Facebook PixelGreen Chef Subscription Box Review + Coupon – May 2016 | MSA
My Subscription Addiction
My Subscription Addiction
Our reviewers research, test, and recommend the best subscriptions and products independently; click to learn more about our editorial guidelines. We may receive commissions on purchases made through links on our site.

Green Chef Subscription Box Review + Coupon – May 2016

Anna Rodriguez
ByAnna RodriguezJul 25, 2016 | 24 comments

green-chef-may

Green Chef
4.8 overall rating
5 Ratings | 2 Reviews

Green Chef is a weekly subscription service that provides all the fresh organic ingredients plus recipes to make three meals at home. Yes, you read that right! Everything is organic! I have been trying to clean up my family's nutrition really, really hard lately, so this was a perfect opportunity for us.

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

green-chef-may-inside

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

green-chef-may-inside-2

The Subscription Box: Green Chef

The Cost: Depends on which meal plan you choose as follows -
Vegetarian $10.49 per meal
Omnivore $11.99 per meal
Vegan $11.99 per meal
Carnivore $13.49 per meal
Gluten-free $13.49 per meal
Paleo $14.99 per meal
One box contains three meals for two people. You can choose 1, 2, or 3 boxes per week (for 2, 4, or 6 people).

COUPON: Get 4 meals free in your first order by using this link!

The Products: Recipes and ingredients to make three meals, and all ingredients are fresh, organic (certified by USDA and CCOF), with no GMO's and no artificial ingredients

Ships to: Everywhere in the continental US except some areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota, cost is $9 per box

Good to Know: If you are ingredient-conscious, you will be glad to know that all Green Chef's suppliers are located in the United States!

Check out the Meals Subscription Box Directory and make sure to add Green Chef to your subscription list or wishlist!

This is a review of the Vegetarian meal plan for four people. I received two boxes with all three meals for two people each. The packaging was very eco-friendly!

green-chef-may-buffalo-recipe

There was no extraneous literature provided in our boxes, just the recipes. Our first recipe was for Buffalo-Blue Sweet Potatoes. Notice the big "30" in the upper right-hand corner - this is an estimate of how long meal preparation will take.

green-chef-may-buffalo-recipe-2

On the reverse side of the recipe are the instructions. They are very clear and every step has a picture. That's so helpful!

green-chef-may-ingredients-1

green-chef-may-ingredients-2

These are all the ingredients that were supplied to make our Sweet Potatoes. This is a lot of food for four people! Notice the labels on the ingredients are the same color as the recipe. Yes, it's color coded! How handy is that?

green-chef-may-buffalo

This is my completed Buffalo-Blue Sweet Potato dish! It was very easy, and the 30 minute time approximation was right on. To prepare, I had to cut up sweet potatoes, toss them with olive oil and harissa spice blend, and roast them. Meanwhile I had to chop and toast the walnuts, and then dice the tomatoes. Then I sautéed the celery / red onion / garlic combo for a minute, then added the tomatoes plus the chile-spiced black beans and corn and cooked for a few more minutes. Separately, I tossed the baby spinach with some of the blue cheese dressing. When everything was done cooking, I plated by putting the salad on one side of the dish and the salsa on the other. I put the roasted sweet potatoes on top and then drizzled with blue cheese, honey Buffalo sauce, and a smattering of toasted walnuts.

This tasted so delicious! It was bursting with flavor, almost too much to comprehend. The Buffalo mixed with the southwestern flavors was pretty intense, but they brought out a flavor in the sweet potatoes that was actually exotic. I had no idea sweet potatoes could taste like that! This dish was a huge hit all the way around.

green-chef-may-insalata-recipe

Our next dish was Insalata Caprese.

green-chef-may-insalata-recipe-2

Here are the instructions. Again, they were very clear, well illustrated, and easy to follow.

green-chef-may-ingredients-3

green-chef-may-ingredients-4

These are all the ingredients that were supplied. Notice the red labels that match the color of the recipe. I love that!

green-chef-may-insalata

This is my completed Insalata Caprese! All three meals provided plenty of food for the four of us, and since the kids are not full-grown eaters yet (usually), we had enough leftovers for my husband to take to work the next day for lunch! This was very different from the standard Insalata Caprese, but still totally yummy.

