There are a bunch of meal delivery kits to choose from, and it can be quite overwhelming, but there are two strong meal prep companies that continue to remain at the forefront – Blue Apron and Green Chef.
Both Blue Apron and Green Chef are leading food prep companies – their online ratings and testimonials speak for themselves. But at the end of the day, they’re very similar in quality, and it comes down to your dietary preferences, ingredient quality, and price.
Blue Apron, the original meal kit delivery company, is a weekly ingredient and recipe meal kit service that’s available across the continental US. It’s the company’s variety of flavors and versatility that Blue Apron fans love the most. And because they partner with sustainability experts, your weekly ingredient box delivery will be packed with high-quality ingredients.
Green Chef is a healthy meal kit delivery service that sources organic, sustainable ingredients to create gourmet-inspired recipes. Specializing in many different diets and lifestyles, Green Chef’s meal plan options include paleo, keto, vegetarian, vegan, omnivore, carnivore, and gluten-free.
Blue Apron
Pros
- Contains all you need for easy gourmet meals
- Pre-portioned meals mean less time prepping
- Variety of recipes, so you never grow bored
- Easy to follow cooking instructions
- App improves general cooking and teaches techniques
- Suggested wine pairings for wine lovers
- Prices range from $7.49 to $9.99/serving
Cons
- Unique international flavors may not be everyone’s cup of tea
- Cooking times can be lengthy
- A lot of plastic waste due to individually wrapped items
Green Chef
Pros
- Uses high quality fresh ingredients that are organic, sustainable and non-GMO
- Caters to specialized diets
- Ingredients are pre-prepped before delivery
- Restaurant quality recipes
- Pause contract and skip weeks with ease to suit your timetable
Cons
- Lacks classic feel-good classic recipes like the all-American favorites
- Cooking times can be lengthy
- Keto, paleo, gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan plans can’t be ordered in the family-sized versions
Dietary Options
Blue Apron
Green Chef
Blue Apron doesn’t really cater to any dietary options unless you opt for its signature vegetarian box for two. So, in this sense it’s quite restricted. However, if you want to challenge yourself and love the idea of eating restaurant-quality foods, you can always adjust the meals accordingly at home. Another bonus is that you have a selection of foods to choose from, so if you don’t like a recipe or it doesn’t suit your dietary requirements, just skip it.
Green Chef is great for anyone who’s following a tailored weight-loss program like keto or paleo. It’s particularly hard finding delivery meal boxes that cater to keto, because of the strict macronutrients. With fresh organic products, Green Chef also offers vegetarian and vegan menus.
Dietary Options Winner
Green Chef is the clear winner for dietary options offering vegetarian, vegan, paleo, keto and gluten and dairy free options.
Meal Prep & Variety
Blue Apron
- 50+
- 2 Meals for 2 People
Green Chef
- 6-8 in each plan
- 3 meals for 2 people
Both meal plan kits have some delicious recipes to cook. Blue Apron is more adventurous and introduces a lot of new flavors, which you’d probably be less likely to try cooking at home without the inspiration. And with 12 different meal choices on offer per week, you’ll soon (if you’re not already) become a budding chef.
The great thing about both meal kits is that you don’t actually need much (or any) prior cooking experience. Both Blue Apron and Green Chef have easy to follow instructions, and Blue Apron even takes it one step further with its online app that will teach you the basics of cooking, like knife skills.
While some kitchen equipment is needed for both meal box programs, nothing extravagant is required. If anything, Blue Apron requires a few more pots, pans, and trays, whereas Green Chef follows more of a throw-together style method. Both plans are suitable if you’re limited for time and range between 25-40 minutes, depending on the recipe.
Meal Variety Winner
In terms of meal variety, Blue Apron is far superior, as it allows you to select a few meals from a bigger pool each week. So if you’re not a fan of a particular ingredient or taste, you’re not compelled to order it.
Ingredients
Blue Apron
- Non-GMO
grass Organic- Grass Fed
- Wild-Caught
Green Chef
Green Chef’s name is no accident, and the company advertises its fresh, organic products as one of its selling points. If you’re concerned about where your food comes from, Green Chef uses only organic and GMO-free ingredients.
Ingredients Winner
Both companies offer fresh and non-GMO produce, but Green Chef goes the next step with all organic ingredients making it the winner.
