Home Chef Review 2023: Is It Worth The Hype? I Tested It Out

Overview

I’m pleased to report that I had a pretty perfect experience with Home Chef. I’d been recommended Home Chef’s service by a couple of friends – and kept seeing the ads all over my social media feeds – so I was excited to finally test it out for myself. 

My weekly menu was varied, the sign-up and delivery process was smooth, and the foolproof recipes brought me out of my comfort zone in the best way possible. I also loved how many  customization options were on the menu.

I’m not an expert cook, but Home Chef gave me the confidence to cook new dishes (including salmon, for the first time ever). Compared to the many other meal kits I’ve tested, Home Chef’s recipes were among the easiest to follow. 

Despite the extensive customization options, I found that Home Chef isn’t a great choice for people with allergies or specialized diets like vegan or keto – however, you’ll find options for these diets on Green Chef’s menu. 

But for everyone else – Home Chef is a great meal kit delivery service with a variety of cuisines, diet plans, and quick and easy recipes.

Pros

• Huge range of low-prep and no-prep options

• Order up to 6 recipes per week

• A la carte breakfast and dessert add-ons

• Include meals of different serving sizes within the same order

• Current deal: Get 18 Free Meals (50% off your first 4 boxes)!

Cons

• No plan for single-person ordering

• You can only customize proteins, not sides

• Individual meal pricing can get confusing

What’s on the Home Chef Menu

Meal Options

On Home Chef’s sign-up page, you’ll see 2 different plans: Home Chef and Fresh and Easy. I was a little confused to begin with, but here’s the difference:

• Home Chef is the signature plan where you can choose from the full menu of cuisines, cook times, and meal types. It gives you the freedom to choose meals from both Home Chef and Fresh and Easy menus.

• Fresh and Easy is more limited in terms of options as it focuses only on quick and easy meals.

Home Chef offers a range of meal kit types for every skill level – from standard 30-minute kits to ready meals, making it one of the most versatile meal kit delivery services out there. The majority of dishes are customizable and there are plenty of extras you can mix and match to build your own meals.

For this review, I’ll be looking at the broadest Home Chef plan, but check out my colleague’s Fresh and Easy review if you’re only interested in that.

With Home Chef, you have about 30 meals to choose from each week. The menu is organized by meal type, including meal kits, easy prep kits, bundles, and extras.

Meal kits are Home Chef’s main offering. They come with recipe cards and all the ingredients needed to bring these dishes to life (with the exception of some pantry staples, such as oil).

In addition to standard meal kits, Home Chef includes 3 or 4 Culinary Collection meals each week. For an additional charge (sometimes just a few bucks per serving, though it can be more), these recipes offer premium ingredients, such as mahi mahi, sirloin steak, and truffle potatoes, and have slightly more complex recipes.

Here’s a full list of Home Chef’s offerings:

• Culinary Collection – premium meal kits with higher-quality ingredients

• Express – meal kits ready in 15 minutes or less

• Fast & Fresh – oven-ready and microwave-ready meals

• Oven-Ready – meals that arrive in an oven-ready tray

• Family – dishes that are only available in 4 or more servings

• Plus – include premium ingredients

The Fast & Fresh prepared meals, Plus meals, or those in the Culinary Collection are sold at a higher price point, and you’ll have to opt-in to receive those. You can do this by logging in, going to the Subscription tab, and turning on Opt-Ins.

Home Chef lets you order up to 6 recipes per week and up to 6 servings of most recipes, regardless of how your selections break down between these menus. This is more than most of its competitors. You can schedule your menus up to 5 weeks in advance.

You can also take a look at the full step-by-step recipe for any of the meals online, which I think is pretty cool. It makes it easy to decide whether a recipe is right for your skill level or the amount of prep you’re willing to do.

Each recipe clearly notes the pantry items you’ll need to have. Most of the ingredients are provided in your meal kit, but there are some kitchen basics – like olive oil or a baking sheet – that you might need for some dishes.

If you have a very basic kitchen, you may need to choose recipes based on the equipment needed. Home Chef gives you all the information you need to decide upfront.

Recipes are generally pretty Americanized, but there are a few international options – including Italian and Asian cuisine. You’ll find options like Ranch-Crusted Pork Chop or BBQ Ranch Chicken Tacos with Crispy Jalapeños. I thought there was a good range of flavors, and as the menu changes weekly, there’s always something new to try.

