Home Chef Subscription Box Review + Coupon – May 2018

Home Chef is a meal kit subscription that delivers you a weekly box of the pre-portioned ingredients you need to make two to six meals that feed two, four, or six people. Home Chef advertises easy recipes that can be made in about 30 minutes. They say their ingredients are fresh (though they don't provide a lot of information about their sourcing practices), and they offer vegetarian, gluten-free, and calorie/carb-conscious recipes

This is a review of the plan I customized that includes a mix of beef, fish, poultry, and vegetarian options (starting at $9.95 per serving) for two people, with two meals a week ($39.80) + a smoothie  ($4.95 per serving) + a no-cook lunch ($7.99 per serving) to equal $65.68 total. Delivery is free for orders over $45. Shipping is $10 for orders less than $45.

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

About Home Chef

The Subscription Box: Home Chef

The Cost: Meals start at $9.95 per serving, and delivery is free for orders over $45.

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

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

Home Chef May 2018 Review

When you first sign up for Home Chef, you take a short quiz about your meal preferences and dietary restrictions. I like that they ask what you like to eat, as well a what you like to avoid. Based on your answers, Home Chef will choose recipes for you to get each week. As is the case with most meal kit services, you can log in and hand-select the recipes you'd like to receive. Note though, that the more particular you are with your diet, the fewer options you'll have. I'm pretty open to most proteins, so I currently have 10 different options for next week. There are also some "Add-On" items like fruit, smoothies, or quick lunches that you can choose to include in your box.

On one box flap, you'll find their social media handle, @realhomechef.

The other flap gives a short rundown on how to properly dispose of the various packaging.

After opening the box you'll see instructions on how to recycle the packing material right on it. You can throw the cotton fiber "stuffing" in the trash (or compost, if you are so inclined) and recycle the plastic.

You'll then find all of your ingredients tucked inside. The vegetables and non-meat items will be on top.

Under them, you'll see a cardboard divider that lets you know there is more below.

This is where the ice packs are: with the meat to keep those extra cold. You can choose to toss the packs into your freezer to reuse, or simply cut them open to dump the contents into your normal trash and recycle the plastic.

Each Home Chef meal comes in a plastic bag, except for the meat, and some ingredients that are too large (such as ears of corn).

The bags are labeled as well to cut down on any confusion when you have multiples in your fridge.

Adobo Chicken Enchiladas with Jalapeño Pepper and Sour Cream

Calories: 811

Time to Table, According to Home Chef: 45-55 minutes

Actual Time to Table: 65 minutes

Cook within: 5 days

Difficulty: Intermediate

Spice Level: Mild

I've never made enchiladas before, so I was pretty excited to try my hand at this delicious Mexican dish!

After prepping the ingredients, I added the chicken breasts to a hot pan with oil and cooked until browned on both sides, about 12 minutes total.

The chickens were then laid to rest in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 5 minutes.

I then woke them up and shredded them.

Next, the chopped onion and jalapeno went into the pan for about 2 minutes until they softened. I didn't use all of the onion because it just seemed like SO MUCH.

The corn was then added and cooked for an additional 3 minutes.

I turned the heat off and added the chicken and stirred it all up to mix it well. I was supposed to add some cheese as well but I'm pretty sure I totally blanked on that. Whoops.

I put some enchilada sauce at the bottom of my newly purchased glass baking pan.

Each tortilla was filled with the mixture without stuffing it.

Then they were rolled and put into the pan-seam down.

The rest of the enchilada sauce went on top...

Then the cheese. The whole shebang went into the oven for 15 minutes, covered with foil. The foil came off after than and they cooked an additional 7 minutes.

Here they are fresh out of the oven. A true thing of beauty.

My friend Kelly (who I had invited over for dinner) each got three enchiladas topped with sour cream and fresh jalapenos.

This was really fantastic, even if I forgot to add cheese to the filling! That probably would have made it even better though. Now I know that enchiladas aren't particularly hard to make- they just take a really long time (it took over an hour).

