Lately, I’ve been trying new meal kits like Green Chef. My dinners have been boring, and I’ve wanted to try something new. I tried Factor Meals last month.
Green Chef sent me meals to try, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
What is Green Chef?
Green Chef is a meal kit that takes pride in being the #1 Sustainable Meal Kit. According to Green Chef, you can enjoy restaurant-quality meals that are quick and easy to cook. As someone who hates going to the grocery store, removing that step is wonderful.
Plus, unlike many meal services, there are no minimum commitments, you can skip orders, and you can easily change or cancel your subscription. You aren’t tied down to meal service.
They commit to minimizing environmental impact while creating a home-cooked meal. Green Chef meals produce less food waste than traditional grocery store meals. They also have a 100% carbon emission offset.
Green Chef Pros:
- Wide range of diets, including paleo, keto, and vegan.
- Organic and certified gluten-free
- Environmentally friendly
- Meals and filling
Green Chef Cons:
- Limited meal choices and have to choose meals from the same plan (all vegan, all paleo, keto, etc.)
- More expensive
What makes Green Chef Different?
-
100% Carbon and Plastic Offset: Green Chef is the only meal kit company that offsets 100% of its direct carbon emissions and plastic packaging in every box!
- Recyclable Packaging: All of the Green Chef packagings is recyclable except when they can’t get around it for food safety and quality reasons. They are also the first company to use “ClimaCell,” curbside recyclable insulation similar to Styrofoam.
- Smaller Carbon Footprint: Due to pre-portioned ingredients and streamlined supply chain, the carbon footprint of Green Chef is 25% lower than meals made from store-bought groceries.
- USDA Certified: Green Chef is the first USDA-certified organic company in meal kits.
- Animal Welfare: The proteins in Green Chef come from animals that have been raised with high animal welfare standards.
- Reduce Food Waste: Green Chef uses less food waste than retail grocery stores by removing the retail step and delivering perfectly portioned ingredients for each meal.
As you can see, Green Chef has made it their mission to be environmentally sustainable but is it good?
I tried a few meals last week, and I can say they tasted great. Typically with meal kits, I find them too expensive, too small of portions, or too complicated. I don’t want to spend an hour cooking food that I’m still hungry afterward.
With Green Chef, I found myself full after the meals. Plus, most meals can be made in less than 35 minutes.
Meal 1: Chicken with Mushrooms and Caper Sauce
Admittedly this was my favorite meal. It took about 35 minutes to cook and featured chicken, a kale salad, and creamy mushroom sauce. The kale salad with the lemon dijon vinaigrette was so good, and I was obsessed with the dressing. I wanted to buy or make more!
The directions were simple and easy to follow. After the meal, I felt full but not stuffed. I didn’t feel like I needed any more food. As a runner, oftentimes with meal kits, I find myself hungry after the meal. The portion sizes aren’t big enough for me, but this was good.
Meal 2: Sausages and Creamy Cauliflower “Rice”
I would probably never cook by myself, but that is what makes meal kits more fun. In fact, I would have looked at the name of the recipe and laughed. I’ve never had cauliflower rice, and it’s not usually something that would interest me, but I decided to give it a try. I don’t usually cook sausages either, so it was completely out of my normal dinner comfort zone. The cream cheese made it taste wonderful.
I found myself full afterward but once again not overly stuffed. I was surprised the Cauliflower Rice was filling enough, but with the cream cheese, Green Chef knows what they are doing.
Meal 3: Southwest Provolone Patties
This meal took about 15 minutes to cook. I really liked the spicy ginger-lime aioli as well as the butternut squash. Ground beef isn’t my first choice of meat (I’m red meat or seafood gal), but I enjoyed having it. I liked the butternut squash and coleslaw, and it inspired me to try making that by myself sometime soon.
One thing I thought was missing was a bun, but I easily added that myself.
Of the three meals, I was the fullest with the Southwest Provolone Patties.
Green Chef Price:
- Plant-Powered plan: $11.99 per meal/$78.93 per box
- Balanced Living plan: $11.99 per meal/$78.93 per box
- Paleo plan: $12.99 per meal/$84.93 per box
- Keto plan: $12.99 per meal/$84.93 per box
- Family plan: $10.99 per meal/$94.91 per box
Green Chef Conclusion:
So far, of any meal kit service I’ve tried, Green Chef has been my favorite. The food is easy to cook, and the portions are filling. While it is one of the more expensive brands out there, I appreciate that I am full afterward and don’t have to make a second meal.
Finally, if you want to save $80 on your first box, you can use the code HOLLIE10.
Questions for you:
Have you tried a meal kit service?
What is your favorite meal kit service?