One of the most popular meal delivery kits on the market, Home Chef aims to elevate and simplify your weeknight dinner routine. The service just celebrated its 10th birthday earlier this year and has served more than 350 million meals nationwide. Home Chef sets itself apart from the growing meal delivery landscape by offering customizable meals, family packs and even retailing some of their meals and products in Kroger grocery stores. But is the service really worth the hype? I tried Home Chef out for three months and even had the service sent to GH+ testers nationwide for their real-life feedback. Here’s our honest review, plus everything you need to know about Home Chef.

What is Home Chef?

Home Chef is a meal kit service that works on a recurring weekly subscription model. You’ll receive orders with fresh ingredients and recipe cards to make restaurant-style meals designed by chefs in the comfort of your own home. The idea is to save you time finding new recipes, meal planning and portioning. The brand also offers products in Kroger grocery stores nationwide.

How does Home Chef work?

You’ll start by visiting Home Chef’s website to sign up and input your zip code to ensure they deliver to your area. You’ll note any taste and dietary preferences you may have so the service can recommend meals. Then, you can choose how many people you are feeding (two, four or six) and how many recipes you’d like to receive (two to six per week). Next, input your billing information and then select your meals. I found the process straightforward and simple — the website is very easy to navigate. Most meal delivery services only cater to two or four people, so it’s nice that Home Chef offers an option for larger groups and families.

You can filter for calorie-conscious (625 calories or less), carb-conscious (35 grams of carbohydrates or less) and vegetarian choices, as well as meals that take under 30 minutes to prepare. There are several gluten-smart (made without gluten but take note that the facility may contain trace amounts of gluten) and keto-friendly options (15 grams of net carbs or less) each week too. The general categories for meals include:

• Classic Meal Kit: Traditional meal kits with pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow cooking instructions.
• Culinary Collection: Meal kits designed for adventurous home cooks who are up for learning new kitchen skills and exploring new flavors and ingredients.
• 15 Minute Meal Kit: Built for speed, these kits include prepped, pre-portioned ingredients that cook in just 15 minutes.
• Fast & Fresh: These meals assemble quickly and heat in the microwave in minutes.
• Family Meals: Larger meals that come with 4-16 servings to feed the whole household. This menu features at least 10 meals per week that require just one pot or pan for easy clean-up.
• Oven-Ready Meals: Pre-portioned ingredients that come fresh inside an oven-safe tray and simply need to be heated.
• Protein Packs: Skip the butcher or fish monger trip and opt for this a la carte protein offering that includes boneless chicken breasts, New York steak strip, ground beef, shrimp and salmon filets.
• Extras: Additional items including breakfast foods, appetizers and desserts.

Unique to Home Chef is a special ‘Customize It’ feature where you can upgrade, double up or swap proteins on select meals, such as subbing fish for chicken or swapping ground turkey with a plant-based Impossible Burger. Each box includes pre-measured ingredients and recipe cards with step-by-step instructions and cooking tips. Home Chef also sells their meal kits at Kroger grocery stores nationwide, which is a distinctive offering for a meal delivery service. In stores, you’ll find Home Chef’s Ready-to-Heat meals and bundles, which are essentially pre-made and just require a quick re-heating.

How are the Home Chef recipes?

When making my meal selection, I appreciated that there were so many different types of meals to choose from — if I wanted something quick and easy, I could opt for a 15 minute meal kit or if I wanted something more intensive and to try new cooking techniques, I could go for the culinary collection.

As a mother, what impressed me most was that this service really caters to busy families — you can go straight for the family meals, but even the oven-ready options were a welcome weeknight solution that felt semi-homemade without having to dirty my pots and pans. I also loved the “Customize It” option to swap out proteins for members of the family that prefer meat over fish.

