Meal Kit Delivery Service - Best one?

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
25,759
24,104
136
Got a month of any meal kit delivery service of my choice for a month for Christmas - 3 meals a week. Which is perfect for me as I live alone so I'll be cooking two portions, one for dinner and then have a leftover serving.

Been always kind of interested in trying this but couldn't justify the cost. I do enjoy cooking and can do well with any given recipe. My sister narrowed it down to Blue Apron, Sun Basket, Green Chef and Hello Fresh but there are many more from some quick googling. Have any of you tried one of these services and had a positive or negative experience? I have no eating disorders like being a vegan :eek: (respect it but don't do it) - but not interested in a purely vegetarian one either.
 

Stopsignhank

Platinum Member
Mar 1, 2014
2,671
2,113
136
We have used them quite a while. One of the main reasons is that my son, who has autism, helps cook the meals. In fact he now does most of it. We started with Blue Apron and the meals are good, but they are different. Lots of kale and quinoa and different spices. It was good to start with, but after a while we missed just regular food. We switched to Home Chef. The food is more regular type of food. For both of them the quality is pretty good. For Home Chef the beef that you get is not top quality, but then we only buy prime cuts now so we may just be spoiled. The chicken cooks up great and is very tender.

The instructions for Blue Apron are easier, at least for my son to understand. He has a hard time starting step 3 when you have not finished step 2. But if you know how to cook then you can follow the instructions for Home Chef very easily. We have been using Home Chef for about a year or more and we do not have any plans to change or stop.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
452
126
I only have experience with Hello Fresh and I don't recommend it. Very small portions, produce wasn't good quality, and the recipes we had for the 2 weeks we had it just weren't very good.
 

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
25,759
24,104
136
We have used them quite a while. One of the main reasons is that my son, who has autism, helps cook the meals. In fact he now does most of it. We started with Blue Apron and the meals are good, but they are different. Lots of kale and quinoa and different spices. It was good to start with, but after a while we missed just regular food. We switched to Home Chef. The food is more regular type of food. For both of them the quality is pretty good. For Home Chef the beef that you get is not top quality, but then we only buy prime cuts now so we may just be spoiled. The chicken cooks up great and is very tender.

The instructions for Blue Apron are easier, at least for my son to understand. He has a hard time starting step 3 when you have not finished step 2. But if you know how to cook then you can follow the instructions for Home Chef very easily. We have been using Home Chef for about a year or more and we do not have any plans to change or stop.

I heard good things about Home Chef compared to the others from my ex, who I texted, and said she had tried a bunch of the major players including Blue Apron and Home Chef. Home Chef was her favorite. Hello Fresh was a hard pass to her.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,134
2,450
126
I use Everyplate. It's cheaper than most of the others, and the food is good. The menu gets a bit repetitive, though.
 

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
25,759
24,104
136
First home chef meal. Seared scallops with a creamy roasted red pepper garlic sauce with lemon zest and parsley Really good but portions seem small. I ate 3/4 of the meal for dinner and I'm an average sized dude, 5'10" 185lb.

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uclaLabrat

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2007
5,623
3,025
136
I like hello fresh the best. Portions are fine, good for a normal sized person. I'm 260 currently so I can lose weight on them.
 

NuclearNed

Raconteur
May 18, 2001
7,860
352
126
We've used Hello Fresh for about a year. We've never used any of the other services, so I can't make a comparison. HF has been great - their food is always top notch. It's very rare, but once in a while their produce isn't the freshest - but that's really my only complaint.
 
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