What is The Fresh and Easy Meal Delivery By Home Chef?
Home Chef is one of the original meal kit services operating in the USA. If you’re looking for some delicious and convenient eating at home, Home Chef is defiantly an option you should consider! The home Chef meals are filled with high-quality ingredients and simply taste delicious.
Home Chef’s mantra is to make Home Cooking Simple. Therefore, the meal kits are always generally straightforward to assemble.
This honest review will look at the specific Home Chef ‘Fresh and Easy’ meal plan.
This meal plan is the ultimate convenience service from the Home Chef kitchens, designed with meals that are ready in hardly any time. It is all about delicious and healthy dining at home with fully prepared and ready-to-make meal options.
Who Is Home Chef Fresh And Easy’s Plan For?
If you are short on time to cook and in need of a healthy, diverse, yet quick meal solution, then the Home Chef ‘Fresh and Easy’ plan is just the right option for you.
It is ideal for busy singles, couples who are always on the go, and for busy householders who are left with no power to cook at the end of a long day.
The plan’s convenient meals require minimal preparation and cleaning-up – so a delicious and healthy dinner (or lunch) is ready in no time and no fuss, and at a relatively cheap cost!
What is the Difference Between Fresh and Easy and Other Meal Delivery Services?
The main difference is the ease of use. While all meal kit services offer convenience, the Fresh and Easy plan takes this agenda to the next level – It is indeed the Easiest. Meal Kit Delivery Plan. Ever!
With this plan, dinner in your house can be ready at no time. The portioned ingredients you get for each dish come prepped and, in many cases, premade. You just need to assemble the ingredients and throw them in the oven/microwave/grill/slow-cooker.
Main Reasons to Order Fresh & Easy Meals
- Healthy eating made easy – minimal preparation time for balanced meals.
- No mess, No fuss – minimal cleaning needed if any at all.
- Budget-friendly meals at a reasonable price per serving.
- Delicious meals – grill-ready meals that come in grill-safe bags, oven-ready meals that come inside an oven-safe tray, salads, 15-min kits, slow-cooker meals, and ready to heat and eat meals!!
- Meals are well-known favorite classics with surprising and tasty twists.
- All meals are either prepared or pre-portioned and ready to cook.
- High-quality ingredients in every recipe.
- The plan accommodates some dietary preferences such as vegetarian, low-carb, soy-free, and low-calorie meal options.
The Fresh and Easy Review
The Home Chef Fresh and Easy Plan include meals for two to six people per week, as you choose. This plan has no maximum limit on orders, so you can order as many meals as needed.
You can refer to our in-depth review of Home Chef here, but today we are just focusing on the new addition to the Home Chef family of plans – and that is their new Fresh and Easy Plan.
This plan is all about convenience and includes meals that require minimal preparation and, in many instances, are ready to cook.
Plan Features
- Fast 15-minutes options – food can be made in no time, with meal kits that take no longer than 15 minutes to prep and cook, with very little mess in the kitchen.
- Oven-Ready meals – Meals delivered in a disposable oven-safe tray and ready for the oven! These oven-ready meals require no preparation and no cleanup!
- Grill-Ready meals – Ready to go on your grill whenever you are, with a grill safe bag included.
- Heat and Eat Dishes – Single-serving dishes to heat in the microwave for satisfying flavors that take zero effort.
- No prep Entrée salad meals that come with everything you need for a quick and easy salad. Just combine the ingredients and enjoy.
- Slow cooker meals – Shot prep-time ingredients that you just need to place in the slow cooker and let it work its magic.
- Dietary Options – Customers can opt for a low-calorie or low-carb option menu.
- Customers can advise any food groups that they do not eat, and the available menu will be adjusted accordingly every week.
- Add-Ons such as breakfast, appetizers, meat packs, and desserts can be added to your box, in addition to regular meals. A few delicious add ons we recommend include banana bread slice with walnut topping, chocolate lava cake, and salted caramel truffle cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust.
Managing Your Account
Home Chef makes it easy to subscribe to their services with an easy-to-use website and app.
The Sing-In Process
The plan is available as a subscription service and not as a one-time order.
To join the service, you begin with the online subscription sign-in process and make your first order. You will first need to enter your email address and select the number of meals and servings you would like to get in your delivery box per week.
You can then choose your dietary preferences, update your shipping address, payment details, and finally choose your meals.
Managing Your Fresh and Easy Subscription
The subscription offers a great deal of flexibility, and you can easily manage your account online.
- You can choose your weekly meals for up to six weeks in advance.
- There is no maximum limit on the number of meals you can order per week, and you can order up to six servings of each meal.
- You can customize most of the meals – change to the protein of your choice or double-up the protein.
How to Cancel or Pause Your Subscription?
You can pause or cancel your account at any time. All you need to do is log in to your online account by clicking ‘Account’ in the upper right of your screen.
Go to Account Settings, then go to the ‘Pause Subscription’ option at the bottom of the options to the left.
It is essential to say that pausing or canceling cost no added fees!
Some Recommended Fresh and Easy Meals To Order:
- Stroganoff Pork Meatballs with Potatoes and Peas – Oven-ready meal, with easy prep and pan included
- Bacon and Swiss Burger with Red Potatoes – Just put in the included grill-safe bag and throw it on the grill
- Mustard Pretzel Crusted Chicken with Garlic and Herb White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes – oven-ready meal, with easy prep and pan, included
- Gold BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos with Ranch Slaw – 15 minutes meal kit with stovetop cooking only.
- Green Goddess Salad – prep in only 5 minutes, with no cooking required.
