We’ve been using Home Chef for years. In fact, I first blogged about the food delivery service back in 2018 (Reviewing Home Chef)and again in 2019 (Home Chef: 1 Year Check-In). Since the pandemic started, one thing that has been keeping me going is my weekly Home Chef order.
During the first year when I was working from home while Jack was online schooling, I simply didn’t have enough brainpower left to meal plan. Now that Jack’s back in school, it’s a little less crazy but I stuck with a weekly order because it makes my life SO MUCH EASIER.
The one thing that has changed over the past 3+ years of using Home Chef is Jack’s appetite. Back when we started using the service, cooking meals for two worked great because he did his own thing and ate ‘kid food’ like plain grilled chicken or macaroni and cheese. Thankfully over the years his palate has become more adventurous. In addition to his favorites like sushi and steak, he’s started enjoying the Home Chef meals with us.
Since Home Chef offers meals in groups of 2, that means we either need to stretch a meal thin for 3 people or buy double the food with a 4-person meal. Well, I’ve finally figured out a perfect little trick for making our Home Chef meals work for our family of 3.
Let’s look at my February 8th order:
I chose a salmon meal, a steak meal and a baked pasta and shrimp meal. Sure, you can double any meal to 4 servings… but that also gives you double the side items which we don’t typically need. Instead, I added on 2 extra servings of salmon.
I’ll cook all four pieces of salmon when I make the Salmon and Lemon Florentine Cream dish to give Jack his own fish serving that night. And then, I’ll use the second piece on the night that we have the baked pasta and shrimp meal, because he only likes shrimp if it’s in sushi. They usually include plenty of pasta, but if I need to throw in some more penne I typically have a box on hand in my pantry.
As for the steak, I’m not supposed to eat much red meat, so Jack and I will split the steak serving and I’ll probably throw another vegetable on the stove while I’m cooking.
Now let’s check out my February 22nd order:
For this order I have the spinach and artichoke chicken that everyone in my house LOVES, a BBQ chicken meal, a family meal of one-pan chicken parmesan pasta, and two extra servings of chicken breast.
This week, by ordering the extra chicken I can have three servings of chicken for both the 2-person meals with plenty of vegetables. The family meal will already go far, so any extras will make their way to my lunch the next day.
Other Ways I Stretch: Home Chef offers a whole “Extras” section at the bottom of each week’s choices, which includes everything from flatbread pizzas, chopped salads, or additional protein packs. This makes it super easy to throw on another option if I feel like Jack isn’t going to like the meal choice. And yes, I am quite aware that I could go to the grocery store and buy packs of chicken or salmon for a little cheaper – but it’s the convenience factor that does it for me. Frankly, something’s got to give. And if I pay a little extra and we can enjoy healthy homemade meals… I’m in!
Give $35, Get $35 Referral Code
If you would like to try Home Chef, you are welcome to use my special referral code: https://www.homechef.com/invite/julied53 Those who sign up using the referral invitation will receive a $35 discount off of their first order and I will earn $35 in Home Chef credit towards a future order.
If you do decide to try Home Chef, please let me know what you think! A little tip though, when you sign up for your first delivery go in and immediately “pause” your second delivery date. That way you can try out a box and decide whether you want to keep the subscription before having to pay for a second box. Then, if you don’t like it just hit “cancel” and you won’t get any more boxes or be charged more than your initial payment.
{Disclosure: This was not a sponsored review. I pay for my Home Chef subscription with my own money. If you choose to use my special referral promo code, I will receive a credit towards my future Home Chef orders. For anyone who does decide to use the code… my tummy thanks you!}
