Between school, extracurriculars and work schedules, it can be a huge challenge to find time in my week to make healthy meals for my family. I want to and plan to, but it doesn't always happen. This past week, I DID make a couple of really delicious, healthy meals thanks to Home Chef.
Founded in 2013, Home Chef delivers fresh ingredients and unique, but simple to follow recipes, to customers across the United States. It's super easy and the meals we had the opportunity to try got a thumbs up from every member of my family, including my picky 3-year-old!
The first step is to visit the Home Chef website, sign up, complete a quick taste profile (do you prefer meat or seafood? want to avoid wheat or nuts?) and customize your delivery dates.
Second, you select from 14 meal options. Each week, these meals change, so there is a large variety. The taste profile you filled out helps you narrow down these choices, which is great if you need to avoid a certain food. I wanted input from the family, so I showed my husband and kids the options and they helped pick out two meals for us to try - Chicken with Beurre Blanc and Mexican Street Corn Flatbread. Since there are 4 people in my family, I ordered 4 servings per meal (each serving is $9.95).
I scheduled my shipment to arrive on a Wednesday and it arrived right on time. The ingredients were in bags, separated by recipe, and the box was well insulated so that everything was still cold. Each ingredient was pre-portioned, which helped eliminate food waste. All ingredients were included, down to the exact amount of spices needed. The only things I needed were some olive oil, cooking spray, salt and pepper - items that are staples in most kitchens.
One thing I really liked about the way the ingredients were organized is that they were separated in 2 person servings. That gave me the option to make the meal all at once or in smaller portions.
The box also included a binder to hold the recipe cards. The recipe cards had directions and photos, which made it super easy to follow the instructions. I'm not the best cook, but I can follow a recipe and I liked the photos because it helped me make sure I wasn't missing a step.
Another perk of a recipe card with photos? My 7-year-old wanted to help and was able to do so on several of the steps. She helped me juice the lime and it was fun to be able to include her in the process. Plus, each meal took a little over 30 minutes, so it wasn't overly time consuming.
Both meals turned out delicious and made me feel like I could actually cook! They were full of flavor and helped us branch out of our usual meal options. Our favorite was the Mexican Street Corn Flatbread. Both my 3-year-old and my 7-year-old, who can both be quite picky when it comes to food, kept asking for more!
Clean up was a breeze since everything arrived pre-packaged and measured. Plus, each recipe used as few pots and utensils as possible, which I really appreciate since I dread doing dishes!
I received complimentary products for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
