How Does Green Chef Compare to Other Top Meal Delivery Services?
So how does Green Chef compare to other top meal delivery services like Sunbasket and Hello Fresh? We’ll take a closer look.
Green Chef vs Sunbasket
Sunbasket and Green Chef have a great deal in common. Like other meal kit services, they both deliver easy-to-cook, chef-crafted recipes and fresh ingredients directly to your door.
But what sets them both apart from others is their emphasis on healthy eating through farm-sourced organic ingredients and eco-friendly business practices. Both meal delivery companies are solid choices if greener living is important to you.
There are some subtle differences between them, though. Sunbasket, at this point, has only achieved the status of providing mostly organic ingredients while Green Chef bills itself as entirely organic with the only caveat, noted in their recipes, as “you will be notified in the occasion that we need to substitute a non-organic ingredient.”
Sunbasket is also working toward making its packaging completely recyclable or compostable, while Green Chef has achieved 100 percent recyclability, reusability and compostability for their shipping materials.
As far as their food choices, Green Chef offers a few additional weekly meal kit choices with 30 recipes on their menu. Sunbasket only lists around 20 meal kit recipes for the week. However, Sunbasket also offers 10 to 15 additional “Fresh & Ready” meals that are fully prepared and can be microwaved or baked in minutes. Green Chef does not offer prepared meals.
In terms of meal plans, there is a lot of overlap, but Sunbasket has a few choices that Green Chef does not, specifically Paleo, Diabetes-Friendly, Carb-Conscious and Pescatarian. With Sunbasket, you can also mix and match recipes from their full menu at any time to customize your delivery.
Finally, when it comes to pricing, Sunbasket has the edge over Green Chef as their average cost per serving is lower than Green Chef’s. But if you want to ensure you only receive organic ingredients, as opposed to mostly organic, Green Chef is the better choice.
Green Chef vs Hello Fresh
This is a particularly interesting comparison because Hello Chef acquired Green Chef in 2018 to expand their range of offerings. With Green Chef as a subsidiary, Hello Fresh can offer certified organic ingredients, and specialty plans for keto and gluten-free diets.
Founded in Berlin, Germany, in 2011, Hello Fresh has since expanded to become a worldwide company operating in 10 countries with offices in New York, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Zurich, Sydney and Toronto.
With over a decade in the market, HelloFresh has grown to be the world’s leading meal kit company, with perhaps the largest market share of all the most popular meal kit services.
Both offer a wide variety of meals with different dietary options and flavors, but there are some key differences between the two. Hello Fresh offers more mainstream recipes that appeal to a wider range of eaters with significantly more recipes to choose from each week than Green Chef.
Green Chef is known for its organic ingredients, which come from sustainable sources and are free from pesticides and other chemicals. They also cater to more specialty diets on their menus, with options for vegan, gluten-free and keto diets. The downside is that Green Chef tends to be more expensive than Hello Fresh.
Green Chef sends largely pre-prepped sauces, dressings and spice blends, but there may be some preparation required. Hello Fresh may also have some prepared ingredients and prepared meals, but the standard meal kits for both services may involve some basic peeling, chopping and dicing.
The biggest differences between the two lie in the nature of the ingredients, the meal plan options and the cost. Green Chef has a focus on organic ingredients that Hello Fresh does not. While Hello Fresh offers recipes that are Mediterranean, Carb-smart, Calorie, Smart and Protein Smart with plans that are pescatarian and vegetarian, they do not have dedicated plans for vegan, gluten-free or keto diets. Finally, the “most popular” Hello Fresh plan (three meals a week, for two people) starts at $9.99/per serving. The same plan at Green Chef (three meals a week, for two people) is $13.48/per serving. But if certified organic ingredients and a specialized diet are priorities for you, the extra cost may be worth it. It really just depends on what you’re looking for when it comes to nutrition and pricing.