Taste & Sample Meals
Blue Apron
- Seared Steaks & Calabrian Chile Butter with Collard Greens & Cheesy Potatoes
- Mediterranean Farro Bowls
- White Cheddar Cheeseburgers
Green Chef
- Sweet Chili Chicken Thighs
- Sage Pesto Baked Cod
- Cherry BBQ Pork Meatloves
Blue Apron has easy-to-follow recipes that are of high restaurant quality, meaning you could be a seasoned chef in no time. If you’re eager to improve your culinary skills, the app is also impressive. Blue Apron is perfect for couples, especially if you consider yourself to be a bit of a foodie.
It does have a family-style pack that can serve up to 4 people. We’d recommend Blue Apron for a family with older kids, since many of the recipes won’t appeal to younger pallets. There are vegetarian options, and because you get to choose your recipes, you’ll be able to cherry-pick what’s right for you.
Green Chef is tailored towards people that have restricted dietary and health-related goals, and caters to diets like keto, paleo, and carnivore diets. This is good for singles, couples, and anyone following a specialized diet.
There are a few family-style options that serve up to 4 people, but these are limited to only a few diet plans. In short, some of these diets aren’t appropriate for kids to follow, which makes it a bit harder to cater to family-style cooking.
Taste Winner
Blue Apron has double the meal selection each week, since Green Chef only offers 6 meals per plan, and you cannot choose meals across plans.
Pricing
Blue Apron
MEALS PER WEEK | 2 PEOPLE | 4 PEOPLE |
Two | $12.49 | $9.99 |
Three | $10.99 | $9.49 |
Four | $9.99 | $8.99 |
Five | $9.49 | $7.99 |
Green Chef
MEAL | SERVING | COST/SERVING |
Meal Kits | 2 | $11.49 - $24.49 |
Fresh & Ready | 1 | $9.99 - $14.59 |
Blue Apron’s prices are average when compared to other meal delivery kits of the same quality and start at just $7.49 per serving with a minimum order of two meals per week for two people. Green Chef, however, is on the pricier side. Prices start at $10 per serving, but this can increase depending on the diet plan you decide to order.
Each meal delivery service has a flat shipping fee of $7.99 for the minimum order, but if you decide to level up and order three meals per week with Blue Apron, the delivery fee is waived.
Pricing Winner
The Blue Apron meal prices average $2 to $3 less than Green Chef’s. This makes Blue Apron more affordable, unless you are willing to pay extra for the organic ingredients in Green Chef.
Packaging & Recycling
Blue Apron
Green Chef
When you open your Blue Apron box, you’ll be surprised to see how much plastic is actually used – almost every single item is wrapped individually in plastic, which means a lot of unnecessary waste.
Green Chef, on the other hand, as its name suggests, the company is much greener. As well as kitting your meal box out with sustainable organic products, it’s also mindful of its packaging, which can be recycled.
Packaging Winner
Green Chef wins with less plastic and their insulation is made a plant based insulator called Climacell, and much of their produce is put inside paper bags.
Customer Service
Blue Apron
- Difficult
play_circle Skip a Weekpause_circle Pausestop_circle Cancel
Green Chef
Both meal delivery services have flexibility when it comes to skipping a week. If you’re not going to be home or just feel like something different, the online apps allow you to do this.
As far as cancellations go, you have the option to cancel your meal box subscription at any time. Still, Blue Apron makes it a little more complicated with no simple way of canceling, forcing you to email customer support for a link that allows you cancel.
Customer Service Winner
Cancelling your weekly meal delivery should be easy, and there should be no hidden tricks, which is why Green Chef is the winner here.
Winner
Blue Apron
Blue Apron is our winner in this meal delivery service head-to-head. It offers twice the meal options each week as Green Chef, unique recipes, and cooking instruction at $2 to $3 less per serving than Green Chef. It also offers wine pairings for your meal selections giving you a complete fresh meal homemade without all the menu planning, shopping, and measuring.
Choose Blue Apron if you:
- Love to cook and want to be more adventurous in the kitchen.
- Want more control with what you order each week.
- Want a variety of recipes from around the world.
- Like colorful glossy recipe cards with simple instructions.
Choose Green Chef if you:
- Follow a special diet, such as keto or paleo.
- Prefer using fresh organic ingredients in your cooking.