Baked Italian Sausage Farfalle with Garlic Bread

Calories: 882

Time to Table, According to Home Chef: 30-40 minutes

Actual Time to Table: 45 minutes

Cook within: 5 days

Difficulty: Easy

Spice Level: Not Spicy

I normally don't go for Italian sausage for whatever reason, but I try to expand some of the meats to give y'all a bit of variety. Plus a big old baking dish served family-style is always easy for me to deal with.

I first made the simple oil/garlic/parmesan topping that would be going onto the ciabatta roll.

I squeezed the sausage out of the casing (I don't think I've ever done that before) and mushed it up in a bowl before adding it to the hot pan to cook for 4 minutes. It then went to a bowl to wait until it would be added back in later.

The zucchini I sliced up went into the same pan with minced garlic for 5 minutes until it was soft and browned.

I had been cooking the pasta so while the zuccs cooked, I drained it (reserving some water) and put it back into the pot with olive oil.

Once the zucchini was cooked, I added everything back into the pan, including the sausage, pasta, reserved water, and marina sauce until thoroughly mixed.

Then it all went into my trusty new glass pan (that I used for the enchiladas) and was topped with mozzarella before going into the oven with the ciabatta garlic bread.

Look at this gorgeous meal, right out of the oven. Don't you want to just divein?

This wasn't even half of it. This recipe made what seemed like a TON of food, which I love. The garlic bread was dope, but the baked dish was out of this world!

I ate this portion, plus another one maybe half this size. The sausage was so freaking good and the zucchini went perfectly with everything. I even ate the leftovers of this meal a couple days later which is really out of character for me.

Steak Caesar Salad

Calories: 469

Time to Table, According to Home Chef: 5-10 minutes

Actual Time to Table: 5 minutes

Cook within: 7 days

Difficulty: Easy

Spice Level: Not Spicy

I'm a fan of getting the quick lunch add-on with Home Chef which pushes me into free shipping territory. I decided to try their steak salad since the other ones I've gotten are always chicken.

The only prep work is washing the produce and chopping up the full head of romaine they send. I know there was a recent romaine scare, but I suppose I live dangerously.

I thought the serving portion was great and it filled up my largest bowl. The steak was tasty and all of the ingredients tasted fresh. It took so little time to put this together too.

Cranberry Orange Dream Smoothie with Honey and Greek Yogurt

Calories: 286

Time to Table, According to Home Chef: 5-10 minutes

Actual Time to Table: 10 minutes

Cook within: 7 days

Difficulty: Easy

Spice Level: Not Spicy

Last month was the first month I added on smoothies and I liked it so much I decided to do it again this month.

My only issue on this one was the direction "Zest orange, peel, and separate into sections". That confused me, so I went online to see that there was an extra photo (that looked like the one above) which clarified it for me. Once in a while, the printed recipe leaves something out, which is why I'm glad they exist on their website as well.

All of the ingredients went into my blender. I have to say that when I make smoothies off the cuff at home, this is the part that is impossible as I never get the ratios right and I struggle to get everything to blend properly. I always end up adding waaaay more liquid than orignally thought. That's why I appreciate the smoothies from Home Chef that are already measured out.

Like last time, it all blended quickly and easily without any hassle.

I then added 2 cups of ice and ended up with a colder, thicker smoothie.

Ta-da! Here is the smoothie on my porch with a colorful straw from Ikea. Recently it's been brought to my attention that straws are one of the worst things ever for the environment though, so I won't be using many more and suggest getting a reusable plastic or metal straw instead that doesn't get thrown away. Straws aside, this smoothie was really yummy and QUITE orange-y. I tried to save the second serving for the next day but it did NOT keep well, so I'll be making sure I can drink both servings in the future the same day or have a buddy to help me.

Verdict: Home Chef knocked me out again with some stellar recipes. I think I am on a roll with meal kits in general and simpled adored the Baked Italian Sausage recipe! I also enjoy the new habit of getting a quick lunch and smoothie added on to my order which grants me free shipping (for going over the total $45.00 threshold). 

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Since Home Chef menus change weekly and you must choose them ahead of time, you won’t be able to order these dishes unless they are offered again in the future.

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

Value Breakdown: At $65.68 for this box, each dinner was $9.95 per serving, the smoothie was $4.95 per serving, and the lunch was $7.99 per serving with free shipping.

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

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What do you think of the Home Chef meals I chose this month?