Blue Apron vs Green Chef: Our In Depth Meal Kit Comparison
Blue Apron
Blue Apron is a meal delivery service that provides its clients with chef-designed recipes including quick top-rated favorites, one-pan dinners, and fantastic Mediterranean meals. These meals are delivered in insulated boxes where their freshness are guaranteed.
- Shipping Cost: $0
- Average Price Per Meal: $9.99
- Delivery Area: All locations in the continental United States.
Green Chef
This is a meal kit delivery service that offers its clients a variety of food programs for different diets. Their team of food enthusiasts and experts are always coming up with some new creative recipes for healthy and delicious meals that will undoubtedly satisfy any appetite and taste. These dishes are made with all home cooks in mind, from vegetarians and vegans to devoted Paleo eaters and meat lovers.
- Shipping Cost: $9
- Average Price Per Meal: $13.99
- Delivery Area: most locations in the continental United States, except Hawaii, Alaska and a few areas in Louisiana
Meal Options
Blue Apron
- Vegetarian
- GMO-free
- Family-friendly
- Gluten-free
- Omnivore
- Hormones-free
Green Chef
- Paleo
- Gluten-free
- Keto
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Low Carb
- Family Friendly
- Organic
- Kid-friendly
Plan & Pricing
Blue Apron
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Two-Person Plan $47.95
Offers two meals per one week for two people
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Four-Person “Family” Plan $71.92
provides two meals per one week for four people
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*Each Two-Person plan can be upgraded to 3 meals per week while the "Family" plan can be set up up to 4 meals
Green Chef
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Two Person Plan $14.99 / serving
Offers 3 meals per one week for two people
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Family Plan $12.99 / serving
Offers 3 meals per one week for four people
Flexibility
Popular Meals
Blue Apron
- Spicy Soy-Glazed Chicken Thighs with Green Beans & Jasmine Rice
- Oregano Chicken over Farro with Feta, Olives, and Lemon-Garlic Dressing
- Shrimp over Tomato-Jalapeño Rice with Avocado and Cabbage Slaw
- Italian Beef & Cheese Sandwiches with Garlic Mayo and Roasted Potato Wedges
- Crispy Chickpea Grain Bowl with Currants, Harissa-Glazed Carrots, and Almonds
Green Chef
- Chicken with caper sauce, roasted broccoli with Parmesan cheese & olives
- Caribbean spiced pork chops, pineapple-lime sauce, & collard-strewn cauliflower “rice
- Pecan-crusted barramundi, lemon-caper sauce, creamy collards, & roasted veggies
- Korean veggie stir-fry, broccoli, shiitakes, bell pepper & edamame, rice
- Roasted carrots & barley, chard, garbanzo beans, & artichoke gremolata
Our Comparison
Meal Options
Every meal service is only as good as food that they are offering to their customers. It’s simple as that. So, when you have to choose between multiple meal kit services, this element is one you should definitely look out for. Naturally, because of this, every service strives to improve their offer to be as best as possible.
Check our complete list of top rated meal kit services for 2020.
Blue Apron offers an array of eight different dishes per week if you select the Classic Plan, and four dishes if you select Family Plan. Different from Blue Apron, Green Chef can offer you seven different menus. Which one of these you will choose will depend on your dietary preference. Green Chef is offering menus for following preferences: vegan, vegetarian, keto, carnivore, gluten-free, paleo, and omnivore. From these menus, you can choose from three different meals each week.
So, you see that Green Chef`s offer is higher in numbers than Blue Apron’s. But we can surely say that the numbers are not the most important thing. The fact is that Green Chef is more, let say – intended, for certain groups of customers, and Blue Apron doesn’t recognize those differences and tries to reach out to all people, without making several menus. In our opinion, Blue Apron is better in this category, because they are not limiting themselves to few categories of customers.
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The Quality of the Ingredients
After seeing what Blue Apron and Green Chef are offering, we should take a look at the ingredients they use when they are making their meals. Naturally, they need to be quality enough so the meals can be tasty and healthy at the same time.
Both companies are claiming that the ingredients they are using are organic and acquired from small farms, who have a big tradition in growing certain ingredient. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about vegetables or meat. When it comes to Blue Apron, they are claiming that the meat they are using comes from organic farms that don’t feed animals with hormones and additives. When it comes to Green Chef, they are offering only organic vegetables. This is what they are famous for.