You can easily find family-friendly kits with the new Family Menu. This filters the menu to bring up 10+ dishes each week that serve 4 people. I don’t have kids, but the dishes on this menu seem perfect for a family, with plenty of crowd-pleasing options for picky eaters.

I’d describe the quality of ingredients as “fair to good.” I had no complaints about the meat and produce in my shipment, but I’m not impressed by Home Chef’s lack of clarity when it comes to its animal welfare practices and the origins of each ingredient.

Home Chef’s Extras section includes everything from breakfast items and desserts to a variety of meats and seafood. There are also snacks, bread, and beverages. If you want quick lunches, you can check out the Bundles that pair items like pre-mixed salads and pizzas for a super easy meal.

You can even mix and match the extras to create your own meals by choosing a protein, salad, side, and dessert. 

Customization

When you sign up, you can choose to exclude some ingredients from your meal options.

When you select shellfish, for example, Home Chef will not include any shellfish recipes in its recommendations for your order. Home Chef doesn’t automatically customize ingredients in its recipes though – it’s up to you to change your protein option in the customizable recipes if you want to. 

But keep in mind that Home Chef is also not an allergen-focused meal delivery service and can’t guarantee cross-contamination. While you can exclude meal kits that include any of the above ingredients, people with severe allergies may want to pass on this service.

Additional filters include Calorie Conscious, Carb Conscious, Vegetarian, and <30 minute recipes, and when you’re logged in, you can further filter the menu by criteria such as cook time.

You’ll see a few logos on recipe cards that highlight things like celebrity chef collaborations and Greatest Hits (Home Chef’s most popular recipes). The menu also includes plenty of at-a-glance information for each recipe, including common allergens like wheat, milk, and eggs.

Recipes with a green tomato icon that read Fresh Start are approved by dietitians and described by Home Chef as “lighter spins on classic favorites.” They’re ideal if you’re looking for healthy or lower-calorie options.

Lastly, you’ll see that about ¾ of the menu has protein-customizing options where you can swap, double-up, or upgrade your protein. Simply click View Customize It Options to see what’s on offer.

Most protein swaps require an upcharge, ranging anywhere from $2.99 to $17.99 per serving for luxury options like filet mignon. More on prices later.

The menu is pretty good for vegetarians. The Customize It menu often includes Impossible Burger, which further expands Home Chef’s vegetarian offerings. I counted 7 veggie dishes when I checked the menu (not including Impossible swaps), but this does change week by week. It’s easy to filter for veggie dishes by clicking the Vegetarian tag at the top of the weekly menu.

Vegans might be able to find a few dishes that suit them by swapping in Impossible Burger or selecting the “no protein” swap, but many dishes also contain dairy, so you’d have to be prepared to make a lot of swaps at home, which isn’t as convenient.

Home Chef’s menu is also not particularly suitable for other specialized diets like keto or paleo – if you’re looking for meals that cater to these diets, Green Chef has dedicated plans for plant-based, keto, and paleo lifestyles, while Factor’s prepared meals are ideal for those looking for quick, no-prep keto, vegan, and veggie dishes. 

Pescatarians will have a little more luck, with plenty of shrimp and salmon options on the menu. Home Chef is also a solid choice for a low-sodium diet, as you have control over the amount of salt you add to each meal kit.

Customer service will also send an email if any of the foods have changed in your order. So, if an ingredient is different from normal, i.e., one that is usually organic is now not available as organic, you will know in advance with enough time to change your order. More on Home Chef’s excellent customer service later.

Unboxing

With the customization options, there are so many potential choices, so I spent quite a while browsing before making my decisions. 

Here’s what I ended up ordering:

• Salmon and Lemon Herb Beurre Blanc

• Cheddar and Crispy Potato Crusted Chicken

• Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs and Gemelli

• BBQ Ranch Chicken Tacos with Crispy Jalapeños

Home Chef sends refrigerated produce, not frozen. My box had 6 ice packs in total – 5 of which had hard ice in them, and the 6th was still very cold. The proteins were packed separately with extra ice packs, a reassuring feature for food safety.

As soon as I unpacked my box, I put all of the perishables straight into the fridge and stored shelf-stable items in my pantry. Everything had its own expiration date, but I didn’t really pay attention to them as I was planning to cook everything within the week (per Home Chef’s recommendation). 

