Home Chef In A Nutshell
Home Chef has delivered over 200 million meals since it started in 2013. They offer great cooking and prep time flexibility following their mission to get dinner off your mind and onto your plate. Home Chef is available to 98% of the U.S. and has a mobile app you can use to select meals and follow recipes.
What’s on the Menu?
Meals come in the form of meal kits that take 15 or 30 minutes, or fully prepared for the microwave, oven or grill, or as more elaborate and experience-driven meal kits that have you developing and testing your cooking skills. It’s one of few meal kit delivery services that offers meals for up to 6 people weekly. It also allows you to customize meals with a variety of protein options.
There are 30+ meal choices each week, if you include the “Customize It” feature that lets you swap ingredients, upgrade, or double the proteins. When selecting your meal plan, you can indicate if you would prefer meals that are calorie-conscious or carb-conscious and also if you would like to avoid any of a number of common allergens (like shellfish or tree nuts). Vegetarian meals are also available.
The Culinary Collection contains meals with premium ingredients and adventurous flavors.
You can also select your meals by the amount of time they will take. There are 30 minute meal kits, 15 minute meal kits and “Fast & Fresh” Meals that come oven, grill or microwave-ready and require little to no prep.
Sample Recipe:
Panko-Crusted Chicken Breast and White Wine Demi with smoked Gouda mash and bacon asparagus
This recipe from the “Culinary Collection” has a prep and cook time of 40-50 minutes, an intermediate difficulty level, 710 calories, and serves 2.
At the start of the recipe you are provided with a list of ingredients you should find in the box along with the specific amounts, nutrition information for the meal itself, and a list of what you will need to use from your own kitchen, including tools and pantry staples, in this case olive oil, salt, pepper & cooking spray.
A special feature unique to Home Chef is a checklist of items for before you cook, which you can even ✅ (check off) as you go along. The pre-cooking requirements for this recipe are that you rinse and dry the fresh produce, preheat the oven, prepare the baking sheet, and you get a warning that the butter is an ingredient that will be used more than once.
There are also separate “Customize It” instructions in case you decide to go with pork chops instead of chicken.
The recipe is broken into 5 steps: 1. Start Potatoes and Prepare Ingredients, 2. Roast the Asparagus, 3. Finish the Potatoes, 4. Cook the Chicken, 5. Make Sauce and Finish Dish
Precise language and measurements are used to ensure you carry out the steps accurately. For instance: “Peel and cut potatoes into large, evenly-sized chunks” and “Place asparagus on prepared baking sheet and top with 1 tsp. olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper”.
Helpful tips are offered along the way, such as “If asparagus is thinner than a pencil, check for doneness sooner.”
Plans, Prices & Delivery
You can order between 2 and 6 recipes a week for two, four or six people. The cost is $6.99 per serving for standard meals (customizing can increase cost).
Delivery is possible Monday through Friday to 98% of the United States. Days may vary by location. Some of the products are also available in certain grocery stores if you want to pick them up in person.
Every Monday you get an email with 20+ meal options and you select your meals by Friday at noon CST of that week. Before this deadline, you can also choose to skip or cancel deliveries for any reason. If you want less frequent deliveries, you can opt for a bi-weekly or monthly subscription.
Menus are posted up to 5 weeks in advance so you can organize your schedule ahead of time
Home Chef also has a rewards program in which you can earn rewards, credits & badges after a certain number of orders and can even send boxes to family and friends.
Customer Service
There is a thorough “FAQ & Support” page featuring information about recipes & ingredients, placing orders, managing your account, shipping & delivery, vouchers & credits, among other topics. If you don’t find your answer, Customer Service is easy to reach either by email or phone. Click “Get in Touch” to send an email by completing a digital form on their website. If you want to speak to a representative, you can call 855-949-3049 (Toll Free) or 872-225-2433 from Monday – Friday 9AM-6PM CST or Saturday 10AM – 2PM CST. We tried calling and they were quick to respond and quite friendly. If there is an issue with in-store purchases, you call Kroger Customer Care at 1-800-632-6900.
Final Thoughts
If your schedule is variable, Home Chef incorporates easy to prep and fully-prepared options, so you can mix and match: sometimes you heat-and-eat and sometimes you get the home cooking experience that popularized these meal kits in the first place. The “Customize It” feature lets you adjust your protein and typically offers options with higher quality standards (like organic or antibiotic free) or Impossible burgers for vegetarians. Giving customers this choice is a logical way to maintain affordability while also supporting more sustainable and health-oriented farming practices. Their rewards and referral programs and their blog, “The Table”, replete with cooking guides and tips, together imply a desire to cultivate a sense of community among Home Chefs, another good reason to become a participant yourself.