After trying a high number of meals from both of these meal services, we can say that all of their meals are tasty and healthy, and they are worth every penny you will spend on them. We still wait to be disappointed. Frankly, we don’t think that day will come. Like we said earlier, it is entirely up to your dietary preferences. We simply cannot decide who has better ingredients, this is not an easy thing to say.
Nutritional Value
Like we already stated, both of those meal services pick ingredients for their meals from carefully selected farms. If the ingredients have the quality and they are fresh, there is only one outcome. We can guarantee that these meals are going to set your food standard on a higher level than it was before.
With Blue Apron, you can be sure that their meals are made of quality ingredients. They are saying that all of their chiefs and other staff have a close collaboration with the farm owners. So, the ingredient used to make your meal is almost handpicked by the chief itself. When we are talking about Green Chief, the situation is pretty clear.
They have different menus, which consist of meals made specially from vegetarians, vegans, paleo etc. All of their meals are of the highest nutritional quality. So, it is only up to you and your dietary preferences. It is not an easy task to choose the better side in this category, so we are going to leave it up to you. For those who are preferring more traditional dishes, we recommend Blue Apron, for those who want more vegetable-based meals, we recommend Green Chief.
Also, both services won a place in our list of best rated meal kit services for weight loss, check it out.
Recipe Variety
When it comes to the variety of recipes from those two meal kit services, we need to say that Green Chef wins this one. They are offering twenty-one recipes, which are divided into seven menus that are available each week. These menus are keto, paleo, carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and omnivore. You can select from three different meals each week from them. Different from Blue Apron, which offers a more traditional approach, Green Chef will give you an insight into some new dishes. All of their dishes are healthy, highly nutritional, and tasty.
As we said earlier, Blue Apron will provide you with traditional meals made with a somewhat different approach. You can choose from eight different meals each week, which can be complemented with wine subscription, if you prefer it. Each meal takes about up to an hour to be prepared. So, you see that preparing them will not take too much of your time.
Follow our guide for more best wine subscription boxes.
In the end of this segment, we would like to repeat that Green Chef wins this one. However, numbers are not the proof of overall win, like we will explain further in the article.
The Packaging
When it comes to this company, it is all about the fresh, high-quality ingredients, convenience, good organization and best delivery of their delicious recipes. Their packaging is eco-friendly and insulated.
Blue Apron makes sure that all of the ingredients stay fresh by including ice packs inside the packaging. They deliver nationwide to the contiguous United States.
The great thing about Green Chef is that they are a real green meal delivery service. They invest great efforts into teaching people about the food waste seriousness. Their packaging and boxes are either reusable or recyclable.
They deliver almost everywhere in the continental United States. But, bear in mind that this company is currently unable to deliver to parts of Louisiana, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Customer Support & Service
Blue Apron
- Switching plans –You can switch or change your meal plans up for the next week.
- Cancellation – If the order is shown as processed you will not be able to cancel it. But, you can cancel or skip the delivery.
- Refunds – Blue Apron offers its clients partial or full refund if they don’t like food that they have ordered.
- Gift – This company offers gifts from time to time.
- Free Trial –Sometimes, Blue Apron can offer your free trials.
- Customizable – This meal delivery service allows its customers to choose which ingredients they want more of, which they want to avoid or change.
Green Chef
- Switching plans – Their clients can try different diets, switch meal plans, or stick to the one they find most suitable for their lifestyle.
- Cancellation – You will be able to cancel the delivery when you don’t like what’s on the menu, or just skip the weekly menu.
- Refunds – if you are dissatisfied with meal or ingredients for any reason, you can contact the Green Chef’s customer service team within seven days after delivery, and they will either credit you the purchase price for that product or replace the affected portion at their expense.
- Gift – They don’t offer gifts to their clients.
- Free Trial – Green Chef doesn’t offer free trials for their new customers.
- Customizable –You can change your meal plan whenever you wish, receive shipments every 2 or 4 weeks or skip a week.
Final Verdict
After taking a look at all the advantages and setbacks, we came up with our verdict. And the winner is – Blue Apron. The reason is simple. They are a cheaper and more interesting option than Green Chief. Simply, we feel that limiting yourself to a few special groups of customers is not something that will give you an advantage in the long run.