Green Chef Vegan Review: Is It Worth It?
In a word: Yes. But it depends on who you are, and what you like. Our Green Chef Vegan Review will help you decide.
Certified Organic ingredients, delicious recipes, and a solid commitment to sustainability. When I first reviewed the Green Chef website, the company seemed to check these major boxes. However, there were some surprises I had to get used once I started my membership (more on that below).
In 2021, the competition in the vegan meal delivery space is high. Customers have more options than ever for pre-made meal delivery, cook-it-yourself meal kits, and even subscription boxes exclusively for vegan meats.
In this competitive landscape, I think Green Chef stands out for having fresh produce, an excellent sustainability commitment, and encouraging cooking-as-a-skill. I was excited to review this company and am eager to share it with you!
Green Chef ‘Plant Powered’ Meal Delivery Overview
- Vegan-Friendly
- Starting at: $71.94
- Price per Serving: $11.99
- Frequency: Weekly
- DIY: You cook/prepare your meals
- Pause/skip weeks and Cancel anytime
- Promotions: Varied. See Greenchef.com for details!
Price
| Excellent
Green Chef is one of the best priced meal delivery services we reviewed in 2021. Minimum starting price is $71.94. Per meal, that comes out to just $11.99. Shop around if you want, but you’ll be hard pressed to find another company that will deliver the same quality for less.
Variety
| Good
When it comes to variety, Green Chef is pretty good. Browsing the menu reveals many dishes that look delicious. But compared to a company that is 100% plant based, Green Chef doesn’t offer quite as large a range of vegan meals. However, the dishes Green Chef DOES offer are flavorful and satisfying.
Ease of Use
| Excellent
Signing up for Green Chef is a snap. To get vegan meals, you’ll have to select “Plant Powered” when setting up your account (more on that below). It’s easy to do, simple to manage, and overall a very positive experience.
How it Works
1. Sign Up
The sign-up process is pretty straight forward, but I want to review it because not all Green Chef meals are vegan. When signing up, you want to select the meal plan to avoid being disappointed.
Before signing up, I recommend clicking on the Menu (located in the main menu at the top of the site). There, you can preview the meals of the week. Green Chef uses a rotating menu that changes weekly. Though it might seem like a negative, I actually grew to like it (more on that in the Menu and Variety Review below).
If you like the menu options and want to move forward, click on the Get Started button. Then, you’ll be prompted to Create Your First Box.
2. Create Your First Box
Here, “box” refers to your first delivery of pre-made meals. On the left hand side of the page, customers can choose between 3 options: Keto + Paleo, Balanced Living, and Plant-Powered. Select Plant-Powered to ensure your Weekly Menu and deliveries are all 100% vegan.
3. Select Vegan Meals
Next, you select the meals you would like to cook for the upcoming week. You can do this after registration, or you can sign in later to set it up. I recommend setting it up as soon as possible so you don’t miss the cut-off date/time.
4. Schedule Delivery
Finally, arrange your delivery to match-up with your schedule. Remember that you must cook each meal, so delivery should be schedule close to the day(s) you want to cook. There’s a lot of flexibility here. Green Chef can deliver Monday through Saturday between 8am and 8pm.
Social Proof: See What Customers Are Cookin’ on Instagram
Green Chef Pricing Review
At the time of this review, Green Chef pricing exactly matches that of rival Purple Carrot.
- Starting at: $71.94 (in-line with $75.35, the median price for other services)
- Price per Serving: $11.99 (exact match with $11.99, the median price for other services)
- Frequency: Weekly (this is most common)
- Added cost for shipping
My First Green Chef Delivery
Everything arrived on time. I found this to be pretty standard when reviewing meal delivery companies and subscription boxes. It’s 2021. Most deliveries arrive on-time these days.
What the package looks like once delivered can be another story. I’m happy to report my Green Chef meals arrived neatly packaged, no spills or mishaps.
Inside the delivery box, you’ll find each meal individually bagged and labeled. I appreciated the bagged approach, since it cuts down on plastic usage and helps with Green Chef’s sustainability vision. It also made things easy to organize in the refrigerator.
Menu and Variety Review
Like Trifecta and some other meal services I reviewed, Green Chef has a rotating weekly menu. Some people find this limiting. I used to be one of them. Now, I’ve actually grown to like it.
Most companies have a rotating menu for their own flexibility. It helps them tailor meals based on whatever foods are most fresh and available. It’s also more sustainable because it cuts down on shipping costs (and the environmental impact of those shipments). In the end, I think that’s a Win for customers.
Plus, logging-on to Green Chef to check the Weekly Menu gets to be exciting. I think this comes with trust. Week after week, I found a variety of recipes that got me excited for my next delivery. Over the course of my membership, the rotating Weekly Menu actually felt like it simplified things.
Of course, that’s probably because the menu was always diverse, inventive, and looked delicious. Here’s an example: The Chickpea Salad Sandwich. It’s almost like a calzone, minus cheese and tomato sauce. Instead, it’s made with chickpeas and stuffed with fresh greens, dried fruits, and served with a lemon aioli.
That was one of my favorite menu items. Did I mention it came with a side of Curry-spiced carrot fries?
Despite only having just 9 menu options each week, I was impressed with Green Chef’s menu and variety. The company gets bonus points for having the Weekly Menu public, meaning you can check it out without creating an account.
Can I Pause or Cancel my Green Chef membership?
Yes. Green Chef makes this super easy. And that’s a big plus, because not all meal delivery companies do.
Skipping a week (Pausing service) is really easy. All you have to do is log-in to your account, click on Menu, and select Skip Week. Just be sure to make this change by 11:59 EST at least 7 days before your next meal delivery is scheduled. Otherwise, you will be charged and the “Skip” won’t go into effect until the following week.
Canceling your plan is simple too. Props to Green Chef for making this easy. No one likes to get on the phone to cancel things. After logging-in to the website, just go to Settings, then Account, the Deactivate. The only catch: Canceling your membership must be down at least 5 days prior to your last delivery.
For the most up to date information on memberships, I recommend checking out the Green Chef FAQ section.
Green Chef Review: The Bottom Line
Overall, I had a very positive experience with Green Chef. But I love to cook. I’m not sure how someone who doesn’t like to cook would feel about this as an investment or gift.
If you’re someone who is looking for delicious pre-made vegan meals, I think Purple Carrot or Sunbasket is another option to consider. Both services have a static menu with lots of variety, and you can switch between pre-made meals and “meal kits” that you cook yourself. I find that flexibility to be important, especially if you have a busy or unpredictable schedule.
Bottom Line: If you’re reading this review, I recommend giving Green Chef a try! Pricing is great, the meals are delicious, and the company makes significant efforts to be Green in both name and practice. Plus, you can pause/skip weeks or cancel things whenever you want. Definitely worth a try if you’re looking for an easy way to eat more (deliciously fresh) plants!
21 Best Vegan Meal Delivery Companies of 2021
Learn more about the best vegan meal delivery services of 2021.
- WINNER, BEST OVERALL: Sunbasket Vegan Meal Delivery Review 2021
- WINNER, BEST FOR BEGINNERS: Purple Carrot Vegan Meal Delivery Review 2021