Easy Meal Prep Continued: A Home Chef Review

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Freshly, which is a meal service that sends prepared microwavable meals on a weekly basis. I didn't really have any complaints, but I found that I was exclusively using these meals for lunches, which typically didn't require much prep time from me in the first place. 

I am not affiliated with Home Chef in any way, beyond purchasing a meal kit, and I am not in any way being compensated for my review.

I decided to pause my subscription, and check out Home Chef, which, again, came to my attention through the power of social media advertising.

I've received my first shipment and cooked all of my meals, so I feel I'm in a good place to review my experience, in case you're considering simple meal-prep options as well. If you decide to try it for yourself, you can save $35 with my link.

Home Chef has a variety of options to choose from, starting with the number of people that you'll be feeding, and the number of meals you'd like. I found this to be much easier to use than some other sites because it required little to no guesswork on my part. I just clicked what I wanted, and a plan was presented to me. I selected the option to feed our family twice per week and chose the "Fresh and Easy" plan, which requires very little prep work. There are options for more traditional meal kits that provide whole ingredients and require longer prep time, but my reason for choosing a meal kit in the first place is to reduce the time needed to prep.

What I liked about this option was that the meals are not strictly microwaved. In fact, it's basically a meal kit with all of the measuring and chopping done for you. The ingredients are fresh, but it requires as little effort as possible. Even the pans are included with each kit!

I can't believe I'm saying this about a meal kit, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of effort that seemed to go into the unboxing experience. Every meal is packaged in a zippered bag, again, with the pan included. You also won't find any flimsy or soggy recipe cards here-- a full-page, colorful, pre-hole-punched recipe description for each meal was included, along with a nice plastic Home Chef Recipes binder to clip them in. Also included in the binder was a welcome packet, with information about the program, company, and customer feedback. 

What immediately struck me about Home Chef is that it is incredibly well thought out. It isn't just food in a box, it's an experience. 

The Food

I selected the plan for 3-4 people and chose the Smoky 'n' Sweet Shrimp Wonton Tacos (because shrimp, wontons, and tacos sound like three separately delicious meals on their own), and the Swiss Chicken (because I know I should eat chicken and vegetables, but I struggle to make that exciting).

I received 4 bags of ingredients + a pan within each, so clearly each individual bag is meant to serve 2. Honestly, we probably could have opted for a smaller plan, but that will just give me the flexibility to try more meals moving forward if I need to switch to fewer people and more days, for a similar price point.

The shrimp and chicken were packaged separately from the meal kits, which made storage and prep incredibly simple. I could just drop the meat into the meat drawer, and stack the other bags on the shelf. No sorting or separating was required, and the recipe pages clearly state how long the meals will last once delivered.

Meal prep was extremely simple and consisted of tossing ingredients into the pans, seasoning with the provided spices (along with salt, pepper, and olive oil), and baking for about 30 minutes. The Swiss Chicken was slightly more involved, but only because the green beans needed to be cooked slightly longer than the chicken, so it wasn't quite set-and-forget, but very close to it.

So how was the food?

We all thought it was great!

The cook times were accurate, and the Swiss Chicken was perfectly done, not at all dry. I especially liked the clever yet simple mixes for slaw on the tacos and the honey mustard green beans that were served with the chicken dish. Surprisingly, even my picky eaters finished their plates both times, and that's really saying quite a lot considering they wouldn't touch the kid-specific meal plan I once tried.

If I had to provide a single criticism, I would only mention the amount of packaging-- it's necessary because of the pre-measured ingredients, but I cringed a little with all of the plastic bags.

So would I recommend Home Chef? Yes! I absolutely would. I love the fresh yet simple-to-prep meals, and the options available. Because it uses fresh ingredients, it's doesn't taste like a microwave meal, and the options include a lot of fresh vegetables-- something I'm really trying to incorporate more of into my diet. Home Chef is an easy way to cook dinner at home but skip the measuring and chopping when you're short on time.

Want to try Home Chef for yourself? You can save $35 off of your first order with my link.