Green Chef Meal Delivery Review - Healthy, Hearty and Earth-Friendly

Overall Ranking

4/5

Overview

Cost

3/5

Ease of Use

4.5/5

Recipe Variety

4/5

Specialized Options

4.5/5

Spice up your life with a little variety. Green Chef turns up the heat in meal delivery service by catering to your specific health needs. Keto, paleo, gluten-free, plant-based, pescatarian, lean and clean… whatever your taste, this service is sure to deliver. Read on to find out if this is the right one for you.

Sarah Pritzker

Editor's Note

You can trust the integrity of our balanced, independent financial advice. We may, however, receive compensation from the issuers of some products mentioned in this article. Opinions are the author's alone. This content has not been provided by, reviewed, approved or endorsed by any advertiser, unless otherwise noted below.

Tired of spending money on eating out but too busy to shop, prep, and cook? Green Chef has the solution. It’s a meal kit delivery that hands you everything you need for delicious, fast, and easy-to-make meals that will keep you and your family eating well and happy.

How Green Chef Works

Green Chef is an economically-friendly alternative to dining out all the time, even if you’re on a tight schedule. Most people don’t have time to shop for and cook extravagant meals for themselves or their families. But those same people will probably be able to find 30 minutes to throw together a good meal if it’s as easy as that.

Green Chef provides you with all the ingredients you need, the recipes and instructions spelled out clearly, and even prepped sauces, vegetables, sides, and mains. All you have to do is assemble according to the instructions, and you’ll have a hearty meal in no time.

Here’s how it works:

Sign up for an account with Green Chef
Pick how many people you are cooking for: 1, 2, 3, or 4
Choose a plan based on your dietary needs, tastes, or budget
Enter delivery and payment information
Choose the meals from your plans selection
Choose a delivery date, and wait for your food to arrive

Green Chef requires no monthly subscription and no commitment. This is nice as it means you can try out the service once, and if you don’t like it, you aren’t stuck with it. Plus, it allows you to keep your menu options fresh, ordering from Green Chef one month, and trying out another service another month. You can even cancel orders anytime within the seven days before your delivery date.

Green Chef earns points for its packaging as well–made from recycled materials you can either reuse, recycle, or compost. Another plus, the meal kits come with color-coded ingredient packets with recipe cards to teach you how to make each meal.

Related: Best Grocery Delivery Services

Green Chef Options

The Green Chef menus have an excellent selection of meal plans catering to just about every type of dietary need or unique foodie penchant. Here are some of the plans available from this meal kit delivery service:

Keto
Paleo
Omnivore
Plant-powered
Gluten-free
Pescatarian
Heart Smart
Mediterranean
Lean & Clean
Family Plan

What’s more, Green Chef menus change every week with five or six new recipes to choose from. It may not sound like a lot (and it isn’t really), but since you are only planning a menu for a single week, you really don’t need much more of a selection. And since the menus change every week, five per week is sufficient for most people. Plus, if you want more variety, you can always switch to a different plan (i.e., check out what’s cooking on the Keto plan and scout out the Paleo plan).

All of the Green Chef dishes look delicious and taste as good as they look. Some of the dishes you can choose include Cuban steaks with mojo sauce, creamy pesto pasta with sausage, orzo pasta with basil miso sauce, and roasted parmesan Dijon salmon.

Related: Best Meal Planning Service

Green Chef Prices

Green Chef prices varies depending on which plan and how often you want to order. For example, the plant-powered plan runs you $11.99 per meal/serving or $78.93 per box. But if you order more boxes per week, that price goes down to $9.99 per meal or $66.93 per box. Meanwhile, other plans, like the Lean & Clean plan will cost $12.99 per meal and $84.93 per box.

Honestly, Green Chef’s pricing structure is somewhat confusing. For example, the initial advertising leads you to believe that meals start at $9.99. But when you go to pay, you’ll see that you are actually paying between $7.82 and $8.82 per serving for a two-person meal plan. That’s nice because it means Green Chef is offering a discount for first-time members. What’s not clear is what happens if you add people to your plan. The price goes up to $7.91-$10.91 per serving if you order for four people. That seems counter-intuitive to me.

Another great thing about Green Chef’s plan structure is that it offers a Family Plan. One of the biggest niches meal kit delivery services cater to is families who don’t have time to cook but care about nutrition. So, it’s surprising to find that not a lot of them offer discounted family plans, and it’s nice to see that Green Chef does. You can get a Family Plan subscription for $10.99 per meal or $94.91 per box. Just keep in mind that you can only order Omnivore or Carnivore plans with the Family Size.