- Slow-Cooker Orange Chicken and Broccoli with jasmine rice and crispy wontons
The Home Chef ‘Fresh and Easy’ Menu
You will find a range of delicious options on Home Chef’s Fresh and Easy Plan menu.
The Home Chef recipes tend to be quite classic, but you will discover they include some modern and tasty twists. The menu has dishes from all over the globe that are quick and easy to cook and broaden your culinary horizons.
Since the plan focuses on convenience, the menu includes meals prepared for the oven, grill, slow-cooker, and some tempting quick salads. There are also stove-cooking meal kit recipes that take only 15 minutes to cook.
How Much Does Fresh and Easy cost?
The prices start at around $7 per serving for most entree salads. While we can enjoy a salad for lunch, most people prefer something more substantial for their dinnertime, so the more realistic price you’re looking at starts at $8.99 per serving, and meals can be customized as well, which may change the cost of the meal.
There is a minimum weekly order of around $50.
Overall, we would say it’s a pretty affordable price for a healthy meal compared to shopping at high-end grocery stores like whole foods or ordering food from local restaurants.
Our Tasting Experience
At the Meal Kit Comparison, we are passionate about helping you navigate your way through the growing meal kit and meal delivery services industry.
To do so, we trial every component of the companies that we review. This reviewing process includes subscribing to the service, ordering a few boxes, cooking, and tasting the meals.
We have always appreciated Home Chef meal delivery service and the fact that they use such amazing veggies and proteins, and we loved our experience with their new Fresh and Easy Plan. The meals were effortless, satisfying, and an absolute treat to eat.
We recently tested three meals out of the menu. The first was the fire-roasted salsa chicken tacos with black beans, corn, and poblano peppers.
The meal, as promised, was effortless to prepare. Two heating steps in the microwave, and the meal was ready to eat within minutes!
This taco meal had a classic Mexican style taste, and we could feel the excellent quality of ingredients: a fun and easy meal for a casual evening at home. And with only 520 calories per serving, it’s also healthy and can work for your diet!
The second meal we tried was the pork cheeseburger lettuce wraps with dill pickles.
Is there such a thing as a healthy cheeseburger? We were a bit skeptical but pleasantly surprised! The yummy cheeseburger flavors, including the dill pickle slices, were juicy and delicious.
The crunchy lettuce wraps gave this sweet meaty dish a nice healthy twist, and the classic thousand island dressing was also excellent. This dish is a winner, especially since it took only 12 minutes to make.
The last dish we tried was the panko-crusted chicken katsu with fried rice. This one was a winner as well! First of all, it was really easy to cook.
Three easy steps were needed for this dish to be ready – The first step was cooking the chicken in a hot pan for 3-4 minutes, then placing it in a hot oven for another 8 minutes, until the chicken was ready.
The second step was preparing the rice. The rice arrived ready in a bag and needed less than a minute in the microwave. After the rice was hot, it only required a quick stir with the green onion, edamame, and season bland in a hot pan.
Lastly, we needed to heat the pre-made sauce for 30-40 seconds in the microwave, plate everything and serve.
The result was a delectable crunch and unique umami flavors of Japanese-style chicken katsu. The crispy fresh chicken, the fork-licking graving, the seasoning, and the unique hit of pickled ginger on top gave it a nice edge.
The Fresh and Easy Ingredients
Home Chef is proud of the network of high-end suppliers that they work with to provide the highest standard of ingredients in all their ready meals, snacks, and food kits.
Home Chef work in close collaboration with their suppliers to ensure that they follow industry-aligned animal welfare standards, as defined by trade associations, including the National Chicken Council.
Fresh and Easy Nutritional Values
One of the benefits of using a meal kit delivery service is receiving meals that professional chefs and nutritionists have crafted. A meal kit delivery service is one of the easiest ways to ensure that you look after your body’s nutritional needs.
The Home Chef meals contain the healthiest ingredients and are designed to be well-balanced. Your Fresh and Easy dishes also include full dietary details provided online.
The Home Chef Fresh and Easy Plan also have many options that are low in calories or low-carb every week.
Unboxing The Fresh and Easy Delivery Box
Home Chef makes sure to provide a well-organized delivery box as part of their excellent service.
Your chosen Fresh and Easy meals will arrive in a specially designed box that includes insulation and gel ice-pack, so everything stays at a proper temperature throughout the delivery process and for a few hours after.
When you open your box, you can also expect to find the following:
- Ingredients in separate bags or containers per meal
- Recyclable pans and/or grill-safe bags
- Colorful recipe cards
- Reusable gel ice packs and insulated liners
To stay more eco-friendly, most of the Home Chef packaging items are recyclable, and they are making every effort to be an environmentally friendly company.
Fresh and Easy Delivery Areas
Home Chef services are currently available to 98% of the country. That includes western states, eastern states, and most of Midstate locations.
You can check availability in your specific location by inputting your zip code at the beginning of the registration process.
Fresh and Easy Customer Service
Home Chef has an extensive FAQ area on the app or website. You should find the answers to most questions regarding the service.
However, if you can’t find what you are looking for, they have a professional customer support team you can reach at 872 225 2433.
You can also reach customer support via this form – https://support.homechef.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.
Bottom Line – Does Fresh & Easy By Home Chef Worth It? YES!
Our Meal Kit Comparison team makes no secret that we love the Home Chef service, and we were excited to try and review the specific Fresh and Easy plan.
We are delighted to report that with the Fresh and Easy Plan, Home Chef has created an ideal option for those with busy lives but still like to eat well at home.
The meals are full of high-level ingredients, preportioned, and ready to cook in a few short minutes.
This plan is filled with delicious meals that require minimum effort or clean-up – So eating healthy at home is a breeze.
We hope you found this review helpful in making a knowledgeable decision!
