You might have heard about the sudden rise of meal kit delivery companies since lockdown happened. You heard how convenient it is to prepare and cook your fresh meals by just tapping the order button.
However, the battle between the Blue Apron vs Green Chef suddenly made it hard for you to decide which is a better option. Don't fret. We did the research to help you make an informed decision.
Green Chef vs Blue Apron - What’s the Difference?
The difference between the Green Chef vs Blue Apron meal delivery services lies in their menu, meal kits/plans, ingredients, and pricing values. Blue Apron is less expensive than Green Chef. It offers a free shipping fee if you order three Signature 2 Servings or two Signature 4 Servings plans. In comparison, Green Chef offers a flat rate shipping fee of not more than $10.
Blue Apron may partially or fully refund your money if you didn’t like the food you ordered from them. At the same time, you will need to contact Green Chef’s customer service to request a refund. You'll either get a credit or a replacement of the portion affected in your complaint. Blue Apron offers gifts from time to time, while Green Chef doesn’t provide any.
Blue Apron
PROS
- Fresh ingredients
- Allows mix-and-match between menu items
- Has a wine club
- Adheres to animal welfare standards
- Recyclable packaging
CONS
- Unsuitable for severe food allergies
- Limited customization options
Green Chef
PROS
- Certified organic ingredients
- Ingredients are pre-measured and pre-prepped
- Offers more meat products in larger portion sizes
- Certified gluten-free meals
- Has omnivore and carnivore meal kits
CONS
- Relatively more expensive
- Need to pay a shipping fee
What’s The Ordering Process Like?
To order from Blue Apron and Green Chef, people only need to sign up for an account. Enter all the details, names, addresses, contact information, and payment method options. After which, they can now select the meal plans that they want to try.
After deciding what meal plans these people wanted to take, you can select the delivery area and date you preferred your meals to be delivered. In case you suddenly changed your mind, you can still cancel your order as long as the products hadn’t been shipped out yet.
Signing Up & Canceling Orders
Blue Apron and Green Chef meal kit delivery services have easy-to-follow signing-up processes. Just click the sign-up button. For both meal delivery services, you may choose from their two-person or four-person meal plans. They also offer meat-based and plant-based menu plans best for your health/diet. After which, enter your personal details like email and credit card information.
Canceling your subscription is possible for both delivery meal services. However, we find Blue Apron easier to cancel because its information can be found on their website. Green Chef doesn’t provide its email address on its website unless you click the contact us button. In this category review, we gave the point to Blue Apron.
Types of Meals - Green Chef vs Blue Apron
Both delivery meal kit services offer plant-based and meat-based meal/kit plans, which most people love. They differ in their menu, ingredients, and the number of meals that you can order. Green Chef offers a gluten-free KETO + PALEO menu. It also comes with a Balanced Living menu with a mix of carnivorous and herbivorous meals and a Plant-Powered menu.
On the other hand, Blue Apron offers a Signature, Vegetarian, and Wellness menu based on your dietary preferences. Signature meals offer a mix of meat and fish. It is WW Approved and Diabetes-Friendly. The vegetarian menu comprises plant-based recipes. Wellness offers balanced and nutritionist-approved recipes, including carb-conscious and WW™ Approved menu options. With this, we gave this category a draw.
Popular Meal Options
Blue Apron offers up to eight various dishes per week for its Classic Plan, while you can only select up to four meals if you select the Family Plan. On the other hand, GreenChef provides up to seven meals per week in a recipe card.
GreenChef’s Keto + paleo menu option is very popular, while Blue Apron’s Signature serving is always on top of every customer’s list. GreenChef targets a specific group of customers, while the other meal delivery service gives a variety of menu options intended for a variety of customers with different dietary preferences. In this category, we gave the point to Blue Apron for giving more flexible options for your diets.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian lawyer, Politician, Social Activist, and Writer
Blue Apron & Green Chef Recipe Variety
When it comes to recipe variety, Green Chef gets the upper hand. It offers a broader option of recipes that cover vegan, paleo, keto diet, and other meat-based meals. It even lets you change the number of boxes per week. On the contrary, Blue Apron has a relatively more limited menu option. However, it allows you to switch the meals you ordered every week.
