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Home Chef Subscription Box Review + Coupon – March 2016

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseJul 25, 2016 | 17 comments

HomeChef-March-2016-Box

Home Chef
4 overall rating
26 Ratings | 14 Reviews

Home Chef is a subscription meal delivery service that sends a weekly box of “perfectly portioned, premium ingredients, spices & sauces, and easy, step-by-step recipes.”

Boxes contain “fresh ingredients” and “chef-designed, restaurant-quality” recipes.

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

HomeChef-March-2016-Inside

You can skip a week whenever you like.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

HomeChef-March-2016-Open

The Subscription Box: Home Chef

The Cost: Meals start at $9.95 per serving, and delivery is free for orders over $40.

COUPON: Get $30 off your first box from Home Chef. No coupon required, just use this link.

The Products: Fresh ingredients and chef-designed recipes— everything you need to make restaurant-quality meals at home.

HomeChef-March-2016-Map

Ships to: 60% of the US and expanding. (You can check to see if Home Chef delivers to your zip code here.)

Check out the Food Subscription Box Directory and make sure to add Home Chef to your subscription list or wishlist!

HomeChef-March-2016-Quiz

When you first sign up for Home Chef, you take a short quiz about your meal preferences and dietary restrictions.

HomeChef-March-2016-Selection

Based on this quiz, the Home Chef algorithm selects meals for you each week. If you’d rather receive different meals, it’s easy to swap them for something else.

I found the website very user-friendly, and I was thrilled with the meal options. Home Chef had 10 dinner options available, 1 breakfast, a smoothie, and a fruit basket!

HomeChef-March-2016-Email

When my box shipped, I received an email with tracking information. The week I ordered, Home Chef had a couple of special menu items for Pi Day, which I took full advantage of. Pi day is celebrated on 3/14 (because Pi= 3.14…), and is a great excuse to eat pie!

HomeChef-March-2016-Binder1

Since this was my first box, Home Chef included a binder to help store and organize my recipes.

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This is such a great extra! I love re-using my meal box recipe cards, so this will definitely come in handy!

Meal #1- “Bahn Mi” Meatball Sub

Calories: 728 per serving

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

HomeChef-March-2016-SubCard

When my Home Chef Box arrived, I was hungry and craving a sandwich, so I set to work on making Meatball Bahn Mi Sandwiches!

Bahn Mi sandwiches are the product of French influence on Vietnamese cuisine. The sandwiches combine crusty French bread with traditional Vietnamese ingredients (like cilantro and pickled veggies). There are some excellent Bahn Mi restaurants near where I live, so the bar for these sandwiches was set pretty high!

HomeChef-March-2016-SubPacked

All of the ingredients for each recipe came bundled together in a plastic bag.

HomeChef-March-2016-SubPickles

I began by quick pickling cucumber, carrot, and a pepper in vinegar. Home Chef sent a small vial of vinegar, but it wasn’t enough to submerge my veggies, so I added some extra vinegar from my cabinet.

Next, I made the meatballs my combining ground pork, ginger paste, Worcestershire sauce, and half of the included spice blend. I shaped them and pan fried them in a little olive oil.

HomeChef-March-2016-SubMayo

While I waited for them to brown, I mixed together mayonnaise with the remaining spices and toasted the buns.

HomeChef-March-2016-SubAssembled

When everything was ready, I strained the pickles and assembled the sandwiches.

HomeChef-March-2016-SubPlated

These were a big hit! The meatballs were extremely flavorful, and I loved the heaping pile of pickled veggies. I would make these again in a heartbeat!

Meal #2- One Pan Classic Chicken Pot Pie

Calories: 757 per serving

Prep Time: 55 minutes

Difficulty: Intermediate

HomeChef-March-2016-PieRecipe

This is the first Pi Day special I ordered!

HomeChef-March-2016-PiePrep

Before I got started cooking, I cleaned and chopped the veggies and inventoried my ingredients.

HomeChef-March-2016-PieVeg

I sautéed carrot, onion, and celery in a pan with butter and Home Chef’s seasoning blend.

HomeChef-March-2016-PieGravy

When the veggies softened, I added a mix of cornstarch, water, and chicken base, followed by chopped chicken. I stirred this mix and waited for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy.

