Green Chef meal kits make dinner delicious and organic

Green Chef (owned by HelloFresh) is a great meal kit subscription for beginners. I said the same in our article Meal Kits Buying GuideThe recipe cards are filled with helpful photos, and the intuitively grouped instructions don’t skip important steps. I’ve spent weeks testing meal kit subscriptions during my tenure at WIRED, but we’re testing them again to give you a personalized review. Green Chef has been an honorable mention in our guide ever since I first tested it, and I still think it’s a good option for people looking to build their cooking skills.

Green Chef has a few plans available. You can get three meals with two servings per meal (which works out to $13.49/serving), or you can go up to four meals with six servings per meal (which works out to $11.99/serving). The various lifestyle and diet filter options include plant-based, low calorie, high protein, keto, and gluten-free (among others). Note that Green Chef costs more than similarly styled meal kits — that’s because nearly every ingredient is organic.

There are usually some introductory offers to make your first week cheaper. Each week you get to choose your own dishes Weekly Menu and make any customizations, such as changing proteins or adding extra portions. You can pause or cancel your subscription at any time, provided you do so at least five days before your order ships. Most packaging is made from recycled materials and It is self recyclable,

an emotional rollercoaster

During my week of testing the Green Chef, I experienced a lot of highs and a lot of lows. Steak and Shrimp with Creamy Truffle Sauce It was a brownish, over-salted disaster — partly because of my heavy hand with the Maldon flakes, and (I think) partly because of the instructions telling me to add salt to my dish six different times. For reference, there was no specific type of salt to use — most meal kit services tell you to provide your own, so I just used that. flaky sea salt I always add seasoning. I was so absorbed in following each step thoroughly that I didn’t even stop to think, “Hmm. I’ve already added salt and pepper to this four times.” Instead, absentmindedly, I added seasoning enthusiastically, and eventually I cried, threw it away, and sadly found myself DoorDashing for chicken nuggets at 10:30 p.m. And anyway, besides the salty sauce, I didn’t like the accompanying green bean and tomato side. I didn’t like the ratio of shrimp to steak. I did not like this dish at all!

On the other hand, my Chicken with Maple-Dijon Sauce It was delicious. Possibly one of my favorite dishes I’ve ever made. The chard, sweet potato and apple hash could have been a meal in itself, and the maple-glazed chicken was divine. I realized I had to make this with Sweetgreen (the Harvest Bowl), and after thoroughly tasting the finished dish so I could review it, I deviated from the recipe and added a slice of goat cheese to mimic the Harvest Bowl. It was perfect. So good I didn’t want to share it. I loved this dish so much that I saved the recipe card.

And I had a similar experience with the third dish—Buttery Lemon-Garlic Shrimp. The highlight of the meal were the sun-dried tomatoes that were soaked in a mixture of lemon juice and vegetable broth. They were bright and tangy, a true delight that brightened up the otherwise heavy, crumbly pasta. I’ve cooked with lemon juice, sun-dried tomatoes, and vegetable broth hundreds of times. Why had I never thought of mixing them together before?

Overall, I found the time estimates for the recipes to be a little low. I think all recipe kits have this flaw. If you’re Ina Garten or one of the amazing Bon appetit Food editors, you may be able to estimate the time correctly. But for the average person, it’s safe to allow a 20-minute buffer beyond the estimated prep time shown on the recipe card.