Green Chef vs. EveryPlate 2023: What Are the Differences?

Green Chef and EveryPlate are both part of the same umbrella brand – HelloFresh – so what exactly differentiates these two competitors? EveryPlate’s pricing is significantly lower than most other competitors – including Green Chef. In that case, what’s really going on, and what should you be aware of here?

My team and I have researched, analyzed, and carefully compared both options. Both Green Chef and EveryPlate offer meal kits across several cuisines – so choosing one over the other comes down to just a few key variables that I’ll explain in detail. “More affordable” doesn’t necessarily translate to “better”, and more expensive doesn’t necessarily, either.

Overall, I’ve found that Green Chef ultimately wins this battle because of its certified organic produce and eggs, gluten-free ingredients, special dietary accommodations, and a slightly larger menu. However, I still think EveryPlate is a fantastic option for a few reasons, as well. Read the full article to find out how they ultimately compare.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: Green Chef

Since Green Chef isn’t really geared toward those who are on a strict budget, it offers a few more weekly options than EveryPlate, though it’s pretty close overall. For example, you’ll get roughly 30 weekly menu options – and with EveryPlate, you’re looking at about 25 options per week.

Both services currently don’t offer prepared meals, but rather, meal kits only. Green Chef offers several cuisines for you to choose from including Middle Eastern, Latin American, Italian, Asian-influenced, and classic American. Some of the options are classic-American-inspired and kid-friendly, but most meals tend to be slightly fancier with more exotic ingredients.

If you’re looking for specific kid- and family-friendly meals, an example of one is the Black Bean and Cheese Burritos. It’s a super-fun and delicious 10-minute lunch (or dinner) for the whole family. If you want to make it even more kid-friendly, skip the chimichurri and Cholula sauce, and just use the sour cream. I haven’t met a single kid who doesn’t like sour cream.

At this time, it doesn’t appear as though Green Chef offers any sort of add-ons, sides, extra proteins, breakfasts, snacks, or desserts. If you want any of those things, check out EveryPlate instead.

In terms of cooking time, the meals can range anywhere from 10 to 45+ minutes. Most of Green Chef’s meals can be prepared in about 30 minutes, though. Most of the meals require a beginner-to-intermediate level of cooking ability – but don’t let that scare you. Every meal comes with detailed instructions that are very simple to follow.

If you’re curious to know how difficult a meal is, you can always check out the cooking instructions on the menu in the form of a .pdf document right on the website. That way, there won’t be any surprises when you finally receive your box.

In terms of EveryPlate, you get a fairly similar experience as Green Chef, but there certainly are some key differences. For one, EveryPlate is a far more family-friendly service not only because of its lower prices but because of the less “fancy” or exotic meals and ingredients. You’ll still get a good selection of international recipes to try like Italian, French, Latin American, Chinese, and Vietnamese, so you won’t get stuck with bland and boring meals.

One of my favorite family- and kid-friendly meals is the Dinner-Style Chicken and Gravy. It’s served up with delicious mashed potatoes as well which is a fairly palatable meal even for the pickiest of eaters. I’d say that about half of the meals are kid-friendly, and the other half less so (of course, depending on your children’s preferences).

Unlike Green Chef, EveryPlate offers a very good selection of extras and add-ons. You can grab things like grilled cheese sandwiches, clam chowder, spice bundles, chocolate lava cakes, linguine and sausage bundles, mac and cheese, a kale kit, brussels sprouts, extra chicken breasts, green beans, potatoes, broccoli, egg bites, garlic bread, just to name a few. There are plenty more, so make sure to check out the menu fully before placing an order.

In my experience, EveryPlate also provides meals that are slightly easier to prepare than Green Chef. There seem to be fewer steps for each meal (only six steps or fewer), and the instructions appear less complicated. Instructions are sent in your delivery box and are also available on the website. You can see how difficult each recipe is to prepare long before you even order.

Overall, though, both meal delivery services offer meals that are perfect for beginner-to-intermediate home cooks, so don’t be afraid to give either of these services a try if you’re new in the kitchen.