HomeChef-March-2016-PiePeas

While waiting, I made the dough for the top of the pot pie from flour, salt, olive oil, and Greek yogurt. Now, I have to be honest: this recipe had me a little worried. Greek yogurt in pot pie dough? I’ve never heard of such a thing! Still, I pressed on.HomeChef-March-2016-PieDough

I rolled out the dough and placed it on top of the sauté pan. I brushed the surface with melted butter, topped it with a pinch of seasoning, and transferred the pan to the oven.

HomeChef-March-2016-PieCooked

The recipe instructed to cook until the crust turned brown, approximately 15-18 minutes. After 25 minutes, my crust was still pretty pasty, so I turned off the oven and ignited the broiler. This helped brown the crust.

HomeChef-March-2016-PiePlated

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with this dish. The flavors were great and oh so comforting, but there were a couple of small things I’d change if I made this dish again. First of all, the gravy was a little thick for my liking. I usually thicken soups and gravies with flour, and I find corn starch can sometimes produce a gelatinous texture, which I find a little unpleasant. This is, of course, a matter of personal preference, so I can’t hold it against Home Chef. The second issue I had was with the crust. My FAVORITE thing about chicken pot pie is the crust, and I usually use all butter pie crust or puff pastry. The Greek yogurt crust from Home Chef had a nice tanginess, but I wish it had been richer and flakier. (Of course, this would have been much harder to create at home and would have added a hefty number of calories.)

Meal #2- Chicago-Style Veggie Deep Dish Pizza

Calories: 844 per serving

Prep Time: 50 minutes

Difficulty: Expert

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaCard

Home Chef is based out of Chicago, so it makes sense that one of their “pi” offerings was a deep dish pizza. I’ve never made deep dish pizza at home before, so I had to give it a try!

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaPrep

I laid out all of the components for the dish and cleaned and prepared the veggies.

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaSpinach

To begin, I wilted spinach in a pot with roasted red pepper.

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaDough

While the spinach cooked, I made the pizza dough. Interestingly, this dough recipe was very similar to the one for the chicken pot pie. To make it, I combined self-raising flour, olive oil, Greek Yogurt, and salt and kneaded it for about 5 minutes.

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaDoughPan

I then rolled it out and transferred it to the provided deep-dish pie pan.

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaLayering

To construct the pie, I layered ricotta, mozzarella, and veggies in the crust.

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaSauce

As a deep dish pie is made backwards, the sauce went on top. (Interestingly, instead of a can of sauce, Home Chef included a can of diced tomatoes. I’m not sure if deep dish pizza is traditionally topped with tomatoes or sauce, but I thought it was interesting.)

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaBaked

The pizza baked at 375 for about 35 minutes.

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaDone

When it came out of the oven, I topped it with parmesan, red pepper flakes, and dried oregano.

HomeChef-March-2016-PizzaSlice

This ended up being a fairly big hit! The bready crust got a little soggy, but it didn’t stop us from devouring the pie. I should also mention that this pizza was huge. My husband and I are both pretty big eaters, and this easily fed us for two meals.

Verdict: This is my first time trying Home Chef, and I’m pretty impressed! I found the ordering process easy and straightforward, and I love the large selection of meals Home Chef has available each week. The ingredients for my meals arrived in good condition, and I found the recipe cards very easy to follow. (Though, inexperienced home cooks should pay close attention to the posted difficulty levels. The intermediate and expert recipes included techniques that beginners might struggle with.) The quality of the food itself was pretty high, though I wouldn’t describe all of the meals as “restaurant quality.” The Meatball Bahn Mis, however, were outstanding. In terms of value, Home Chef is very competitively priced in the meal box subscription market. Their meals start at $9.95 per serving, which is cheaper than Plated ($12 per serving) and on par with Blue Apron ($9.99 per serving) and Hello Fresh ($9.90 per serving).

Have you tried Home Chef?

Starting at $43.96
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Home Chef is a meal kit subscription service that allows customers to pick out specific meals each week that best fit their tastes and schedules. Whether you’re cooking for yourself and your spouse or having a full house of kids, Home Chef offers recipes that everyone can enjoy. Each Home Chef bo... read more.

Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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17 comments

A Bou

Can anyone provide feedback about how well Home Chef packaging holds up in hot weather. With Blue Apron, I get my box on Saturday mornings and am home to unpack it immediately, but Home Chef delivery would have to be on a weekday, probably in the mornings, and may not be unpacked until 6 pm. I live in South Louisiana, so you know…hot, hot, hot. I feel like my Blue Apron box is not very cold when I unpack it, even when I’m here to unpack it right away, so I’m thinking this Home Chef schedule may not work for us, at least in the summer. Thoughts?

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Sonja

We’ve been getting Home Chef meals for over 2 years now. LOVE when it’s Wednesday and our box arrives. Having everything included that you need (in the correct quantity)to make a particular recipe, is wonderful, and saves many trips to the grocery. The only things you ever have to provide are salt, pepper, and oil (sometimes parchment paper or foil). A time or 2, when there was an issue with my order (one time I got meals I didn’t order rather than the ones I had), HC has always been WONDERFUL in the Customer Service department. Couldn’t be any happier with this subscription box!

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Alison

we are about 6 months into using this delivery weekly! No joke, 2 adults and 2 kids under 5, I find it much more cost effective than buying en masse things I won’t use often (seasonings, sauces) and we have plenty for our Fam of 4 and left overs. Now, I am a good cook so the recipes are fine for me. If you are learning, look at ingredients and the steps they post first to decide if it sounds hard. Personally, I had stopped cooking because meal planning THEN getting both kids to the store was just too much, so we did trader Joe’s and such. I want them to share the experience of cooking and the ritual of it. Having everything premeasured makes it possible because they can each dump in a thing or two. It’s working well for us! I do 3 meals, fruit, and a smoothy each week for about $90 delivered and then shop for breakfast and lunch only. Couldn’t recommend it enough!

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Beth

I love Home Chef. We have been getting it for awhile. I’m so bummed though, every review I see they got a binder but we never got one. I wrote to them about it and they said it was a one time promotional thing they were doing, but it looks like people are still getting them. I wish they would just give one to everyone, it would be really nice to put the recipes in and a reward for people who subscribe.

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Sonja

I put mine in a school-type 3 ring binder of my own. When it’s full, I start another one.

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Angie

I’ve used Home Chef a lot and love it. Their steak cuts are excellent.
I joined before they provide a binder! I want one. I’ve used several of the recipes again.

The one thing I’ve learned is that since they are from the north east some of their ethnic dishes tend to be a little bland. Their turkey chili came with so much brown sugar I felt like I was eating meat candy and their bbq sauce recipes also tend to run very sweet. It’s nice that they show you all the ingredients you will get for that meal so you can decide if it’s to your taste.

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Katie

Mmmmmm!!!!!!!! That Banh Mi Sub looks Divine! I might have to subscribe;)

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Anne

Looks delicious but 700+ calories/serving on each of those dishes. Trying to eat healthier. :o/

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Dootsie Bug

It looks like they have the option to choose low cal / low carb meals in your signup process!

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Anne

Thanks for the info!! Just went to check out the site and noticed a couple of low-cal options that look delicious on their front page options…. Might have to try it out. :o)

Ragan

I regularly eat 700+ calorie dinners and am losing weight. But then, I am exercising for almost 2 hours a day…

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Amanda

I wish this was available where I lived!! I love Plated, but think this one would be even better.

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We’re on week 6 (I think) of Home Chef and we love it!! We got three different meals than you last week… Love all the options!

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Karol

Absolutely! I tried a few others and Home Chef had best selection. The recipes are relatively simple and straight forward but the flavors meld wonderfully and the portions are huge! I’ve only had a few mehs, saluted spinach anyone? High quality meats. The chicken stinks but goes away with washing and tastes fine. CS explained it was a common problem with shrink packaging so I’m down with it now.

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Lucy's

Oops Table!

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Lucy's

I absolutely love Home Chef! Makes putting a full, healthy meal on the able easy in just about 30-40 minutes tops! Plus we are low carb and they can cater to that plus do many others…vegetarian, gluten free, etc. we typically do the entree with vegies and feel it is restaurant quality….not Ruth’s Chris but still fab?

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Jennifer

HomeChef is my favorite of all the boxes I have tried. It gives a larger selection to choose from so there was always something I wanted to try and was easy to pick three meals. There have been a good amount of recipes that I have made again.

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