In New York City, grocery shopping is an endurance sport. It requires navigating crowds, long lines, and narrow aisles, then lugging heavy bags many blocks home. Many blocks. Call me crazy, but I’ve never loved the experience. So discovering meal kits about five years ago has been a real game-changer for me.
Blue Apron has been my meal kit of choice for the past few years, but when given the opportunity, I jumped at the chance to take Green Chef for a spin. I’m a wellness-minded lady, so was excited by the brand’s commitment to providing certified-organic produce and their claims to accommodate many different dietary preferences. Over the course of a week, my sous chef (my husband) and I whipped up three very different, very protein-heavy meals—here’s how it went.
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What’s the Green Chef ordering experience?
In recent years, the meal kits I’ve tried have stepped up their game when it comes to selecting weekly meals—both in terms of the options available and the in-app ordering experience. For Green Chef, you start by picking the kinds of meals you like from a series of health-focused categories: There are options like keto, Mediterranean, protein-packed, and recipes that purportedly support gut and brain health. (While all recipes are dietitian-approved, claims like these are difficult to prove.) You can also select “quick and easy” if your top priority is saving time in the kitchen.
I wanted to experience the widest array of offerings, so I clicked “protein-packed” and “Mediterranean” as my “lifestyle preferences.” From there, you’re prompted to select dietary preferences, which include options that help you optimize your protein or fiber, or reduce the amount of sodium, added sugar, or carbs.
The rest of the introductory quiz has you choose your goals (save money, reduce waste, eat healthy, etc.), and the amount of people in your household. I was happy to see that they offered an introductory rate of $6.99 per meal down from the normal $11.99, and that a complimentary nutrition coaching session comes with the first order. (For this review, Green Chef provided a week of meals free of charge.) While I chose not to meet with a pro, I’m impressed that I had the option; nutrition is personal, and this individual attention can help make sure your diet can support your lifestyle.
In addition to the choices of meals themselves, Green Chef offers add-ons like ready-to-blend smoothies and individual breakfast dishes like southwest avocado toasts. One add-on option that I hadn’t seen from competitors was the breakfast-lunch boxes, which include enough staples like bagels and eggs to get you through the week. You can also add things like extra servings of veggies or plain chicken breasts.
What I loved about Green Chef
I’ll admit that I was a little concerned that Green Chef’s focus on health would result in bland or boring meals, but the recipe creators really managed to amp up even the most basic dishes.
The chicken with lemon crema recipe looked a little basic from the photos, but it ended up being one of my favorites. The recipe yielded an ample amount of its signature sauce (a nice surprise, considering other meal kits I’ve tried have been stingy with condiments) and the side of jasmine rice was chock full of raisins, almonds, fresh scallions, and lemon zest for plenty of texture and punchy flavor.
In addition to my chicken dinner, I also made a mushroom burger and a steak and onions dish—both of which were meat-heavy and delicious. The burgers had a savory, earthy umami flavor thanks to a pre-made steak seasoning and juicy marinated mushrooms.