To prepare, I made a gremolata out of lemon zest, tarragon, and garlic for the crostini. I sliced open the dinner rolls, spread the gremolata on, and baked for 4 minutes at 400 degrees. I cooked the lentils on the stove top as you would expect. I cut up the squash, tomatoes, and scallions, combined them in a bowl with the pepitas, added some olive oil, salt and pepper, and then roasted for about 12 minutes. Then I combined the cooked lentils and veggies and dressed with balsamic vinaigrette. To plate, I put a bed of mixed greens on each plate, then topped with the veggies and lentils mixture. I sprinkled the salad with mozzarella and served with the crostini and lemon wedges. Everything was completed and on the table in less than 35 minutes!

green-chef-may-tempeh-recipe

Our third and final dish for the week was Crispy Coconut Tempeh.

green-chef-may-tempeh-recipe-2

This was probably the easiest dish to prepare, but the directions were nonetheless equally as thorough as the previous ones.

green-chef-may-ingredients-5

All the ingredients for this dish fit into one picture, but there was still plenty of food!

green-chef-may-tempeh

This was my completed Crispy Coconut Tempeh! This was not only my favorite dish from this box, but is now, effective immediately, one of my favorite dishes ever. Y'all, this tasted seriously amazing! There was such a great mixture of sweet and salty flavors, but nothing was too overpowering. This dish was also deeply satisfying, and I don't say that often about vegan meals.

To prepare this dish, I cooked, for the first time ever, forbidden rice on the stove top. Why is it forbidden? Probably because it's so delicious. I lightly salted it, and it has a naturally husky texture and nutty flavor. While that was cooking, I coated the tempeh in coconut and roasted it in the oven. I cut up the kale, bell pepper, and snow peas and mixed them together with the pre-shredded carrots and red cabbage, then tossed it all with the green Thai ginger dressing. Halfway through roasting the tempeh, I added some chopped cashews to the pan to toast those. When everything was finished cooking, I plated by putting salad on one side and rice on the other, then topping with the tempeh and cashews. Outstanding! I could seriously eat this 2-3 times per week.

VerdictGreen Chef has completely blown me away. First of all, the quality of the ingredients is amazing, the sourcing is responsible, and everything arrived fresh, cool, and ready to go. I actually can't believe that they can provide this caliber of food for the same price as other subscriptions of this nature charge. And they don't skimp! There's plenty for everybody! Second, making the food is easy. Each meal took 30-35 minutes total to prepare, which means I can cook like this on a weeknight. That has huge value to me as a working mom! And finally, the meals taste incredible! What more could I possibly ask for? I don't even think I could make meals with this kind of nutritional value on my own for less, and it certainly would take me much longer than 30-35 minutes each meal. I highly recommend Green Chef to everyone who eats food.

Have you tried Green Chef? How was your experience?

Starting at $71.94
Active Deal
Free Salads for Two Months + 50% Off Your 1st Box
Subscribe Now

Green Chef is a weekly meal delivery service subscription that designs flavorful, healthy recipes that are built around fresh, sustainable, organic ingredients. Green Chef offers 3 different menus each week: Keto + Paleo, Plant-Powered, and Balanced Living. Each menu offers around 8 or 9 choices,... read more.

Anna Rodriguez
Anna Rodriguez
Anna has been a fan of subscription boxes since joining Birchbox in 2013, but didn't become a true addict until discovering subscriptions she could share with her children. Her favorites include Kiwi Crate and Fab Kids.

Join the Conversation

Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.

24 comments

Melissa

I really want to try Green Chef but were pretty picky so I don’t like how they choose the meals for you. I’ve tried both Plated and Sun Basket and those seem much easier to customize because I can pick exactly what I’m getting.

Reply ButtonReply

Sitchey

I wish they would allow that, but you can skip weeks, so I decided to give it a try! Our first order looks awesome, but the next week not so much, so I already skipped that week. At least you’re not stuck with food you don’t like!

So excited for our first order! We only paid for shipping. We are vegetarian, but the vegan menu looked so much tastier, so I signed up for that one! It looks pretty easy to change up if we decide to do vegetarian one week instead.

Reply ButtonReply

Brandy

I also got my first box free minus shipping because apparently Memphis is a popular area for them. How cool! Looks delicious and I can’t wait! Signed up because this review was just irresistible 🙂

Reply ButtonReply

Colleen

I just ordered based on this review. I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced Paleo/Whole30 option and this looks fantastic. I followed the link for the discount above, and once I entered my zip I got a screen popup saying that the service is very popular in my city (Woodinville, Wa), and therefore my first week (6 meals!!) is free. I only pay shipping. Whoop!! Looking forward to trying out the service.

