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Home Chef Subscription Box Review + Coupon – July 2016

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseJul 29, 2016 | 11 comments

HomeChef-July-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. You can skip a week whenever you like.

HomeChef-July-2016-Inside

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

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

HomeChef-July-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.

Ships to: 90% of the US. (You can check to see if Home Chef delivers to your zip code here.)

Check out all of our Home Chef reviews and find other meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

HomeChef-July-2016-Quiz

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

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

I think the Home Chef website is very user-friendly, and I like how many meal options they offer. Most weeks, Home Chef offers 10 dinner options, a breakfast, a smoothie, and a fruit basket!

HomeChef-July-2016-Email

When my box shipped, I received an email with tracking information.

Meal #1- Lemon Shrimp Couscous with Spinach, Peas, Radish, and Feta

Calories: 561 per serving

Prep Time: 30-40 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

HomeChef-July-2016-ShrimpCard

It’s been so hot lately, that I’ve been craving salads a lot more than I usually do. This one looked great!

HomeChef-July-2016-ShrimpPrep

I began by cleaning and prepping my ingredients.

HomeChef-July-2016-ShrimpDressing

I boiled the couscous in salted water, and I made a dressing by combining lemon zest, garlic, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

HomeChef-July-2016-ShrimpLettuce

I cooked the shrimp with olive oil and dill, and I assembled the salad greens in a large bowl.

HomeChef-July-2016-ShrimpPlated1

When the couscous was ready, I strained it and stirred it into the bowl with the shrimp.

I divided the salad between two plates, and I topped each one with feta.

HomeChef-July-2016-ShrimpPlated2

I really liked this dish! It was fresh and filling.

Meal #2- Classic Chicken Piccata with Angel Hair Pasta and Lemon-Caper Sauce

Calories: 572 per serving

Prep Time: 25-35 minutes

Difficulty: Intermediate

HomeChef-July-2016-ChickenCard

After the knockout Chicken Piccata I had in last month’s Blue Apron box, I’m kind of obsessed with the dish. I couldn’t resist trying Home Chef’s version!

HomeChef-July-2016-ChickenPrep

I cleaned all of my produce and prepared my veggies.

HomeChef-July-2016-ChickenPasta

Next, I boiled the pasta and breaded the chicken and cooked it in a pan with olive oil.

When the pasta was ready, I drained it and added in tomatoes, parsley, lemon juice, and a sauce made from chicken base, water, lemon zest, and evaporated milk.

I plated the chicken on top of the pasta, and drizzled sauce on top.

HomeChef-July-2016-ChickenPlated

Unfortunately, I thought this dish was a bit of a letdown. The sauce lacked the tanginess I usually look for in a good piccata, the pasta was a little bland, and I was sad the recipe didn’t include capers (many piccata recipes do).

Meal #3- BBQ Turkey Burger

Calories: 778 per serving

Prep Time: 35-45 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

HomeChef-July-2016-BurgerCard

The last meal I picked for this box was BBQ Turkey Burgers.

HomeChef-July-2016-BurgerPrep

I got my ingredients ready, and chopped my veggies.

HomeChef-July-2016-BurgerOnions

First, I sautéed sliced onion in olive oil, stirring until they were well caramelized. (This took awhile…)

While they were cooking, I preheated my oven, sliced the sweet potatoes, and put them in to roast.

For the patties, I combined ground turkey, miso, ricotta, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. I seared them in a pan and then transferred them to the oven to finish cooking.

HomeChef-July-2016-BurgerPotato

When the onions, potatoes, and burgers were done, I toasted the buns and assembled the burgers!

HomeChef-July-2016-BurgerPlated

I’ve never made turkey burgers with miso, ricotta, and Worcestershire before, but it is a winning combination. These were the juiciest turkey burgers I’ve ever had!

Verdict: Home Chef offers over 10 meal options every week, and I absolutely love their large selection. I had no problem choosing three meals that sounded great this week, and, except for being a little disappointed with the Chicken Piccata, I’m happy with the meals I received. Since Home Chef offers so many different meals each week, I don’t want to generalize too much about their offerings; however, I will say that I’ve come to expect comfort food from Home Chef. 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).

Do you subscribe to Home Chef? Which dishes did you pick last week?

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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11 comments

nursermk

“…and I was sad the recipe didn’t include capers (many piccata recipes do)” But I see capers in the jar with ingredients and on the top of the pasta in your picture, unless you didn’t take your own pic and used a stock photo? Maybe I am just confused about your meaning? Anyway, the recipes look good and the ingredients fresh.

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Melissa

Let everyone know that they are in Florida now. I live in Tampa Bay and got my first box last week.

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Renee

I got the chicken piccata too and thought it was delicious. I will say that nothing beats the Sfoglini pasta that Plated uses in its boxes and I did wish I had some for this recipe. But I was pleased with how super fast and easy it was and I thought the capers added a nice salty taste. There were lots, so I got some capers in every bite. I also got the fettuccine Alfredo and coffee rubbed steaks that week. The fettuccine was another fast and easy pasta dish. I added some chicken though. The steaks were pretty good. A whole lot of comfort foods, which is what I always expect from Home Chef too.

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Trish

The menu does look really good! Ok, but I’m not understanding how many servings per meal? Is it one serving for 9.95? If you order for two people then the cost is double correct? I’m seriously looking these dinner options over closely because for me- the price per meal is great because of no waste or rock hard, not ready to eat veggies.
Plus I work full time and do pro bono work so grocery shopping is such a chore when I’m near dead on my feet!
Oh and yes, I see the capers in the chicken dish also- I think you perhaps meant another ingredient was missing?
Anyway, very nice review- Thank You.

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caward45

Yes, The price is $9.95 per person. The portions are generous and we usually have a little bit leftover. I have been very happy with the quality and the taste of many of the meals. I was disappointed with the piccata also. Not bad, just not as good and delicious as the other meals. The packaging and the directions are great. The hardest lesson I have had to learn with this box is not to overthink the directions or try to alter the recipes. The oddest and strangest ingredients have really taken us out of our comfort zone and introduced us to some terrific meals.

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Trish

Ok great- many Thanks for the additional info. I will be trying this, and the tip about not messing with the recipe is good. Some folks may feel the price is expensive per meal, but if they’d see how much uneaten produce and yes, even boneless chicken I toss out because I have nothing but plain old rice to go with it they’d understand. Also having leftovers to take to work is much better than grabbing a burger & fries because I am working thru lunch.
This will definitely work for me. Again, Thanks!

Natasha

Aren’t those capers in the plastic container labeled capers and the little green things in your pasta…?

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caward45

There were capers in my box, but I have a feeling Lindsey was commenting more about how they were used in the dish. The recipe called for the chicken to be cooked in a little olive oil. You then made the sauce with evaporated milk and the capers were dumped in at the last minute and then poured over the chicken. The Lemon was just added to the pasta and not to the sauce. So the chicken was sort of bland. Most recipes for piccata that I have had in the past have incorporated lemon and butter and capers with the chicken. There were capers, but they really didn’t add a whole lot to the dish.

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Cassandra

Haha I thought I was crazy reading about the lack of capers right under the picture of capers…

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Leah

Yeah…I’m also confused about that. Pretty sure those are capers.

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