HomeChef is a weekly meal delivery subscription service that sends you all the fresh ingredients you need to make restaurant quality recipes in your own home.
When you sign up, you’ll create a profile indicating the types of food you like to eat — diet-friendly, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. You can then choose to accept their recommendations or pick out other meals from their menu of 15+ recipes each week.
HomeChef sources fresh, quality ingredients and packages them fresh & precisely portioned for each recipe. Step-by-step recipe cards are included with each delivery, allowing you to enjoy the experience of cooking nutritious and tasty meals with ease all week long. They offer delivery for two, four or six people, with a minimum selection requirement of two dishes per week. You also get the flexibility to skip weeks whenever you need, and you can change your recipe selections as often as you wish prior to delivery. You can cancel the subscription at any time.
Meals start at $9.95/serving. Shipping is free on any $45+ order ($10 otherwise). — For a limited time, you can save $30 on your first box, then $10 on your second box! No coupon need, just use this link to activate the deal.
Let’s see what’s in my March 2019 HomeChef box!
All of the ingredients were packed into a square brown box with a green HomeChef logo on the side.
A peek inside!
The box was insulated with recyclable cooling packs, along with an additional gel back on the very bottom. As you’ll see later, all of the produce was fresh and in tact.
Since this was my first HomeChef delivery, my box contained a plastic binder which can be used to hold this month’s recipes and those from any future shipments.
Inside was a 2-page spread that welcomed me to the service and pointed out some of its benefits.
Each meal kit was packaged in its own resealable bag, which made it easy to keep the ingredients separated. A sticker in the upper right-hand corner indicated the name of each kit as well.
Meal #1: Cashew Tofu with Broccoli and Sweet Chili-Teriyaki Sauce
Each meal came with its own recipe card that listed all of the ingredients needed/included and provided clear step-by-step instructions with full color photos of each step. It also listed the prep/cook time, as well as nutritional information for each serving.
Cashew Tofu ingredients:
2 green onions, 1 Tbsp. chopped ginger, 12 oz. extra firm tofu, 6 oz. broccoli florets, 2 fl. oz. teriyaki glaze, 3/4 cup jasmine rice, 3 Tbsp. cornstarch, 2 garlic cloves, 1 oz. roasted salted cashews, 2 fl. oz. sweet chili sauce.
The first step was to prepare the jasmine rice, which was as easy as filling a pot with water & rice and bringing it to a boil. While the rice was cooking, I needed to chop the broccoli, mince the garlic, and chop the green onions.
I also had to press the water out of the tofu and cut it into cubes. Once cubed and pressed, I was to toss it in cornstarch and cook it over medium heat until the cubes became crisp.
Once the tofu was finished, I removed it from the pan and replaced it with olive oil, the broccoli florets, and white parts of the green onion. After 2 minutes, I added 1/4 cup of water with the garlic and ginger. This mixture was to cook until the broccoli florets were tender. The final step was to add the sweet chili sauce, teriyaki glaze, cashews, and tofu and bring to a boil.
I cannot tell you how amazing this dish was! I’m not a fan of cashews, so I left those out, but the sauce was delicious — spicy, but not overly so — and the tofu had a great texture and crispness. I LOVED it and would absolutely order it again.
Meal #2: Portobello Parmesan with Spaghetti and Zucchini
Again, all of the ingredients were tucked into its own resealable bag.
The only vegan-friendly option available for my delivery period was the tofu dish above, so I selected vegetarian dishes for my final two meals in hopes of “veganizing” them. That said, this particular meal was probably a bad choice on my part. I’m not a fan of portobellos (or mushrooms in general), but it was the only remaining vegetarian option for my delivery period. That said, I didn’t actually prepare this as I didn’t want the meal to go to waste. (I actually passed the whole kit off to my dad, who loves portobellos.)
Portobello Parmesan ingredients:
2 portobello mushrooms, 3 oz. shredded mozzarella, 1 oz. grated parmesan, 5 oz. spaghetti, 1 zucchini, 12 fl. oz. marinara sauce, 1/2 oz. seasoned croutons, 2 Tbsp. basil pesto, 2 garlic cloves.
(Since I didn’t prepare this meal myself, there are no “after” photos.)
Meal #3: Artichoke and Tomato Flatbread with Goat Cheese and Pepperoncini
Once again, the recipe card provided complete step-by-step instructions along with full-color photos to help me along the way.
Artichoke and Tomato Flatbread ingredients:
2 naan flatbreads, 1 oz. goat cheese, 1/2 oz. baby arugula, 4 oz. shredded mozzarella, 4 pepperoncini, 2 garlic cloves, 4 oz. grape tomatoes, 1 shallot, 3 oz. artichoke hearts.
After preheating the oven, I got started by rinsing the produce, halving the tomatoes, and mincing the garlic. I’m not a fan of artichokes, shallots, or pepperoncini (so picky!), so I left those out.
I then brushed each of the flatbreads with olive oil and sprinkled them with the minced garlic and tomatoes.
Since I had decided to “veganize” the recipe, I opted to use dairy-free Daiya brand mozzarella shreds in place of the cheese provided. I also excluded the goat cheese.
I baked the flatbreads for 14 minutes as instructed and they turned out perfect!
After topping them with arugula, I sat down to enjoy the fruits of my labor. 🙂 (I enjoyed it so much, that I just might have eaten both of the servings in one sitting. 😉 )
Overall, I really enjoyed my first HomeChef experience. Sure, it was a little more challenging to find meals to accommodate my vegan diet, but that obviously wouldn’t be an issue for most people. I was actually quite impressed with how delicious the tofu dish turned out and pleasantly surprised by how flavorful the flatbreads were (so garlic-y!). The recipes were all easy to follow and having the pre-portioned ingredients made preparing them a breeze. 🙂 — Remember, if you’d like to try HomeChef yourself you can save $30 on your first box, then $10 on your second box! No coupon need, just use this link to activate the deal.
Leave a Reply