Meal Delivery: Green Chef

A couple weeks ago I posted a blog reviewing the meal delivery services of HelloFresh and Blue Apron. We have tried another service, Green Chef. This was another one my friend Katie has tried and sent some free meals my way (free meal code is below if you are interested).

If you want to review what we though to HelloFresh, read my post here: http://www.hamratime.com/2015/08/meal-delivery-hellofresh.html
http://www.hamratime.com/2015/09/meal-delivery-blue-apron.html

Green Chef

use my code for 4 free meals: http://greenchef.com/invite/rn4w5

HOW IT WORKS: Same as the other companies I have reviewed except they are USDA Certified Organic with no synthetic pesticides, modified organisms, artificial ingredients, or GMOs/antibiotics plus eco-friendly packaging.

PRICING 
$10.49 per person per meal for 3 Vegetarian Recipes
$11.99 per person per meal for 3 Omnivore recipes (veggie, meat, seafood)
$13.49 per person per meal for 3 Carnivore recipes (meat and seafood)

HOW IT ARRIVES: In a large box, all ingredients wrapped in a giant insulated bag with cold packs and instructions, color coded. They aren't individually wrapped per meal, but do color coded stickers on each ingredient that matches the instruction sheets.

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OUR MEALS:

Ginger-steamed Cobia

with chard argue & scallion rice cakes

Ingredients (all organic): cobia fillets, aromatic vegetables, herbs, dried shiitake mushrooms, vegetable stock, celery, Swiss chard, sushi rice, sushi sauce, mirin
Cook time: 30 minutes

Verdict: We loved the scallion rice cakes, crispy and very tasty. I liked the fish but wasn't a huge fan of the ragu. Overall it was very good, can't wait to make the rice cakes again.

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Molasses Chicken

with veggie fries & caramelized onion couscous

I forgot to take a picture, here is the one from their site

Ingredients (all organic): marinated chicken breasts, spiced orange-ginger sauce, rainbow carrots, green beans, honey-glaze, rosemary, parsley, pearl couscous, yellow onion, smoked salt

Cook time: 40 minutes

Verdict: Everything was very good. It was hard to get the chicken to cook thoroughly but not burn the outside because of the molasses marinade. It was still tasty but a little over crispy for my taste. The pearl couscous was delicious!

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Pesto Grilled Cheese

with marinated artichoke salad & tomato jam

Ingredients: ciabatta, organic butter, organic mozzarella & Swiss cheese, organic arugula pesto, organic olives, organic grape tomatoes, organic garlic, organic balsamic brown sugar, marinated artichokes, organic sprouted lentils
Cook time: 15 minutes

Verdict: Definitely my favorite of all of them. The arugula pesto was amazing and I actually saved some to put on my sandwiches the rest of the week. The balsamic glaze on the tomato salad was super tasty! I will be making this again.

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Finally Opinion: Very happy that they are Certified Organic on all ingredients compared to the other companies. I wasn't a huge fan of the color coding because the colors they sent were too close to tell (pink and red) when in the refrigerator. I actually got a couple ingredients mixed up. If they picked different colors I think it would work great.

Again...here are our PROs and CONs
My biggest PROS for using a delivery service:

• It has prevented us from eating out, we have been having dinner at home almost every night.
• Opened us up to trying new types of recipes I would have never thought of
• taught me cooking techniques I usually shy away from (ex. cutting corn off the cob instead of buying frozen or canned corn)
• And my favorite, I get 20-40 minutes of ME time to cook. It has been a huge de-stresser but still Sawyer likes to help with some recipes and that is still just as enjoyable.

And CONS:

I really don't have cons except maybe the choices of how many meals and for how many people. It would be nice to get one for 3 people and maybe just 2 times a week.