Green Chef Gets the Green Light

August 02, 2019

There is truly nothing more satisfying than a home-cooked meal but sometimes fall into a rut, making the same easy, go-to meals for lack of time or energy. There’s always trusty takeout and the thrill of trying new eateries but having local restaurants cater for dinner every day isn’t exactly feasible. There’s a ton of hype now about meal kits, but still few promising options for those with alternative diets, and vegans especially. Green Chef’s plant-powered meal plan strives to switch that script. I recently tried a week of this approach to home cooking, and I’m glad I did.

Green Chef is a meal kit delivery service that caters to specialty diets, including vegan and vegetarian. They send organic, pre-portioned ingredients and easy to follow recipe cards that take the stress out of the typical dinner rush. Every week, they have a number of different recipes to choose from, so you can cherry pick exactly the flavors you’re craving. All the ingredients are pre-measured, so there less food waste. No more forgotten heads of kale left to rot in the vegetable crisper, or full bottles of obscure spices you’ll only want to use once.

My first experience using Green Chef was actually with a friend of mine who, shall we say, isn’t exactly a skilled chef! She was able to follow the recipe and make the meals without too much trouble, and more importantly, was excited to take away some fundamental skills she had never previously attempted. Simple things like how to roast vegetables or cook quinoa; I take these things for granted, but if you have less experience in the kitchen, this is the next best thing to a personal cooking lesson from a chef.

The first meal from my box was an Israeli Salad. This was a favorite of mine- All of the herbs and spices included were so fresh, so bold, so vibrant! It had a crisp tomato and cucumber salad, creamy tahini sauce, and aromatically spiced chickpeas. The dish was filling without being too much, and all of the flavors and textures complimented each other perfectly. Green Chef is a USDA certified organic company, and sends produce sourced from local farms. A big plus for me was that each recipe was enough for 2 meals. My life can be a little hectic, so knowing I have some tasty leftovers in the fridge for lunch really makes my day a lot easier.

Next up were the Jackfruit Sloppy Joes and Carrot Fries. This was not something I would ever order off a menu or attempt to make from scratch, but I was very happily surprised by the results. The plant-based take on the classic sloppy joe was delicious, and I put my own spin on the carrot fries by cooking them in my air fryer to prevent heating up the oven to roast them as originally instructed. This made them extra crunchy on the outside and even sped up the cooking time.

I love middle eastern-flavors, so I also enjoyed the Green Pea Falafel. It was paired with roasted red pepper couscous and kale cucumber salad, all drizzled in a spiced tahini sauce. Like most of the recipes, there were quite a few components to cook, but worth the extra effort for the ultimate flavor payoff.

I made the same tweak for the Grilled Zucchini and Orzo salad. The zucchini went into the air-fryer for an effortless touch of char-grilled goodness, but I still wasn’t overly impressed with this recipe. The only suggestion for the side of chard was to toss with salt and olive oil (not included), so I had to add a lot of my own seasoning. Definitely not my favorite, this meal felt a bit haphazard and really didn’t come together in a compelling way.

My biggest complaint with Green Chef is that the recipes are a little lengthy. They all took around 40 minutes to make, which is a considerable chunk of time for someone accustomed to whipping up 10 minute meals. The other major drawback was that each preparation called for a lot of pots and pans to cook all of the components, which meant a lot of washing up afterwards.

Green Chef is a particularly promising option if you’re new to veganism or new to cooking in general. It takes the fear and frustration out of meal planning, if you’re trying to eat healthier but struggle to set yourself up for success. I especially love that most of the packaging is recyclable or reusable. On top of that, all the produce was very high quality, and I love having the recipe cards, so I can recreate the recipes at a later date. Green Chef got me out of my dinner rut, all while stoking the flames of inspiration for new dishes to come!

If you’d like to give Green Chef a try for yourself, you can follow this link to get $75 off for a limited time.

The post Green Chef Gets the Green Light appeared first on BitterSweet.

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