Most ingredients arrive portioned and sorted by recipe into plastic bags, so you can keep them organized. Most sauces also arrive prepped and portioned in plastic containers. While this is very convenient and makes for quick and easy recipe prep – that’s a lot of extra plastic! If you want to reduce your use of plastic, this may not be the best service for you.

In terms of packaging, almost everything was recyclable, upcycled, or reusable. The box was cardboard, so no problem there. And I just tossed the ice packs in my freezer to reuse. This was fine for my first order, but if I ordered from Home Chef every week, I definitely wouldn’t have a use for so many ice packs.

Luckily, the ice packs are also recyclable, so you can cut open the ones you don’t use, pour out the contents, and recycle the film in the same place as you recycle plastic bags. 

To protect all of the contents from moving around in transit, Home Chef used something that looked like one of those blankets movers use. I looked it up and it’s either made from recycled cotton PET or denim. Denim liners must be thrown in the trash since they aren’t recyclable, but PET ones are curbside recyclable.

For more recycling details, you can visit Home Chef’s FAQ if, like me, you want to know what to do with all shipping components as you’re unpacking.

In your first order, you’ll receive a binder for all the recipe pages Home Chef sends with each new recipe you receive. Your recipe cards are always at the very bottom of the box. They come pre-hole-punched, so they’re super easy to add to your Home Chef binder for future reference. 

That said, I didn’t see these at first and almost put them in the recycling bin with the box! It’s a good thing I didn’t accidentally throw the recipe cards away because I much prefer having a physical recipe. It’s easier than referring back to my phone or laptop – especially when things get messy or cluttered in the kitchen.

Cooking (and Eating) with Home Chef

Okay, let’s get to the meat of this review: the cooking and the taste.

All of the meals were really easy to prepare, even the “expert” level salmon dish I chose. I’d read that some people find Home Chef’s recipe cards confusing, but this wasn’t the case for me.

I noticed that cards contain information for cooking each potential alternate protein, regardless of which one you ordered. Maybe the excess information is what’s confusing to some. Ultimately, all I can suggest is that you read through all of the steps before starting!

All the meals I ordered took no more than 10 or 15 minutes of prep time. The ingredients were perfectly measured and it was such a time-saver to have everything I needed on hand, rather than searching for things in my cupboards. The whole prep process was quick and easy, and way faster than recipes I’ve cooked before.

Shortlist of My Favorite Meals

Everything I cooked turned out delicious, but if I had to choose a favorite, it was the Salmon and Lemon Herb Beurre Blanc with Roasted Green Beans and Red Potatoes. This recipe is part of Home Chef’s Culinary Collection.

First off, I’ve always been a bit intimidated to cook fish – it feels like there’s always a risk of undercooking it and making myself ill, but then if you overcompensate and overcook it, the texture turns tough and chewy.

As an extra challenge, I also had a friend over and cooked this meal for them, so there was pressure to have it turn out well.

After cooking salmon with Home Chef, I would totally cook it on my own again. Seriously, I felt like a pro. The recipe told me exactly how hot the salmon should be internally (145 degrees, if you’re wondering) and included tips like keeping it underneath foil before serving to stop it from drying out.

The salmon came out perfectly – flaky, moist, and delicate. I’m not sure if it was because this was a premium cut of salmon or the recipe was so precise – but I give it a *chef’s kiss*.

Other than cooking the fish properly, the hardest skill needed was stemming and chopping the parsley. Everything else was simple and included slicing, stirring, heating, and some light chopping.

The recipe also gave me some useful tips on how to cook the sides as well. For example, the quickest way to remove the ends of green beans is to line them up evenly, then trim them with one cut. This kind of advice helped me feel more confident while cooking, as well as honing my skills for the future.

My friend was as impressed as I was – and there were no leftovers!

Quick and easy low-prep meals are where Home Chef really shines. My second favorite meal, the BBQ Ranch Chicken Tacos with Crispy Jalapeños, was one of the oven-ready options. 

The whole process took just over 20 minutes. I just had to assemble a few things – chicken, corn, olive oil, and seasoning – into the tray provided and throw them in the oven. Because it was a taco, there was a little bit of assembling to do right at the end, but overall there were zero complex cooking skills required.

Just a note of caution: give the chicken a few minutes to cool down before assembling and eating. You don’t want your first taco to be too hot!

Prices

The above prices, of course, do not reflect additional fees from protein upgrades, or meals labeled Plus, Culinary Collection, or Family. If you select meals with those labels, the price per portion increases.

