Home Chef Subscription Box Review & Giveaway

Ingredients for Pan Fried Tilapia Po' Boy with Remoulade & Cajun Potato Chips

Recipe Results

Ingredients for Kung Pao Chicken with Dried Chilies, Peanuts & Green Onions

Recipe Results

Ingredients for Japanese Chicken Yakitori with Baby Bok Choy Slaw

Recipe Results

This is a review of a food subscription box from a company called Home Chef. Most meals cost $9.95 a serving and there are ten recipes to chose from each week including one breakfast and the rest are dinners or lunches. Usually they offer pork, beef, chicken, seafood, turkey & three vegetarian dishes. A typical box of three recipes for two people which makes six meals costs $59.70 including tax and shipping. You are free to chose more dishes or less but there is a charge of $10 for shipping if your order is less than $40. They also offer fresh fruit and trail mix for $4.95 a serving. They are launching today a new smoothie offer which sounds wonderful. New menus go up on Fridays at 12 pm CST. It's easy to skip a week or more on their website under "Delivery Schedule" and you can change which day of the week it arrives and how many servings from 2, 4 or 6. You can also give them feedback and rate the dishes you try under "order history". It's your choice of letting them chose which three dishes you will receive by letting them know your dietary preferences under "my cooking profile" or you can change it under "menu". That's where you can also pause your account. I'm looking at the new menu right now for the week of May 25th and oh boy they all look so yummy. It's going to be a challenge to decide which ones I want. I'm starting with adding the Peanut Butter Nutella smoothies to my order for $4.95 a serving. Here's a list of all the offerings:

Beef & Brandy Steak Diane with a Cremini & Dijon Cream Sauce, Whipped Potatoes and Asparagus, 920 calories
Coconut Crusted Shrimp with Sweet Chilli Slaw & Lime Crema, 679 calories
Neapolitan Pizza Margherita with Fresh Mozzarella, Bail & Balsamic Frisee, 629 calories, 549 calories
Cajun Blackened Chicken with Greek Cucumber & Feta Salad, 549 calories
Classic Beef Stroganoff with Cremini Mushrooms in a Rich Sour Cream Sauce, 722 calories
Stadium Style Bratwurst with Grilled Onions, Sauerkraut & Potato Wedges, 1110 calories, 763 calories
Roasted Pork Tenderloin & Soba Noodle Bowl with Teriyaki Broth, 763 calories
Cornmeal Crusted Fried Green Tomato Sandwich with Maple Caramelized Onions, Dill Pickle Aioli & Steak Fries, 823 calories
Garden Vegetarian Rigatoni Bolognese with Robust Tomato Sauce & Fresh Basil, 712 calories
Southern Fried Chicken & Biscuits with Onions, Pickles & Honey Butter, 892 calories
Fresh Fruit Basket with nectarines, apples & fresh citrus
Peanut Butter Nutella Smoothies with Bananas & Greek Yogurt, 752 calories

So I think I'll order number 2, 3, 5, 11 & 12! But I'm also tempted by 4, 6, 8 & 10! I may add a couple more since I don't like what Blue Apron & Plated have to offer that week, so as soon as Hello Fresh shows their menu I will decide. I'll also be asking Hubby which ones he wants. Which ones look yummy to you? Ok on to my review of our first Home Chef box:

Pan Fried Tilapia Po' Boy with Remoulade & Cajun Potato Chips

This was a good meal and certainly filling. Sadly, the shredded lettuce arrived with brown edges. I appreciate them shredding it for us, but usually you have to use it the same day or it goes brown. Also, our tomato wasn't ripe and I needed to make this dish the day it arrived since seafood won't keep long. The baguettes were a nice quality. I would have preferred just about any seafood other than tilapia since it's not the healthiest and lacks flavor. I was surprised I liked the Louisiana Hot Sauce. It was sweet and spicy, so yummy. I would have preferred the cajun seasoning only on one item rather than both the sandwich and chips. If I was going to make it again I'd only add the spices to the chips. It was quite easy to make and took about thirty five minutes. This was our least favorite dish. Certainly a treat meal at 782 calories.

Kung Pao Chicken with Dried Chilies, Peanuts & Green Onions

Oh my was this delicious! I can't eat Kung Pao Chicken normally because the sauce at most Asian restaurants has too much sugar and corn syrup which causes an immediately stomach ache for me. This is Hubby's most ordered dish at Asian restaurants since nothing bothers his stomach. This sauce was lighter and so I ate an entire dish of Kung Pao for the first time ever! The jasmine rice was easy to cook and such a comforting texture. Hubby left in the chillies by mistake so our dish was very spicy. Next time I would take those out. Since we ate in the dark in front of the tv, one of those chilies went in my mouth and when I chewed it caused quite a reaction on that side of my mouth. Our lips were tingly after eating! It was a nice generous portion and Hubby enjoyed cooking this dish for the first time. Another quick and easy dish and it had 620 calories which I'm sure is so much less than a typical restaurant's version! I'd say this was our favorite of the three dishes.

Japanese Chicken Yakitori with Baby Bok Choy Slaw

This was our second favorite dish and coming in at only 367 calories it's even more enjoyable since it's guilt free! Though this is more of a lunch portion than dinner. It makes for the perfect lunch! If there had been more salad it could have passed for dinner. This dish is a little more time consuming at forty minutes. The salad was very crunchy and the light dressing was simple composed of only cilantro, mirin, brown sugar and lime juice and it was delicious. The bok choy in the salad was surprising good since it wasn't cooked. The marinate for the chicken only took fifteen minutes and was surprising flavorful for such a short marinate time.

So there you have it, a review of our first Home Chef box. Our second box arrived today and we will be making the following recipes this weekend:

Shrimp Maki Sushi Roll with Wasabi, Soy Sauce & Sriracha, 635 calories
Buffalo Turkey Burger with Bleu Cheese, Sweet Potato Wedges & Celery Slaw, 888 calories
Dijon Bone In Pork Chop with Mustard Cream Sauce, Grilled Corn & Applewood Smoked Sea Salt, 561 calories

Yes, that's right we will be making sushi for the first time tonight! How fun! I have also reviewed their competition: Plated, Blue Apron & Hello Fresh. So check out those reviews before you leave. Before you leave don't forget to claim your Free Graze Box and enter my Home Chef Subscription Box Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway Rules: for new Home Chef customers over 18 in the US, must provide name & email address to me and credit card info to Home Chef in case you want to continue with the subscription. Skipping future shipments is easy and can be done on their website under "delivery schedule" and canceling under "my cooking profile". Home Chef will email the winner with a link to redeem gift. Choice of Tuesday-Friday delivery of food & recipes shipped via FedEx.

Bargain Alert - Hello Fresh - $40 off your first box, use coupon code "YVWF79".

Plated - $30 off your 1st box from Plated, click here.
Home Chef - $30 off your 1st box, click here.