Meal Customization

Winner: Green Chef

In terms of customization options, this is where Green Chef truly shines – especially compared to EveryPlate. Since EveryPlate is a more budget-friendly service, you won’t find the same selection of specialized diets and ingredients.

For example, Green Chef specializes in specific dietary plans like Keto + Paleo, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Vegan, Mediterranean, and what it calls “Fast & Fit”. You’ll also get USDA-certified organic produce and eggs, and certified gluten-free ingredients.

EveryPlate does offer a few options, but none of the ingredients are certified organic or gluten-free. With EveryPlate, you can at least still get veggie, regular omnivore, and Family Friendly meal plans and options. You’ll find that these two aspects are what really differentiate these two companies. Overall, Green Chef offers more customization options and higher-quality ingredients.

Keep in mind that it’s also pretty easy to mix-and-match meals from different plans with both companies. With EveryPlate, you can get any combination of Meat, Meat & Veggie, Family Friendly, and Quick & Easy meals. Green Chef also lets you choose any combination of meals from any of its meal plans.

With Green Chef, you can order up to four meals per week for six people. It’s the exact same thing for EveryPlate as well.

Each competitor’s recipes are also tagged on the website for easy recognition. On Green Chef’s menu, there are tags for Keto, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Veggie, Vegan, Fast & Fit, snd Mediterranean. On EveryPlate’s menu, you’ll see tags for Veggie, 30 Min or Less, and Customer Fave.

Something I should also mention here is that you can also easily see what allergens each meal has. Both Green Chef and EveryPlate display each meal’s allergens (and ingredients) in the exact same way.

If you click on any meal from either of these competitors, you’ll be brought to the recipe card page. From there, check out the right-hand side of the screen to view nutritional data, or simply scroll down a little bit to see the ingredients and allergens.

Keep in mind that, with EveryPlate, there’s no specific way to exclude meals that contain ingredients you may be allergic to. However, at least in this way, you can avoid any dishes that contain ingredients you can’t eat by looking at the ingredients list. I recommend keeping a close eye on this if you’re severely allergic to anything.

With Green Chef, on the other hand, you can get certified gluten-free meals. These meals have been certified by the Gluten Intolerance Group’s Gluten-Free Food Service program – however, this only applies to its Keto + Paleo meal plan. If you’re looking for any other meal plan, there’s still a risk of cross-contamination.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: Tie

This category is a tie since the ordering, delivery, and unboxing experience is virtually identical with both services. Overall, you’d be pretty hard-pressed to notice any impactful differences. With Green Chef, ordering is as easy as heading to the Our Plans section at the top of the home page or viewing the Sign Up page on the top right. Both options bring you to the same area.

The minimum order for Green Chef is three meals per week for two people which equals six total servings. If you need to change your order after it’s been placed, you must do so seven days prior to your delivery by 11:59 pm EST.

You can change anything like the number of servings, your delivery day, address, email address, payment info, or password. Making any of these changes is as easy as downloading the app on your phone, or visiting your account dashboard on the desktop website.

Speaking of deliveries, at this time, Green Chef delivers to all states in the US except Alaska and Hawaii. Keep checking back frequently, though, as there’s a chance that this could change down the road.

Deliveries are available from Monday to Saturday with Green Chef, depending on your location. Some locations, like New York, only have delivery availability on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Let’s talk about what comes in your Green Chef box. Every box comes with detailed recipe cards with all the nutritional data and a list of ingredients and allergens. The meal kits all come individually packaged in recyclable paper bags with a label clearly attached to the front. You won’t be confused as to which ingredients belong to which meal kits here. Each ingredient inside this paper bag also comes individually packaged in separate plastic baggies.

Again, in the past, most of Green Chef’s meal kits have come with pre-chopped veggies and ingredients, but that might be changing. My team and I have noticed that more and more of the veggies aren’t arriving pre chopped or prepared in any way, and may require more processing.

In terms of storage, Green Chef recommends that you cook or freeze fresh poultry, fish, ground meats, and variety meats within two days – and other meats like beef, veal, lamb, or pork within three to five days. Vegetables will have varying storage timeframes, depending on what exactly it is – but most veggies can be stored in the fridge for up to 14 days.