Home Chef has a varied menu, but the variety can affect per-serving prices significantly. Of the many services I’ve tried, Home Chef has one of the lowest advertised starting prices – from just $7.99 per portion with our introductory deal. Otherwise, they are priced as above, correct at the time of writing.

For the main Home Chef Plan, individual portions tend to range from just under $10 per serving to about $20 (for premium dishes or meals with protein upgrades).

The simpler the meal kit, the more likely you’ll get that lowest price per serving in the table above. The lowest starting price seems mostly to apply to salads, but for the quality of meals you get, the prices are still competitive! 

However, protein upgrade prices also vary weekly. While a ground beef upgrade might incur $2.99 one week, it might incur a $4.99 fee the next.

On average, a family of 4 eating with Home Chef 5 nights a week will pay ​​$199.80. There are also the added savings associated with fewer trips to the grocery store (and fewer impulse purchases) as well as less food waste. Shipping is a flat rate of $10.99 regardless of the size of your order.

Home Chef is as flexible with pricing as it is with everything else. If budget is important to you, you can choose the cheaper meals and skip the more expensive opt-ins or customizations. It’s up to you how much you want to spend – but you’ll have plenty of options regardless.

Home Chef often has a deal for new customers (this is the current one: Get 18 Free Meals (50% off your first 4 boxes)!). Also, if you’re a first responder, hospital worker, teacher, or in the military, you can get an additional discount.

Lastly, there’s a small e-commerce sales tax added if you live in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, or Virginia.

If you’re eligible, the tax will be listed as an extra line in your order summary.

Shipping & Delivery

Home Chef delivers to 98% of the US. Unless you live in a particularly remote area, you’re likely to be covered. In my case, Home Chef nailed the delivery!

Home Chef lets you pick your exact delivery day, which remains constant each week unless you change it. Many areas will have the option to choose any day Monday through Friday, but smaller cities may have a more limited range. For example, when scheduling delivery to Richmond, VA, my options were Tuesday through Friday.

I received text message updates that included the FedEx tracking information. The messages started the day before my scheduled delivery and I got 2 notifications the day of: 1 confirming my meals would be delivered that day and 1 letting me know they’d been delivered.

The package was left on my doorstep. I live in a small apartment building, and I was happy to not have to carry it up the stairs or worry about a hungry neighbor taking advantage of some free food! 

How Home Chef Works

Home Chef makes it pretty easy to sign up, although you do have to go through the whole process, including adding your payment details, before you can pick your meals for the week.

How to Sign Up

1. Choose your plan and preferences. The first screen will ask you to choose between the main Home Chef plan or the Fresh and Easy sub-brand. At this stage, you can also select low-carb or low-calorie preferences and highlight basic allergens from a preset list.
   
   To clarify, you’ll have access to the entire menu regardless of your preferences – this step just brings the most relevant recipes for you to the top of the list.

2. Enter your email address and zip code. If you live outside of Home Chef’s delivery area, it will let you know at this stage. You can also sign in with your Grocery account.

3. Build your box. Choose how many diners and how many recipes you need per week. Home Chef will give you a guide price based on an average per-serving price of $9.99 plus the relevant shipping fee (the final cost will depend on the meals you choose and any customizations).

   Order up to 6 servings for 6 people each week

4. Add your delivery details. Home Chef also requires a valid phone number.

5. Add billing details. You can pay by credit card or Paypal. Home Chef will tell you exactly when your payment will be taken (this relates to the date you’ve picked for your first order). This is also the stage to add any discount codes like our special deal: Get 18 Free Meals (50% off your first 4 boxes)!.

6. Add more preferences. Once you’re in, you can answer a few optional questions to create your Taste Profile. This helps Home Chef learn what you like to make better automatic recommendations for future orders (you can still change these – but more on that next).

7. Then you’re ready to pick your meals! Remember that now is the time to customize your order. You won’t know the final cost of your order until you’ve made these decisions.

Managing Your Subscription

Managing any aspect of Home Chef’s service is super easy through its iOS and Android-compatible app and website login. You can even call or live chat with customer support via the app should you have any questions or concerns.

Skipping a week is easy – it just takes the click of a button. Navigate to Your Upcoming Orders where you’ll see all of your orders listed by date. Click the Skip Week button to cancel that week’s order. If you change your mind, just click Unskip.

The process follows the same prompts for the app, but looks a little different than the image below, which shows how to skip a week via the website.

