When life gets busy, I eat like crap. When the kid has taekwondo, baseball, and basketball seasons going simultaneously, there’s zero chance I’ll find time to meal plan, grocery shop, and cook. Instead, we end up in the drive-thru of some artery-clogging fast food joint, leaving me feeling worse than if I didn’t eat at all. My Home Chef review will help you decide if a meal delivery service is right for your arteries.

I’ve tested more than a dozen meal delivery services, and I like Home Chef because it strikes an outstanding balance between easy recipes and tasty results. But my yum could be someone else’s yuck. Below, I will outline why you might want to consider Home Chef. Check out the video at the end for alternatives.

Sign up for Home Chef (and get meals for $4.99 per serving + free shipping)

Home Chef review: Delivery and First Impressions

When meal delivery services arrive at my home, I let them sit and sweat it out. I typically don’t touch the box until around six in the evening, as I want to simulate what it’s like for someone with a 9-to-5 job who can’t be home right when the box arrives. Do the meals stay cold? Does the ice melt? How well packaged is it?

Home Chef passed with flying colors. Despite arriving during a heat wave, the ice blocks remained icy and blocky. The food inside was still cold and fresh. I liked that they were individually packaged for easy access during a busy weeknight. I was a little surprised I didn’t find any recipes inside. I had to look up the recipe for my first creation online. Of course, once I went to break down the box, that’s when I found the recipes. They were outside the insulation to keep them from getting soggy. Duh.

What We Liked about Home Chef

The main aspects we liked about Home Chef are

  1. The flavor was on point
  2. Meals were easy to prepare in a short time
  3. Easy to keep the recipes organized

For me, the single most crucial factor to consider when choosing a meal delivery service is the flavor. Home Chef is among the best. The seasoning was plentiful. I didn’t have to add salt or anything else to make it delicious.

I also appreciated how easy it was to follow the directions. I felt like anyone could do it, even a bozo like me. Also, when I follow recipes, I tend to take twice as long as the directions suggest. This was not the case with Home Chef. I found the cooking and prep times were reasonably accurate, with most meals taking less than 20 minutes.

I love the binder that comes with Home Chef. It’s great for storing the three-hole-punched recipes. The recipes are printed on heavy-duty glossy cardboard, so when you inevitably get food on them, you can easily wipe them.

What We Didn’t Like

Home Chef meals come with a lot of packaging, so they may not be the best for the environment. Yet, food in general comes with a lot of packaging these days. Like, you can’t even buy sweet corn that isn’t like Laura Palmer: “Wrapped in plastic.” Still, it’s nice that the box is recyclable, the ice packs are reusable, and the insulation is compostable.

I wish Home Chef and other meal delivery services would offer more kid-friendly options. My kid’s diet is basically limited to chicken tenders and buttered noodles. Of course, I can make those easily without a service, but it would be nice if Home Chef could make it so I don’t have to turn elsewhere for my fingies and noods.

Who Should Sign Up for Home Chef?

Meal delivery services are in a cutthroat battle to get your dollar. So, they all offer great deals to get you to sign up. You can sign up for the cheap offer price and cancel once the price goes up. I’ve read the fine print, and there are rarely catches. I typically set a notification in my calendar to remind me to cancel. When you use our link to sign up, Home Chef’s deal is $4.99 per serving on your first box and free shipping.

Plus, when you cancel for a while, the services send you progressively better deals to try to get you back. So, you could rotate through a few services and enjoy great deals all the time.

Home Chef is the perfect meal kit delivery service for

  • Beginning home chefs, including college kids living on their own for the first time
  • Busy parents
  • Yuppies

But the following folks should look elsewhere

  1. Gordon Ramsay
  2. People who don’t want to cook at all
  3. Penny pinchers

Sign up for Home Chef (and get meals for $4.99 per serving + free shipping)

Check out our Home Chef vs HelloFresh video comparison

Check Out Our Video Review for More Details