My partner and I are often left scratching our heads over what to have for dinner - and that’s before deciding whose turn it is to cook.
Then there’s also the palaver of having to dash out to the supermarket to pick up what we fancy.
So the idea of getting recipes and ingredients sent to our door from Green Chef was definitely appealing.
No wondering what we’ll have for dinner, as it’s already there. No going out to the supermarket to pick up what we need. Sounds ideal.
But is it worth the money? We tested three meals out from Green Chef to see what we thought.
If you’ve never heard of Green Chef, it’s a food delivery service that sends you ingredients you need for chosen dishes, along with instruction cards to make your food.
It allows you to pick what meals you want for either two people or four people, over three or four days, with weekly delivery slots available on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays.
There are different types of boxes to choose from - for example, if you’re vegetarian or vegan, or trying to follow a lower carb or more balanced diet.
They also have a keto box, which is for people trying to stick to low carb, high fat foods.
I’m a vegetarian, my partner is a meat eater, and we went with the veggie box for two people, over three days, which cost £39.69.
Green Chef started in the US and has just launched in the UK after being acquired by HelloFresh.
What were the meals like and were they easy to cook?
We chose ingredients to create cajun black bean patties, honey halloumi tacos and a veggie ramen salad.
Each recipe card was super simple to follow - even for someone like myself who would happily admit that she isn’t a whizz in the kitchen.
The cook times were also accurate too, with the lengthiest meal only taking around 45 minutes from prep to table.
My only criticism in terms of making the food, was for the veggie ramen salad, it was recommended that you use a spiralizer on the carrot and cucumber.
We don’t have a spiralizer, so we grated ours instead which I don’t think looked as great compared to the professional photo on the menu card.
Green Chef also suggests that you use a vegetable peeler to create long ribbons from your veggies.
We weren’t blown away by the veggie ramen salad - it was a little bit bland and it probably wouldn’t be one we make again.
But the cajun black bean patties and honey halloumi tacos were absolutely delicious and full of flavour - we’ve already made the patties again!
It feels good knowing we have two new dishes that we’ll happily do again in our household.
In terms of portion sizes, we managed to get four servings out of the veggie ramen - we had it for dinner and lunch the next day.
The cajun black bean patties could’ve easily gone around four people - we had two patties each - and there were plenty of sweet potato fries, maybe even too much for two people.
At first, we wondered whether the tortillas to go with the honey halloumi tacos were possibly too small - but we were genuinely stuffed after our third one each.
How much would it cost to make these dishes normally?
Now, the price. As a money journalist, it would be shameful of me to not do the math and break down exactly how much it would really cost to make all these dinners if you purchased everything yourself.
I calculated that, if you didn’t have any of these ingredients already in your cupboard or fridge, you could pick everything up for £22.68 - which is a whopping £17.01 more than the price of the cheapest subscription.
And in some cases, the supermarket price accounts for a larger amount than what we got in the box.
For example, Green Chef sent a pouch of honey but the price we’ve calculated below is for a 340g jar that’ll last you over multiple meals.
This means your costs in theory would be reduced further if you were to recreate these meals again, as you’d only need to buy the fresh ingredients and would already have some bits in your cupboard.
So is it expensive? Arguably yes, although it depends on if you’re happy to pay for the convenience.
For other meal plans, you’ll pay £48.69 for four meals for two people, £63.99 for three meals for four people, and £79.19 for four meals for four people.
Green Chef claims its meals start from just £4.70 per portion.
Here’s how we broke down the costs for the meals we tried out:
Veggie ramen salad
- Mooli - 58p (Asda)
- Rice vinegar - £1.89 (Asda)
- Egg noodles - £1.19 (Aldi)
- Shallots - 75p (Asda)
- Carrots - 29p (Asda)
- Cucumber - 46p (Asda)
- Pea shoots - 32p, based on splitting 65p bag with another recipe (Asda)
- Honey - 85p (Aldi)
- Chilli flakes - 49p (Aldi)
- Soy sauce - 45p (Aldi)
- Edamame beans - £1.30 (Tesco)
- Black sesame seeds - £2 (Tesco)
- Olive oil - Not included
- Sugar - Not included
TOTAL - £10.57
Cajun black bean patties
- Red onion - 25p (Asda)
- Garlic - 45p (Aldi)
- Mushrooms - 75p (Aldi)
- Sweet potatoes - 89p (Aldi)
- Mayo - 59p (Aldi)
- Cajun spice - 65p (Aldi)
- Quinoa - £1 (Asda)
- Black beans - 49p (Aldi)
- Cornflour - 75p (Asda)
- Avocado - 26p, based on £1.05 for pack of four (Aldi)
- Rocket - 47p (Aldi)
- Lemon - 25p (Asda)
- Olive oil - Not included
TOTAL - £6.80
Honey halloumi tacos
- Halloumi - £1.45 (Aldi)
- Plum tomatoes - 85p (Aldi)
- Lime - 20p (Asda)
- Coriander - 47p (Aldi)
- Red chilli - 46p (Aldi)
- Honey - Price taken into account in purchase for previous recipe
- Avocado - 26p, based on £1.05 for pack of four (Aldi)
- Tortilla - 85p (Asda)
- Natural yoghurt - 45p (Aldi)
- Pea shoots - 32p, based on splitting 65p bag with another recipe (Asda)
TOTAL - £5.31
Would we buy it again?
The fact that you can buy everything much more cheaply would put us off ordering Green Chef on a long-term basis.
Saying that, I can absolutely see the appeal for those who've got the disposable cash and who are stuck for inspiration in the kitchen.
It was also a dream to not have to worry about popping to the shops to buy anything, as everything you need is right there.
Two of the dishes are new favourites of ours too, so we'll definitely be making them again - but we'll be buying everything ourselves to save cash.
Head chef and nutritionist, Anna Tebbs, said: “Green Chef is all about abundance and variety, not restriction. Long-lasting healthy eating, not fad diets or quick fixes. Balance and accessibility, not restriction.
“So, whatever your lifestyle or dietary preferences, we’re hoping to provide the inspiration and culinary know-how to give people what they’re after, and make healthy eating as simple and tasty as possible.
“We want every recipe to be something our customers are not only excited to eat, but also proud to have cooked.”