Related: Meal Delivery Comparison

All plans come with a $6-$9 shipping charge depending on your area. Green Chef ships everywhere except Alaska, Hawaii, and some parts of Louisiana.

Green Chef Pros & Cons

Green Chef does a lot of things right, but it’s not flawless. Here are a few areas where this meal kit delivery service shines and where it could use improvement.

Color-coded and easy to follow recipe cards: This is important because it means even people who aren't world-class chefs can still create delicious meals for themselves and their families.
Pre-measured ingredients prepared for cooking: Definitely one of the biggest selling points for Green Chef, you’ll hardly have to do anything with these meal kits. All the ingredients come already measured out, so you don’t have to start fiddling with a measuring cup or spoons.
Large variety of plans for dietary needs: This is also a big selling point. Green Chef caters to a huge audience by offering a wide range of menu plans that can fit just about every dietary or specialty need.
USDA and CCOF-certified organic: All of Green Chef’s ingredients are organic, GMO-free, no pesticides, and free from petroleum-based synthetic fertilizers, irradiation, human sewage sludge, antibiotics, hormones, and other things that are terrible for your health.
Recycled, reusable, and/or compostable packing materials: Green Chef is more than just green cooking. It’s also about sustainability and keeping the world a cleaner, healthier place.

Pricing structure is confusing: You need to dig deep to really start understanding the pricing structure. Once you do, it becomes clearer, but you shouldn’t make your customers search for clarity in this area.
Shipping not included in price: When you’re paying for your meals already, you don’t want to start pulling out a calculator to figure out taxes or shipping or anything like that. Customers are paying a decent price; it would be nice to have the shipping already included.
Only full plans available: Many meal kit delivery services allow you to choose individual meals that you like to order. Green Chef doesn't make this offer. Instead, you have to order a plan that includes a certain number of meals (three recipes per week minimum). That's not as flexible as some of the competition.

Related: Best Food Delivery Apps

Who is Green Chef Best For?

Green Chef is an excellent option for a lot of busy people, but it won’t work for everyone. Here’s who will really appreciate this meal kit delivery service:

People who care a lot about the environment: If the environment matters to you (and it should!) then Green Chef is a good option for you. Kits come in cardboard (recyclable) boxes with climate insulation (recyclable, plant-based insulator) and ice packs (recycle, reuse, or donate to charity). Not only is all the packing material recycled and recyclable, but Green Chef is constantly looking for new ways to increase sustainability and eco-friendly practices.
Anyone who wants to eat healthier: As mentioned above, Green Chef is one of the highest quality meal kit delivery services out there. It uses only the best organic ingredients, has a personal relationship with local farmers, and opts for premium quality in all its sauces. The meals themselves are also healthier, promoting a healthy balance of the right amount of carbs, proteins, and fats for your specified diet.
You, if you just don’t have time to cook: With all the ingredients included, the recipe chosen and explained, and the food items prepped and ready to go, Green Chef makes sure that just about anyone can find the time to toss together these meals.
People who have specific dietary needs: Green Chef really covers the spectrum with its plans. No matter what the type of diet you are tied to, whether it's gluten-free, pescatarian, keto, paleo, or whatever, you'll be able to find the right diet plan to fit your needs.

Who It’s Not For

On the other hand, Green Chef isn’t for everyone. You won’t appreciate this meal kit delivery service if this is you:

Budget-conscious eaters: Green Chef is not cheap. You can do a quick price comparison to see that there are cheaper meal kit delivery options out there. It’s most likely because of the premium quality ingredients that Green Chef charges a little more than other services.
People who don’t care about food quality: If you’re really just in this for the fast and easy, then you should opt for one of the cheaper meal kit delivery services. Or better yet, just go with one of the ready-made meal delivery services. These meals come already cooked, and you just have to heat and eat.
Anyone who lives in Alaska and Hawaii: If you’re in one of these states, you’re out of luck. (Also, some outlying areas of Louisiana.)

Alternative: Home Chef Review

Green Chef Reviews Bottom Line

Green Chef definitely delivers on its promise of being a green, healthy, and easy alternative to eating out. The ingredients are all superior quality, something important to anyone who wants to eat better, and the chef-inspired recipes are delicious. The recipes are fairly easy to follow, and the fact that everything is portioned out for you already makes cooking a cinch, even for those of us who aren’t so handy around the kitchen. Pricing structure is a little confusing and meals are a bit on the high side, but if you’re willing to spend the money on it, Green Chef is definitely a great example of you get what you pay for.