Home Chef is a subscription meal delivery service that delivers you a weekly box of the pre-portioned ingredients you need to make two to six meals that feed two, four, or six people. Home Chef advertises easy recipes that can be made in about 30 minutes. They say their ingredients are fresh (though they don't provide a lot of information about their sourcing practices), and they offer vegetarian, gluten-free, and calorie/carb-conscious recipes.
This is a review of the plan I customized that includes a mix of beef, fish, poultry, and vegetarian options (starting at $9.95 per serving) for two people, two meals a week ($39.80) + $10 shipping ($49.80 total per week). Delivery is free for orders over $45. Shipping is $10 for orders less than $45.
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I think this is a new feature of the Home Chef packaging, and I love it. They give you simple instructions on how to properly dispose of the stuffing, right on the plastic.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Home Chef
The Cost: Meals start at $9.95 per serving, and delivery is free for orders over $40.
The Products: Fresh ingredients and chef-designed recipes— everything you need to make restaurant-quality meals at home.
Ships to: 90% of the U.S. (You can check to see if Home Chef delivers to your zip code here.)
Check out all of our Home Chef reviews and find other meal kit boxes in the Food Subscription Box Directory!
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When you first sign up for Home Chef, you take a short quiz about your meal preferences and dietary restrictions. I like that they ask what you like to eat, as well a what you like to avoid. Based on your answers, Home Chef will choose recipes for you to get each week. As is the case with most meal kit services, you can log in and hand-select the recipes you'd like to receive. Note though, that the more particular you are with your diet, the fewer options you'll have. I'm pretty open to most proteins, so I currently have 10 different options for next week. There are also some "Add On" items like fruit or smoothie picks that you can choose to include in your box.
As if Home Chef read my mind, they included an info card this month on what their packaging is made of and the best ways to recycle and dispose of each part. The ice packs always confuse me the most since each meal kit uses a slightly different one. I once tried to let the contents of one just dissolve in my sink and that DID NOT work. You have to cut these open and drain the gelly innards into your trash. Otherwise, these packs takeover all of my freezer real estate.
Each Home Chef meal comes in a plastic bag, except for the meat, and some ingredients that are too large (such as ears of corn).
The bags are labeled as well to cut down on any confusion when you have multiples in your fridge.
Chicken with Basil-Pecorino Cream Sauce and Roasted Red Potatoes and Red Peppers
Calories: 687
Time to Table, According to Home Chef: 40-50 minutes
Actual Time to Table: 45 minutes
Cook within: 5 days
Difficulty: Easy
Spice Level: Not Spicy
The front of the recipe card has nutrition, prep and cook time, spice level, difficulty level, and a unique stat: how many days you have to prepare this meal for optimum quality and freshness.
Looking over the recipe, this one looked pretty simple and it has very few ingredients which I especially love when I'm as busy as I have been.
The prep for the vegetables was easy- just cut the potatoes into wedges, peel and slice shallots, and chop red peppers into bite-sized pieces. They were then tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and put into the oven to roast for 18 minutes.
While the veggies roasted, I salt and peppered the chicken breasts and seared them in a pan for 3 minutes on each side.
When the potatoes n friends came out of the oven, the chicken breasts joined them on the baking sheet where I added the basil pesto sauce on top and they went straight back into the oven for 8 more minutes.
While they were all in the oven, I made the final part of the meal: the sauce. Using the pan I cooked the chicken in, I boiled the cream, then removed from heat. I then added the remaining pesto and the pecorino with some salt and pepper.
Everyone came back out of the oven and I set the chicken aside on a plate. Shhhh- they are RESTING.
After a quick cat-nap, the chicken was ready to be plated with the rest of the dinner!
The chicken breasts were uber-juicy and that cream sauce was TO DIE FOR. Roasted potatoes are one of my favorite sides and they were nicely browned with the red peppers and shallots. A+ meal!
Steak with Horseradish-Herb Cream and Potatoes Pressé
Calories: 654
Time to Table, According to Home Chef: 50-60 minutes
Actual Time to Table: 60 minutes
Cook within: 6 days
Difficulty: Intermediate
Spice Level: Not Spicy
As soon as I checked out the steps, a slight panic set in as I realized I may not have a muffin pan. I'm sure there was another way I could have done it, but I am VERY by the book when it comes to recipes and probably would have gone to buy one because I am so paranoid. Luckily, I had one that I forgot about. Phew!
Ok- soooooo the directions say to peel the potatoes, halve them lengthwise, and cut into very thin slices. First of all, it's hard for me to cut anything paper thin because of my stiletto nails, and it made me wish I had a mandoline hand slicer. I legit thought I'd cut a finger off. On top of that, the next directions were to "shingle potato slices flat at 90-degree angles, overlapping to make a circle until cups are halfway full." Uhhh what? I hadn't eaten lunch that day, so I was especially frazzled and hangry, and simply could not muster up the bother of trying to find a video online. I basically winged it, thinking it probably didn't REALLY matter since they were contained within these muffin pans. I just stacked the sliced potatoes about halfway up, and then tossed cheese on top.
I then topped the cheese with a few more slices of potato, as sort of directed.
The last part of this confusing journey was to divide up the butter to add on top of each potato cup. Off to the oven, they went for 20 minutes. Godspeed, potatoes pressé! I wish you the best!
While those were baking, I made the cream sauce. It was just one packet of sour cream, one (of two provided) packet of horseradish, and minced chives.
I then salted and peppered the steaks, and cooked them in a pan with olive oil for 5 minutes on each side.
By this time, the potatoes pressé came out and didn't look too terrible. I was pleased with the browning, even though once I popped them out and flipped them over, they were a bit too browned on the bottom. Still, they stayed together!
While the steaks were staying warm on a plate, I put sliced the garlic and put it in a pan with 1/4 cup of water until it came to a boil.
Then, I added the spinach to wilt and comingle with the garlic.
Boom! There you have it. I put the sauce on top of the steaks and garnished with remaining chives.
You can see how browned the bottom of the potatoes presseé are, but they were DARN GOOD. I feel like I overcooked the steak, but that is on me. Everything was still pretty tasty and I felt accomplished for making those potatoes come out edible.
Verdict: Home Chef served up a couple of classic flavors this week, but had me go a bit beyond my comfort level (which is good) in the prep department. I'm glad I didn't get any fish this week because I was super busy and it took me a while to get to these meals. They suggest using the chicken within five days, the beef within six, and I know from the past that fish should be used within three days. That's a good thing to keep in mind when you're choosing meals, just in case you get busy on some nights and might procrastinate making food at home.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Since Home Chef menus change weekly and you must choose them ahead of time, you won’t be able to order these dishes unless they are offered again in the future.
Coupon – Get $30 off your first box from Home Chef. No coupon required, just use this link.
Value Breakdown: At $49.80 ($9.95 per serving plus $10 shipping) for this box, you're actually paying $12.45 per serving.
Do you know how to make potatoes pressé? Has Home Chef ever threw you for a loop with their directions?
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