Terra’s Kitchen vs. Green Chef 2023: What You Need to Know

Both Terra’s Kitchen and Green Chef are meal delivery services focused on clean eating and all of its health benefits. Unfortunately, Terra’s Kitchen is no longer on the market, which leaves only Green Chef to order from.

Still, is Green Chef the best choice if I compare it with what Terra’s Kitchen used to offer? Yes, after some thorough research, I’d strongly say so. Green Chef offers better quality meals, including all-organic ingredients, and is even more affordable than Terra’s Kitchen once was.

Check out my comparison below to see exactly why Green Chef takes the win, past or present. 

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: Green Chef

Green Chef’s the only one still around, so a small menu is better than no menu. Jokes aside, Green Chef offers 24+ weekly options split across six categories including keto, gluten-free, and plant-based meals. This is a decent amount in my opinion, especially since they’re all so different.

Sure, Terra’s Kitchen used to have a menu of around 50 meals, which sounds like a lot but it was a fixed menu so the meals could get a bit repetitive in the long run. Green Chef’s menu, on the other hand, changes every week, so even though it has fewer weekly options, you’re less likely to get bored with the recipes.

Terra’s Kitchen used to offer extras besides the meal kits, such as prepared lunches, beverages, snacks, and dessert options. Meanwhile, Green Chef provides meal kits only, with no add-ons available.

The recipes from Green Chef are mostly fusion, with Asian, Middle Eastern, and European influences, as well as Mexican and South American fare. The seasonings and ingredients are super varied and it’s easy to find spicy dishes on the menu.

Terra’s Kitchen was similar in terms of health-focused recipes. The menu consisted of Mediterranean Diet meals, with some local- and Asian-inspired twists.

Besides the usual recipes, there’s a Chef Select dish available every week, which is fancier and usually includes a type of steak, like this colorful Surf ’n Turf with Sun-Dried Tomato Butter, Green Beans, Tomatoes, and Mushrooms (pictured above).

All meals from Green Chef take 20-35 minutes to make, making them super convenient. This is on par with Terra Kitchen’s timing, so you can safely choose Green Chef as a replacement. All spice blends and sauces are house-made, too.

Meal Customization

Winner: Green Chef

With Green Chef, any common allergens like soy, tree nuts, and eggs are clearly listed on each recipe page, but you need to click on each specific dish to see the allergen list.

Terra’s Kitchen used filters (these included dietary restrictions, proteins, two- or four-serving meals, snacks, lunch, proteins, sides, beverages, dessert, weight loss, and later Whole30) to make this process easier. But since Green Chef’s weekly menu is smaller, it’s relatively quick to go through it without a filter. The dietary category is tagged under each meal which is a big help.

While you can’t exclude specific allergens or customize your recipes, Green Chef has comprehensive ingredient and nutritional value lists for each meal, so you can double-check if you have any dietary restrictions.

However, if you follow a gluten-free, keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, or calorie-conscious diet, Green Chef’s menu offers options that are specially made for you. These are all options that Terra’s Kitchen used to offer before closing, too, so they’re evenly matched in this regard.

It’s worth mentioning that Green Chef was the first meal kit company to receive Gluten-Free certification through the Gluten Intolerance Group’s Gluten-Free Food Service program, which applies to the Keto + Paleo meal plan. This means that these meals are appropriate even for celiacs.

Now back to the plans. With Green Chef, the menu consists of lunch/dinner options scattered into six different plans: Keto + Paleo, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free, Mediterranean, and Fast & Fit (calorie-conscious meals that are ready in 25 minutes or less).

Terra’s Kitchen worked on an a la carte system rather than specific meal plans, so you just added any meals and extras you wanted to your cart based on your preferences and using the filters. Terra’s Kitchen options included Gluten Free, Paleo, Vegetarian, Vegan, Keto, Low-Calorie, Pescatarian, and Low-Carb.

Do you prefer spicy or umami dishes? Or Mediterranean-inspired recipes? You’ll find that on Green Chef’s menu as well. And the biggest difference from Terra’s Kitchen? It’s all certified organic.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: Green Chef

Ordering on the Green Chef website is super straightforward, like with most meal kit delivery services. You select your desired plan, how many people you want to feed, your favorite meals from the menu, and your preferred arrival day.

You can also use the Green Chef mobile app to plan your meals or make changes to your deliveries. You can easily change your order directly on the website before your cutoff date, which is seven days prior to your next delivery at 11:59 pm EST.

The minimum order is three meals for two people, just like it used to be for Terra’s Kitchen.

Green Chef delivers almost anywhere in the continental US. The meals are delivered Monday through Saturday, but depending on where you live, you’ll have to choose which weekday you want your box to arrive based on the available dates for your location.

Your box will arrive between 8 am and 8 pm local time on your scheduled delivery day, but if you choose a commercial address, your courier will make an effort to deliver the package before 5 pm local time.