In regards to EveryPlate deliveries, you’ll get all of the ingredients you need to make your meals with the exception of a few pantry items like salt and pepper. You’ll also find recipe cards with step-by-step instructions for each meal. Its ingredients are carefully packed and insulated inside the box to ensure they arrive to you at peak freshness.

Ordering from EveryPlate is just as straightforward as with Green Chef. Just like Green Chef, the minimum order is three meals per week for two people. EveryPlate delivers to all 48 contiguous states (minus Alaska and Hawaii). It also offers delivery from Monday to Saturday, depending on your location. I haven’t seen availability on Sundays.

Changing your order is as easy as doing so in the mobile app available for iOS and Android, or from your account dashboard on the desktop website. If you need to make any changes to your delivery, you must do so five days prior to your next delivery.

Just like Green Chef, each EveryPlate delivery comes with individual recipe cards with detailed instructions for each meal kit. One distinctive difference here, though, is that each delivery box just sort of has all the ingredients thrown in, unlike Green Chef’s neatly organized paper bags that contain all the ingredients for individual meal kits.

None of EveryPlate’s products are pre-chopped or prepared in any way. Everything is still there and neatly labeled, it just takes a bit more time to sort through the box to find what belongs to what.

In terms of storage instructions, it recommends that, with the exception of seafood, all ingredients should be cooked and consumed within five days of delivery. Seafood should be cooked and consumed within two days of delivery. You also should not refreeze any ingredients, as per EveryPlate’s FAQ section.

EveryPlate’s delivery materials are also mostly recyclable. For example, its boxes and separators are 100% curbside recyclable. The gel packs can be drained into your trash (note: do not empty gel packs into your sink!) and the plastic recycled. The plastic box liners can also be recycled, but not the cotton insert. Dispose of the cotton in the trash.

Most of Green Chef’s delivery materials are also made from reusable or recyclable materials, except in cases where this can’t be avoided. One example of where recyclable materials can’t be used is tofu. It’s sent in vacuum-sealed plastic wrapping to maintain freshness.

Meal Prep

Winner: Tie

Green Chef’s meal boxes contain premium pre-measured ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes for balanced dishes. Historically, many of the ingredients like veggies and sauces have been prepped for you, allowing you to save time without sacrificing flavor. However, as of recently, it does appear as though Green Chef is sending fewer pre-chopped and prepped ingredients.

However, both delivery services offer meal kits that can be cooked within about 30 minutes. Some might take slightly longer, and there are some that are faster than that, but on average, you’re looking at 30 minutes, or less. Cooking difficulty levels seem to be about on par with one another – however, since EveryPlate sends fewer overall ingredients, Green Chef may be slightly more complex (but not by much). It really does largely depend on the specific meals you’re ordering.

But even with that in mind, each Green Chef recipe card and kit bag are still color-coded. When you’re ready to cook, you can follow these easy, detailed instructions. Everything comes neatly organized in separate, individual paper bags that correspond to a specific meal kit that you ordered.

EveryPlate, on the other hand, doesn’t pre-chop or prepare your ingredients in any way. You’ll be responsible for prepping everything from scratch using the instructions for each specific meal kit.

Everything you get from Green Chef and EveryPlate comes fresh and never frozen, so make sure to use the ingredients within the recommended time frame, or freeze them for later. Some of the meals you get from EveryPlate are prepared, but these are the extras rather than the main dishes. As some examples, you can get prepared lava cake, mac and cheese, and clam chowders which just require heating them up in the oven, microwave, or a pan on your stove.

Customer Support

Winner: Tied

This category is completely tied. Both Green Chef and EveryPlate offer the exact same customer service experience, at least via live chat, in my experience. Each competitor was super fast to reply and went above and beyond when it came to answering my question(s). Let’s take a closer look at each one, starting with Green Chef.

The representative worked to answer my question in great detail, even though it’s probably a question that’s not asked too often. I received a response that I was more than satisfied with. Overall, it only took around 30-60 seconds to connect to this pre-sales support rep.

EveryPlate, as I mentioned, offered a very similar experience. The representative I chatted with confirmed that EveryPlate doesn’t offer a vegan diet. It was also confirmed that, if I wanted vegan meals, I’d be better off with Green Chef.

