Green Chef - An Incomplete Analysis

In the words of DJ Khaled, let's do 'anotha one'...

Website & Ease of Ordering:

As expected the website is aesthetically pleasing, well done photos and easy to navigate tool bars make it pretty easy to find what your looking for.  The website is towards the top of the meal service depth charts, making it pretty clear what Green Chef is trying to sell you with hard to miss buzz words like 'sustainable' and 'vegan'.  In retrospect this section is almost always an automatic positive review, the virtual gym class grading scale for the D-students of meal kit services. 

And most importantly, how easy is it to cancel your subscription?  Just like the rest of the services you can always opt out of any amount of weeks without penalty, and they also allow you to opt into a monthly program.

Website & Ease of Ordering Score:

9.4 / 10

Meal Plans:

The upside of Green Chef is the assortment of meal plans and options, it's the only service so far with 3 different portioned meals (2,4 or 6 people).  The downside being a short window of delivery options from Wednesday to Friday.  This did not seem like a huge deal to start but doing this I have realized I cook more often in the beginning of the week.  Which makes sense considering by Monday the diet stays intact, but by end of week giving yourself a hall pass to Taco Bell is 100% justifiable.  The main reason Green Chef did not get a failing grade here was the multitude of meal preferences, even the most needy of people can find something here.

Meal Plan Score:

9.0 / 10

Delivery Time & Packaging:

I am not sure what Green Chef was thinking with this box but whoever is in charge of packaging needs to think about a career change.  Lots of items were pre-prepared and I don't think it was entirely necessary, for example, a red onion and garlic were already chopped & packaged.  How much do those two items cost?  Is it worth even chopping those or is it easier to pack them in the box?  I have a feeling this is an added layer of convenience that just adds more packaging and clutter.  Each item was color coded which only took me 2 days to realize, either I am an idiot (entirely possible) or it should be mentioned somewhere/anywhere.  Not much was different here from other boxes but the sheer amount of individual packages made this cumbersome to store in the refrigerator.

And to top it off the arugula was wilted and rotten as I received it!  How dare Green Chef come between a man and his right to fresh arugula!

Packaging & Delivery Score:

5.0 / 10

Recipes:

After cooking each of the three recipes I was impressed and content with two of the three I received.  The first recipe was a pan fried steak over creamy potatoes, not the most healthy option but the potatoes were great.  However, it was supposed to be accompanied by an arugula salad with fig and balsamic dressing but the arugula arrived in less than ideal condition.  I ended up  buying arugula and making my own salad later in the week, which would've likely increased the score if the arugula didn't turn into green sludge.  The veggie burger was something I would've never made on my own and inspired me to make my own version (when will it show up on the blog, you'll have to check it everyday to find out).  Lastly, the chicken thighs over hominy was just okay and wasn't something I would look forward to making again.

Recipe Score:

6.5 / 10

Cost:

At close to $81 per week for the exact same meal plan (retail value) this is the most expensive meal subscription service out there from what I understand.  There are cheaper plans but they come without a slaughtered animal, and I am not about that veggie life.

Cost Score:

5.0 / 10

From what I experienced, Green Chef would not be worth the price of admission.  Organic or not this was not something I would use again.  I might try it again if someone uses the promo code below, you get 4 free meals and I get a little extra myself.  Wink wink, nod nod.

Final Score:

6.98 / 10