This is also the place where you can change your meals by clicking Edit Meals. To remove a meal, click the green Remove button (or Trash icon in the app). Then to add a meal, click Add to Order. On many recipes, you’ll also have the Customize It option. 

One pretty unique thing about Home Chef is that you can also adjust the serving sizes on individual recipes. Most services make you commit to a 2-person or 4-person plan, for example, but with Home Chef you can mix and match serving sizes within one order.

To change your delivery day, hit Manage Delivery under the order date. You can even change the delivery address for a certain week, which is useful if you’ll be staying at a friend’s house or going on holiday but still want your regular order of meals.

Skipping or changing your meals has to be done by 12 PM CST on the Friday before the scheduled delivery week. And be sure to double-check you’ve saved your changes.

To reschedule your first order, you’ll have to contact the support team and select Rescheduling My First Order in the dropdown menu. 

Canceling your first order is a slightly different process, and it’s a bit more complicated than just hitting a skip button. This is because when you pick the date for your first order during the sign-up process, it schedules it automatically. 

To skip your first order, simply remove all of the meals from that order. When the deadline arrives, Home Chef’s system will recognize the order as empty and will automatically cancel it for you.

And if you have any further questions about rescheduling, canceling, or skipping any orders, you can reach out to customer support in several ways.

Customer Service

Home Chef sets the bar high for meal delivery service customer support with its comprehensive FAQs in the Help Center, live chat support, a handy mobile app, and a dedicated phone line. If you prefer, you can reach out to the company through an online contact form by sending an email.

First off, Home Chef has a fairly detailed Help Center. You’ll find this by scrolling right to the bottom of the home page and clicking on FAQs & Support.

You can type in whatever topic you’re looking for and relevant articles will pop up. I found the search function pretty good for filtering keywords. For example, when I looked up how to recycle the packaging – I just typed “recycling” and found what I needed.

If you can’t find the answer or you have a question it doesn’t cover, you can contact customer support via phone (Monday-Friday: 9 am-6 pm CST; Saturday: 10 am-2 pm CST) or via live chat.

The way to speak to a customer support agent via live chat is by using the chatbot. The chatbot will try to answer your question first and direct you to relevant FAQ pages. Where this doesn’t work, you can ask to speak to a human for more info. I was connected pretty quickly when the chatbot couldn’t answer my questions about the availability of Impossible Burger.

You can also submit a request support ticket via an online form. It took about 3 days for me to get a response via this method. To be fair, though, there was a disclaimer saying that Home Chef was experiencing a high volume of questions at the time.

I asked whether Home Chef planned to offer vegan options in the future. And while the answer was essentially “probably not,” the customer service agent who responded to me went out of her way to suggest dairy-free and vegetarian options that could work for a vegan diet. 

I appreciated the extra effort from the customer support agent! Plus, you can contact customer services with your query before you’ve even signed up for Home Chef, it’s not just reserved for subscribers. I found this helpful in understanding prices and plans, since how those work aren’t 100% clear on the site.

When it comes to refunds, Home Chef seems pretty reasonable, although this information was quite hard to find. It’s not included in the Help Center and I had to scroll through the fine print of the terms to find out the company’s policy.

If you’re not 100% satisfied with your meals, Home Chef does offer refunds. You’ll need to email support@homechef.com within 7 days of delivery explaining the situation and request either Home Chef credit or a refund.

It’s up to Home Chef whether you get a full refund or just a refund for the defective portion of your order. Refunds are provided using the same method of payment you use for your account.

It may be that you don’t get on with Home Chef’s meal kit delivery service and want to cancel your account completely. I’ve had previous experiences with companies who make it hard to cancel a subscription with them, so I wanted to test out how quick and easy it was to pause or cancel your Home Chef subscription. You’ll be pleased to hear it’s really straightforward!

Finally, you can use all of these contact options via the app. Instead of waiting until you’re home with your desktop device, you can change any detail of your order at any time on your phone or tablet. 

The only thing you can’t do through the app is reschedule your first order. Again, you need to contact customer support for that.

Pro tip: Home Chef has a blog called The Table, which provides articles about meal planning and cooking tips for beginner and intermediate chefs. This is a great resource if you’ve just ordered your first Home Chef meal kits and want more cooking advice.