In terms of the actual support hours, Green Chef’s live chat is online from Monday to Sunday from 9 am to 7 pm EST. You can also contact the team via phone from Monday to Friday from 6 am to 11 pm EST, and on weekends from 7 am to 7 pm EST. You can also grab the app for iOS or Android, which will let you manage various aspects of your account like changing your orders, skipping weeks, and updating your address or delivery dates.

EveryPlate offers very similar support via live chat and phone, but the hours are slightly different. For example, you can contact the live chat team 24/7 which is pretty impressive. The phone line is available for you from Monday to Friday between 6 am and 11 pm EST as well. Very similar to Green Chef, EveryPlate also offers an app for iOS and Android which can also help you manage various aspects of your account like changing your orders and address, or skipping weeks.

If all of that isn’t enough, you should also know that both competitors offer a Help & Support center which includes a comprehensive FAQ. Green Chef’s can be found here, and EveryPlate’s here. Both FAQ sections provide answers to tons of common questions, so I always recommend checking those out if you want to know more about any given topic.

But don’t feel like you have to search for answers yourself. Live chat agents are always willing to answer any questions, even if the FAQ sections have already done so. Canceling either service is as easy as doing so from within the app, or from within your account dashboard on the desktop website. You can also cancel by contacting either company’s support team.

Pricing

Winner: EveryPlate

It’s no secret that EveryPlate is the most affordable meal delivery service today. It offers quality meals at very attractive pricing for those who are on a budget or simply don’t want to spend a ton on meal kits. You’re looking at dinners that start at around $1.49 per serving.

However, since the sides, desserts, snacks, and add-ons are ever-changing, pricing for these will vary depending on when you order. To see the most recent pricing for these types of items, you’ll have to sign up for your favorite plan and add them on before checking out.

Green Chef’s pricing starts at around $5.99 per serving. The more you order, though, the more you save on each delivery. This is good if you know you’ll be needing more meals at once.

There are also some great coupons you can take advantage of for both companies. The current Green Chef’s coupon code is Get $250 off + free shipping. EveryPlate offers its own coupon as well – $1.49/meal on your 1st box + 20% off next 2 boxes!.

In terms of shipping fees, both Green Chef and EveryPlate have a flat-fee shipping rate of $9.99 irrespective of the box size or delivery location. Since shipping is pretty much a wash between these two companies, it all really boils down to the prices of the actual meal kits.

Overall, it’s up to you whether you’d like to have more affordable pricing while sacrificing just a little bit on quality, or pay slightly more and have peace of mind that you’re getting certified organic produce and eggs, and 100% certified gluten-free meal kits.

Features Comparison: Green Chef vs. EveryPlate

And The Winner Is: Green Chef

Though EveryPlate offers significantly lower pricing, in my experience, Green Chef still wins here for several reasons. You’re getting organic produce and eggs, more weekly choices, more special diet options like keto and pescatarian, and certified gluten-free meal kits which are all things that EveryPlate just can’t compete with.

I do still think that EveryPlate is still a great option, though. This is especially true if you don’t follow a specialized diet, or if you just want the most affordable meal delivery service in 2023. Also, if you’re looking for a large number of add-ons, snacks, and desserts, EveryPlate is also the better option as well.

FAQ

What makes Green Chef different from EveryPlate?

Green Chef is different from EveryPlate in that it’s certified organic, provides certified gluten-free meals, and caters to lots of diets like keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, pescatarian, and more. On top of that, many of its meal kits come with pre-washed, chopped, and prepped ingredients like veggies and sauces to get you eating delicious meals as fast as possible.

Is EveryPlate cheaper than Green Chef? 

Yes – EveryPlate is cheaper than most – if not all – modern meal delivery services, including Green Chef. But cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean low quality. You still get a large selection of around 18+ 30-minute meal kits per week across various cuisines.

Is Green Chef completely organic?

Only Green Chef’s produce and eggs are certified organic, and its other ingredients like animal proteins are raised with high animal welfare standards. Keep in mind that you’ll be notified if certain organic ingredients aren’t available for your order. In the rare event that it can’t source organic ingredients, Green Chef will source high-quality ingredients to replace them with instead.