Reply ButtonReply

Colleen

So – I received my first box last week and really enjoyed the food I received. One correction to my post above – I got 3 meals free, not 6 (I was counting Meals x Servings – since each meal serves 2). I’m continuing on with the Paleo delivery which is $14.99 per meal. I can stretch each meal to 3 servings instead of 2. I actually like that I have no choice in the food that comes. It encourages me to branch out and try new stuff. I have food coming this week and next from Green Chef, then I’m going to try Sunbasket for the following week.

Reply ButtonReply

Erica

My first Green Chef box will arrive next week and I’m really excited about it. I have the Omnivore plan as I’m a meat eater.

Reply ButtonReply

Jess

Looks great! One issue.. Its interesting to me that the price of a vegan meal is more expensive than vegetarian? Hmmmm

Reply ButtonReply

Randi

Vegan stuff can be more expensive than vegetarian quite often. There’s been many times I’ve found that soy, almond or cashew milk is more expensive than regular milk.

Reply ButtonReply

Nix

I thought the same! It makes no sense to me at all!!

Reply ButtonReply

Courtney

We’ve used this service twice and the recipes are super delicious however EACH TIME we’ve had issues with produce arriving in bad shape and items missing from our boxes!! Sad because I love the ease and convenience of this sub.

Reply ButtonReply

Sarah

We had the same problem. Both times one of the meats were not sealed correctly and leaked all over everything…

Reply ButtonReply

Connie

Thanks for a great review. I just signed up and am looking forward to my first box next week. The menu looks great with a lot of variety and the option to switch between plans is great.

Reply ButtonReply

Vanessa

I absolutely LOVE green chef! I was looking for a PALEO delivery and this popped up! I try to stretch out the calories a little more than they do and get even more meals. Love all the eco friendly packaging.

Reply ButtonReply

Melissa Barton

Unfortunately GreenChef doesn’t deliver to Key West, Fl yet. Everything from them looks really good. I have tried HelloFresh and found that I lost interest in what seem like long prep times for minor parts of the recipe.

Reply ButtonReply

Anna

Hi Melissa! First, I am jealous you live in Key West! Second, you might email them and let them know you’re interested. It’s definitely worth a shot! Have a great weekend!

Reply ButtonReply

Miccarty

Green Chef is actually my favorite of the meal subs we’ve tried. Generally everything is fresh and the recipes are easy to follow. We’ve tried the omnivore and veggie plans and both have been great, might switch it up to vegan to try too as they just started offering that!

Reply ButtonReply

Anna

I noticed! We might try it next time, too. Thanks Miccarty!

Reply ButtonReply

Jenn

I loved my first Green Chef box too, but their selection process was a bit weird for me. Yes, you give them your dietary preferences, and they show you what’s available on the menu that week but they choose the three meals for you. My problem was I may say I like fish, but I’m not a fan of tuna or anything close to being raw.

I contacted customer support, and they said to go back to my preferences for that week and deselect the fish preference so that they system will take it off your selection and sub it with something else. While that does work, to me it’s sort of a work-around… I’d rather just have them show me what they have for the week and let me pick.

I’m not vegetarian, but perhaps I’d like to do a meatless Monday and pick that option even tho I don’t want all vegetarian options, you know?

I will say their customer service is excellent, and everything was color coded, easy to follow, and the ingredients were really fresh and top-notch. Nothing went to waste as everything was pre-portioned and there was very little prep work on my end. I also like that you can actually view the actual recipe before you decide, so you can determine if its something you feel comfortable with making.

Reply ButtonReply

Hailey

Wow, I think you just turned me into a vegetarian!

Reply ButtonReply

Anna

LOL! Thanks Hailey! We’re flexitarian, but I try really hard to go meatless a few nights per week.

Reply ButtonReply

Ragan

I like that the meals actually take the amount of time to prepare that they say. We’ve tried Purple Carrot a few times and the meals can take more than an hour to prepare (despite what the recipe cards tell you). Also that there don’t appear to be any mushrooms in the vegetarian dishes. The calorie values are good too (though the tempeh is a bit high). Might have to check this one out.

Reply ButtonReply

Anna

You won’t regret it Ragan. The tempeh is high though! I didn’t notice, but obvs that’s probably why it was so good.

Reply ButtonReply

Ragan

I have been watching calories like a hawk this year. But, I can do 800+ calories on a weekend when I have more time to work out. Or give my husband more than one serving, while I take less than one serving. (He is as skinny as a toothpick…I am envious.)