From a dietitian perspective, the more health-conscious fare was well-balanced but those offerings are a bit limited. I gravitated towards the Fresh-Start meals that are calorie and carb-conscious, and also protein packed with at least 30 grams of protein per serving. Although the gluten-smart meals are not prepared in a dedicated gluten-free facility, they are made without ingredients that contain gluten and you’ll find at least six of these meals on the menu each week which felt like more variety than other services we have tested.

Since there are over 30 meals and 18 extras to choose from each week, I didn’t get bored of the menu. A tester also expressed similar sentiments: “I did like the variety of choices that were given in ordering — I think that this service doesn’t just cater to people that are busy and can’t go shopping but I also think it’s a great service for someone that is elderly and their caretaker can cook them fresh home-cooked meals.”

As far as the actual recipes, I found them fairly simple to put together especially since many of the sauces and accompanying items were already prepared. The recipe cards are well done with vibrant, clear pictures for each step. But I did feel that some of the directions were a bit over-complicated, likely because the service is trying to thoroughly explain certain steps for beginner cooks. Meals were certainly tasty, though not the most inventive in terms of flavor combinations that we have tested. However, everything was definitely delicious and there wasn’t a meal that the whole family didn’t enjoy. Popular meals among testers included the BBQ Brisket and Chile Cheddar Cavatappi, Scallop Carbonara Risotto, Shrimp Scampi, Chicken Chile Verde Tortilla Soup, Salmon with Brown-Butter Tomato Relish, and the Beef & Poblano Tamale Pie.

Proteins seemed high quality, and everything was neatly packaged in individual bags. That being said, some of the produce wasn’t in great shape and came wilted. A tester had a similar experience: “To be honest, there were some produce that was starting to wilt. The scallions were slimy so I couldn’t use the green parts, one of the green peppers was bruised and I had to cut away that section, but overall that is expected with fresh produce.” However, the kits were very complete and had everything we needed with the exception of salt, pepper and oil.

How much does Home Chef cost?

Meals start at $9.99 per serving plus shipping which averages around $13.99. But for my New York address, shipping was $10.99. The minimum order cost is $35 per week for two meals with two servings each, plus shipping. This is relatively standard for most meal delivery services, and the more meals you order the lower the cost. Family meals are also further discounted. Discounts are available for military, first responders, health care professionals, teachers, students, alumni and government officials.

Where does Home Chef deliver?

Home Chef currently delivers nationwide to 98% of the United States. You can see if they deliver to your zip code by entering it during the sign-up process. Fresh produce is shipped in a biodegradable, insulated box with water-soluble cool gel packs that are designed to keep the food refrigerated (not frozen). My food always came cold and in good condition. You can tell everything is packaged with care, and each meal is in its own individual bag which kept things orderly and organized. But this also translated to lots of plastic which did feel wasteful. That being said, most of the packaging is recyclable.

The box and dividers are all made from partially recycled cardboard and are curbside recyclable. The meal bags (#5) and ingredient bags (#4) can be recycled at all locations that accept plastic bags. The recipe cards are designed to be kept and reused, and they are also curbside recyclable. For information on recycling and disposing of the other materials, Home Chef’s website gives detailed instructions.

Is Home Chef worth it?

Home Chef has a lot going for it: delicious recipes, nice menu variety, neatly packaged kits and multiple types of meals whether you’re looking for something quick to prepare or would rather learn some more intensive cooking techniques. As a mother, I really appreciated Home Chef’s emphasis on family-friendly meals that cater to large crowds of picky eaters. The extras on the menu also help round out dinner with a side, dessert, or even breakfast and a snack. From a dietitian perspective, the Fresh Start meals are balanced and nutrient-dense.

GH+ testers gave the service overall favorable reviews as well too, noting that they liked the menu variety, easy-to-follow recipes and tasty meals. “Depending on lifestyle of that particular person I would most definitely recommend this service — I was pleasantly surprised of the quality of the products in the kit and the ease of the recipes,” one tester said. But if you aren’t ready to commit to ordering the kits online, pick one up at your local Kroger grocery store to give it a try.