How Home Chef Compares to Other Meal Delivery Services

Home Chef vs. Blue Apron

Blue Apron is a gourmet meal delivery service for those who want to get a little fancy, and it's one of our best meal kit delivery services of 2023. Meals are flavor-forward and more complex than Home Chef’s, and you can try Blue Apron’s Wine Pairing service for those culinary nights in. 

There are Vegetarian, Weight-Watchers-approved, and Signature For 4 plans, so those hoping to eat more plants, lose weight, or cook for a family while enjoying gourmet recipes will find great options with this service. Prices start at $5.74 per serving.

Home Chef vs. HelloFresh

Like Home Chef, HelloFresh is one of the most popular meal kit delivery services in the industry. It’s a more affordable option, since prices start at $3.32 per serving, with plans that include Vegetarian, Pescatarian, and Family-Friendly. 

HelloFresh also lets you swap proteins and sides. The cuisine is primarily American with some Mexican, Pan-Asian, and Mediterranean-inspired dishes. It has a larger menu than Home Chef, with 50+ recipes each week.

Home Chef vs. Green Chef

Green Chef is, in my opinion, the best organic meal kit service out there right now. All its ingredients are non-GMO, and the produce is CCOF- and USDA-certified. Prices are higher than Home Chef’s, starting at $5.99 per serving, but you’ll find excellent diet-friendly options like the Keto, Gluten Free, Vegetarian, and Vegan plans. 

Home Chef isn’t great for vegans and doesn’t prioritize ingredient quality, so Green Chef may be a better option for you if the price is right.

The Bottom Line: Is Home Chef Worth It?

From my experience, Home Chef’s meal kit delivery service is totally worth trying. Everything about it is easy and flexible, and I was really impressed at the quality of the meals I was able to make at home.

Home Chef offers great options for busy people who want to cook at home and eat well without fuss, like the quick and easy prep meals you’ll find in the Fresh and Easy line. It’s also ideal for families with the Family Meals line and the option to get up to 6 servings of most dishes. If you live alone like me, the 2-serving option leaves you with plenty of leftovers – ideal for a working lunch the next day.

However, there are very few to no plant-based options on any given week’s menu, so I can’t recommend Home Chef for vegans. People following other specialized diets, like keto or paleo, will also struggle to make Home Chef work.

Having said all that, people with no dietary restrictions will find plenty to love on Home Chef’s menu.

If you’re still not totally convinced by Home Chef, we tested other top meal kit services and shortlisted the best meal kit providers of the year.

FAQ

How much does Home Chef cost?

Home Chef meals start at $7.99 per serving with a minimum weekly order value of $49.95 (plus $10.99 shipping). After looking in detail at Home Chef’s plans and pricing, I found it to be value-for-money compared to other meal kit services I’ve tried. 

Home Chef’s Culinary Collection, which includes premium meals, costs between $10.99 and $20.99 per serving.

Is Home Chef cheaper than the grocery store?

It can be. When I researched Home Chef’s pricing structure, I found the cost varied depending on which meals you select and how many meals you want a week – so you have control over how much you want to spend. It also sends you the exact amount of food you’ll need, which means you can save money by cutting down on food waste.

Will Home Chef help me lose weight?

Home Chef has some weight-loss options as part of its weekly changing menu. Each week, Home Chef offers at least 3 calorie-conscious (less than 625 calories per serving) and 3 carb-conscious (less than 35 grams per serving) meals.

How to cancel Home Chef?

To cancel your subscription, log into your account and go to Account > Account Settings. The option to pause or cancel your subscription is at the bottom of the navigation tabs. The whole process can be done in 3 steps – as I outlined when I wrote about canceling my Home Chef subscription.

Are Home Chef meals frozen?

Home Chef’s meals ship refrigerated and fresh, not frozen, with the possible exception of some proteins. Depending on their ingredients, some meals can be frozen for longer-term storage. Home Chef recommends refrigerating all your ingredients and enjoying your meals within one week.

What is cheaper, Home Chef or HelloFresh?

HelloFresh is slightly cheaper than Home Chef and somewhat easier to budget for since the price you see is the price you’ll pay. HelloFresh’s starting price of $3.32 per serving applies to those ordering 6 meals per week on the 4-person plan, while Home Chef’s pricing varies greatly depending on the meals you order. 

Feel free to use our discount for HelloFresh: 18 free meals + first box ships free + 3 surprise gifts with code DR18HF and Home Chef: Get 18 Free Meals (50% off your first 4 boxes)! to make trying your first order with either service more affordable.