .
To start ordering meals, sign up for the plan you want using my discount code. After you check out, you can start selecting recipes.
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Customer Support: Quick But Not Always Helpful
Green Chef offers its customers support through in-delivery recipe cards, a simple but functional app, and its website. While the fairly helpful FAQ page is available on both the app and the website, if you cant get what you need there you can always reach out to customer support.
Live chat is available on weekdays and weekends, as is phone support. We used the chat feature to try to get to the bottom of a few diet-related questions and while we got some answers, we werent able to get others. Overall, it was a positive experience, with friendly staff and a quick turnaround time of just a few minutes, even though we didnt get all our questions answered.
Nutrition: Limited Info On Diets
Green Chef offers six meal plans to choose from. The Keto+Paleo plan consists of meals that are free of gluten, grains, soy, and legumes. There is a Vegan and Vegetarian option, both filled with plant protein. The Mediterranean plan is filled with unique flavors and healthy fats. Fast & Fit offers calorie-conscious recipes with keto and veggie options. The Gluten Free option creates wholesome recipes free from gluten and soy.
As some of the diets offered are much more restrictive than others, we would liked to have seen a bit more information about whats behind them. If entire meal plans are structured around these diets, it would be helpful to include information on the website about threshold levels of relevant nutrients and approaches to handling sensitive ingredients.
We do appreciate that Green Chef stays away from diet culture-based language though, and even if you choose the more nutritionally restrictive options like keto and paleo, its nice to know that you can always order outside of that if needed.
One thing to note on allergen information is that while meals may be free of certain allergens, the facility they are produced in is not. While this is common, it is something to keep in mind for customers who are looking for allergen-free meals.
We think youll like Green Chef if you enjoy getting your hands dirty in the kitchen, but want the extra help of a premade sauce here and there.
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How To Get Started
To get started with Green Chef, hit the Sign Up button on the home page. Youll be directed to a page where youll choose your meal type from six options: Keto + Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Fast & Fit, and Mediterranean. This is also where youll select the box size.
Within each menu, certain options may be tagged with the various meal types to help you find meals that are the best fit for you. For example, meals on the Vegetarian menu may be tagged Gluten-Free.
You can choose the day of the week that is best for you to receive your shipments, and you will receive a weekly deadline based on that day. You must edit or skip your order by this deadline each week or Green Chef will select your meals for you.
You can change your preferred menu whenever youd like, but you cant mix and match meals from different menus in the same order.
Shipping is $9.99 per order.
Flavor Freshness And Quality: Superior Ingredient Sourcing
Green Chef prides itself on its sustainable sourcingall ingredients are certified organic unless indicated otherwise. Proteins are all sustainably sourced and of very high quality.
The recipes at Green Chef included a wide variety of flavors and styles, including some more modern composed meals along with more rustic comfort foods. It was also notable for its range of cuisines from Thai to Mexican to Jamaican to Mediterranean and many others from around the world.
The meals were all well seasoned since a lot of the recipes include flavorful spice blends, but none were overly salty. They truly tasted like restaurant-quality, chef-inspired meals with innovative, internationally-inspired flavor combinations. We found that even the pre-made sauces tasted very fresh, evidently made from scratch without excess additives or preservatives that are often found in other pre-made items. All of the meals we prepared and tasted were made with real whole foods that could be easily replicated again by purchasing the same ingredients in a local grocery storemaking this service great not only for its actual meal kits but also as a form of inspiration for future healthy meals.
The recipes at Green Chef included a wide variety of flavors and styles, including some more modern composed meals along with more rustic comfort foods.
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Camille Styles Editor In Chief
Meal name: Maple Cauliflower Power Bowls,as part of my Balanced Living meal plan
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ingredient rundown: rainbow quinoa, cauliflower, pecans, shallots, kale, dried cranberries, turmeric, maple syrup, nutritional yeast, green goddess dressing
How long did it really take? It actually only took me about 25 minutes from start to finish.
Was it simple to prepare? Super simple, though my one pro tip is that I minimized the number of pots and pans used by making the cauliflower and kale in the same sauté pan Always looking for places to streamline dish duty!
How did it taste?I loved the flavor combination of these ingredients. The golden turmeric sautéed cauliflower was insanely good on its own. I realized I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge, so I actually doubled up the cauliflower that I made and had leftovers to throw into my lunch salad the next day. The sautéed kale with cranberries and pecans tasted restaurant-worthy it was simple to make but had a really complex flavor that won over even my husband Adam, who is on the fence about kale.
Order And Delivery Process
Using the Green Chef website is easy and clear. Everything is laid out with images of the food, which you select and checkout. Once you confirm your order you can cancel, change, or swap out meals up to seven days before its scheduled to be delivered. My only issue was that I wasnt entirely sure that my meal kit was scheduled even after submitting the order, but an email confirmation was all I needed to sit back, relax, and wait for all my glorious produce to arrive.
Delivery was a breeze it was dropped on my doorstep on the appropriate day, and all the meals came in separate brown bags containing the necessary ingredients, as well as recipe cards with easy-to-understand instructions.
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