Our third recent adventure with meal delivery services was again prompted by an offer of a discount; this time we tried Home Chef, a service that advertises its services as ""easy recipes with fresh ingredients", and "with meals starting at as little as $7.99 per serving. With the online offer, we ordered three meals for two, got $30 off and paid $24.70; the second week cost $49.70. For three generous meat- based meals, this was a pretty good bargain, considering the interesting ingredients that would have cost us at least double that if we had to stock up on all of them in a grocery store.
Menu - We were impressed by the choices that we had for each week, and it was easy to find three meals that were different from what we would normally cook for ourselves, not overly spiced, and attractive. There are now 16 menu choices for the upcoming week on the Home Chef site, including three lunches (the $7.99/serving choices) and one premium meal (filet mignon at $19.95 per serving). All but three dinners, which are mostly priced at $9.95 per serving, feature meat or fish, and there is a variety of beef, chicken, shrimp, salmon and others from which to choose. Meals are labeled for difficulty, possible allergens and spice levels, too, which make choices easier.
Meal plans - Meals can be ordered for two, four or six servings, and in any number of meals; there are also smoothies, and seasonal fruit baskets that can be added to the order.
And each dish was ample enough that we ate our fill and had a bit left over for the next day. And it was very easy to look ahead on the delivery calendar, see upcoming meal choices, and suspend or cancel delivery, since menus are set five weeks in advance. (Skips on deliveries or edits to menu selections, must be received by 12pm(CST) on the Friday prior to the scheduled delivery day.)
Delivery - Delivery is free for orders over $45, and costs $10 for orders less than $45. The meal came on the day that it was promised, but the delivery day of the week can be changed easily.
Packaging - Home Chef prides itself on its green packaging; the box, which is recyclable, is lined with recycled, compostable, biodegradable cotton and denim inside a recyclable plastic film. Ice packs that cool the box and keep ingredients fresh are filled with a non-toxic mixture of water and salt that can be reused or safely disposed of and the plastic recycled. In fact, all of the packaging appears to be recyclable, in areas where plastic bags are allowed.
The box contained a zipper bag with the meat and seafood, each individually wrapped within, and one zipper pouch with the ingredients for each dish, plainly labeled. I did not have to sort out the food into recipes, as is the case with other services. All looked fresh and was protected, but with the least amount of wasteful packaging of the serives we have tried.
Recipes - The recipes came in a handy binder, and I found them to be fun and easy to follow. Most of the ones I chose involved browning vegetables on a baking sheet, often searing a meat in a pan, and all had really great, but not overpowering seasonings. And they all came out looking like the pictures on the recipe cards!!! This, to me, is a BIG accomplishment!
We ordered a Baking Sheet Shrimp Boil, with shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob, Italian sausage, and peppers, all seasoned with Old Bay and baked together. While this did not give the sausage a chance to flavor the other ingredients as well as a boil might, the flavors were great, and the cooking times were spot on. And there was so much of each ingredient that were leftovers for lunch the next day!!
The Roasted Salmon with Ginger Scallion Sauce did not disappoint, either. Large portions of salmon were seared, then baked and served with a lovely teriyaki/sesame glaze, along with green beans seasoned with ginger. The beans were not perfectly fresh, but we may be spoiled by having them grow rampant in our garden, and there were so many of them that we again had leftovers!! 
The third recipe was probably our favorite - -Coffee-rubbed Steak with brown butter mashed potatoes and roasted carrots with dill. The rub and demi-glace on the steak paired perfectly, and the sirloin steaks were more tender than any sirloin we've bought! My only complaint was that one steak was significantly thinner than the other, which meant that I had to adjust cooking time for one, and gamble that they'd both turn out right (which they did!!).
There was one error in a recipe, in which a step told me to use "the rest" of an ingredient, and then instructed me to use half of it in the next step -- obviously in the wrong order. But it was easy to spot and rectify, especially if one read the whole recipe through before starting.Measurements - With the exception of a couple of times in which I had to use "half" of an ingredient, and it was hard to judge how much that would be in a little bottle, most of the measurements were easy to follow and made sense.
Nutritional information - Unlike the other services, Home Chef only offers a small single line of nutritional information per serving - listing calories, carbohydrates, fat, protein and sodium.
Additional - We liked that the meals were labeled with a "serve by" date; we were able to cook the ones that needed to be eaten in three days first, and save the one that could be cooked in 5 days for last.
The recipes in the Home Chef menus are sorted by main ingredient, or diet restrictions (vegetarian, milk-free, etc.) and featured through the blog called The Table. It also features recipes with seasonal ingredients, beverage recipes, cooking tips and how-tos, and other fun articles.
Summary - We were impressed by the variety and interesting meals offered by Home Chef; this is what were are looking for - new recipes that are easy to follow, fun to cook and break up our routine. We admitted that we would make each of them again, given the choice, and will continue the Home Chef delivery for a while, before we try another service.
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