Your Green Chef box should contain your cool, well-insulated meal kits, plus some useful recipe cards. The packages are labeled with a color-coded system, so it’s super easy to find what you need when you’re cooking.

Terra’s Kitchen used to send out the ingredients in mini-fridges that you then needed to return, thus saving a lot of packaging, including ice packs. This is something rather unique for a meal kit delivery service.

This is how it worked: the mini-fridge arrived at your door containing individual plastic containers with the pre-cut ingredients. After emptying the fridge, you took the label off to expose the new label, put the mini-fridge on your doorstep (no need to be home) and it would be picked up the next day and reused for the next customer.

Green Chef doesn’t have such a vessel (which was rather heavy to carry as well), but it’s still green enough. The cardboard boxes and most of the packaging is recyclable, including plastic bags. There’re a lot of details about the recycling process you can consult in the FAQ section of the website.

Meal Prep

Winner: Green Chef

Every ingredient from Green Chef comes pre-measured and prepped. Plus, all in-house sauces, marinades, dressings, and spice blends come pre-made, which means that the cooking process is much quicker and you’ll still get loads of flavor.

This is true even for the Keto + Paleo plan, so you don’t have to worry that a more restrictive diet automatically equals boring or flavorless food. Plus, you have the guarantee that everything is prepared to fit perfectly into your diet, so no compromises there.

After receiving the box, all you need to do is put the meal kits in the fridge and cook them in the next five days. If you order recipes with seafood, you’ll probably need to cook them in the first three days though, so make sure to use those first.

The recipe cards are super detailed and you’ll get instructions on how to cook the meals seamlessly. As much of the job is already done, you’ll only need to chop a veggie or two, with most meals ready in under half an hour.

Terra’s Kitchen also used to deliver pre-prepped meal kits, but unfortunately doesn’t anymore. Good thing there are alternatives like Green Chef to take the work off your shoulders.

Customer Support

Winner: Green Chef

You can get in touch with the customer support team at Green Chef in two ways: live chat and phone.

The live chat is available Monday to Sunday 9 pm to 7 pm EST directly on the website. Phone hours are Monday to Friday 6 am to 11 pm EST, and Saturday and Sunday 7 am to 7 pm EST.

You can get answers to whatever question you might have as a customer, but you can also reach out BEFORE purchasing a plan. That’s convenient if you have any doubts before making a decision.

If you want to cancel your subscription, you can easily do it on the website with a few clicks. To see detailed instructions on this, check out my colleague’s step-by-step article.

For simple matters, there’s a comprehensive Help Center on the Green Chef website with an extensive FAQ section that might help you.

Terra’s Kitchen didn’t have a live chat, but you could contact customer support by phone, email, and even on social media. It used to offer a 100% freshness and quality guarantee, which meant that if you reported any issues within one week, you’d get a refund or account credit.

Pricing

Winner: Green Chef

For Green Chef, the price starts at $5.99 per serving. This is for a four-meal plan for four people, or any plan for six people. This starting price increases for plans with fewer servings. The Chef Select dish also costs extra if you choose to include it in your plan.

What’s great is that even though Green Chef is on the more expensive end of meal kits because of its premium, organic ingredients, there’s usually a great deal going on the website, so you can expect to pay a bit less for your meals. You can check the current discount here: Get $250 Off + Free Shipping.

The meals from Terra’s Kitchen used to be in the $10-$18 range, which is comparable to what Green Chef charges now (before applying any discount codes), but could definitely be more expensive depending on what you ordered.

When it comes to shipping, Green Chef has a fixed fee of $9.99, no matter how large or small your order.

Features Comparison: Terra’s Kitchen vs. Green Chef

And The Winner Is: Green Chef

Green Chef is clearly the winner here, since Terra's Kitchen is no longer around. But even if it were around, Green Chef would have some unquestionable advantages: it’s 100% USDA-certified and weekly changing menu of creative, flavorful recipes.

If you want to see if other meal kit delivery services fit your needs and budget better, make sure to check out our list of the Best Healthy Meal Delivery Services. You’ll find Green Chef there too, but nine other services that you might enjoy.

FAQ

Is Terra’s Kitchen better than Green Chef?

Unfortunately, Terra’s Kitchen is closed. However, Green Chef is a better alternative, as it has a more diversified weekly-changing menu, all-organic produce, and proprietary spice blends and sauces that’ll make your healthy diet easier.

Is Green Chef healthy?

Yes, Green Chef offers health-focused meal kits that use organic produce that’s in season right now. Plus, the meals are a perfect balance of macronutrients, even if we’re speaking about the keto, paleo, veggie, or omnivore plans.

Is Green Chef certified organic?

Yes, Green Chef is 100% certified organic. Unlike other services (like Terra’s Kitchen) that only try to provide quality ingredients, Green Chef is actually USDA-certified and only uses the best quality produce out there, without any pesticides, antibiotics, or GMOs.