It also recreates familiar All-American family favorite dishes that most people love. It gives them a few twists while Green Chef leans on the healthier side by providing healthier meal recipes. However, if we consider the flexibility of mixing and matching your meals for the week, BA takes another win.
Nutritional Value & Quality
The nutritional value of a meal lies in the quality of the ingredients used to prepare it. Both companies claim that they use organic ingredients acquired from Farm-Fresh. GreenChef is famous for its organic veggies, while Blue Apron company boasts its fresh meat dishes free of hormones and additives from organic farms.
And since both services use organic materials, their nutritional value is on par. The high-quality and fresh ingredients give nutrients and vitamins essential for our overall health. Anyway, either of the two provides high-quality ingredients with excellent nutritional value, as indicated in their health information guides.
Green Chef & Blue Apron Ease of Preparation
When we ordered from Blue Apron and Green Chef, we greatly considered the ease of preparing and cooking the dishes. GreenChef meals usually take up to 30 to 45 minutes of cooking time. Some ingredients also didn’t require to be rinsed off, as they already came in pre-cut and pre-rinsed, which is better than some home cooks and grocery store items.
On the other hand, Blue Apron cooking time is set on an average of 43 minutes per dish. This is somewhat longer than the Green Chef’s cooking time. Some meals in Blue Apron even take up to an hour. Overall, we gave the point to GreenChef in this category.
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Shipping & Packaging
Blue Apron doesn’t charge a shipping cost as long as you order at least three meal servings per week. On the contrary, GreenChef charges a little less than $10 per delivery. Both companies also come with eco-friendly packaging. They use insulated boxes to ensure that the ingredients come to your doorstep with ultimate freshness.
It is all about the fresh, high-quality ingredients, convenience, good organization, and best delivery of their delicious recipes when it comes to this meal service company. Their packaging is eco-friendly, reusable, recyclable, and insulated. Blue Apron delivers nationwide to the contiguous United States. In contrast, GreenChef delivers in the continental United States except for some parts of Alaska, Hawaii, and Louisiana.
Blue Apron & Green Chef - What’s the Plan & Pricing?
Family Plan
Blue Apron costs a little less than $10 per serving/meal plan and would even cut the cost a dollar lower if you chose to order two meals per week. On the contrary, Green Chef costs about a little over $10 per meal plan for its omnivore and carnivore meals.
Two-Person Plan
Blue Apron charges at least $10 per meal and almost $60 per week in the two-person meal kit plan. Getting three meals per week instead of two even cuts the cost lower. While in Green Chef, their two-person meal options still cost a little over $10 per meal plan. And if you ordered their keto and paleo meals, it could go up to at least $3 more.
Customer Support - Blue Apron or Green Chef?
Well, both have excellent customer service representatives. They pick up calls within seconds and answer some queries as much as they could. To back up this review, we personally tried calling both lines, and we got almost the same response time and services.
However, we find it easier to reach Blue Apron because their contact details are placed at the bottom of their official website. Whereas GreenChef requires you to click their contact us button to find their contact details.
What Customers Say
According to the customer reviews, we have gathered, most people choose Green Chef because of its farm-fresh vegetables. On the other hand, Blue Apron takes the score for providing free shipping options.
Both companies also have an excellent reputation for the quality of their ingredients and nutritional values. They are also on par in the meal prep category, as most of their meals come pre-prepared.
FAQs
According to our research, Green Chef is more expensive than Blue Apron and Hello Fresh because it provides higher quality ingredients. This is one of the few things that Green Chef takes pride in, explaining their significantly higher price offerings.
No, it isn’t—for the next coming years, at least. Although Blue Apron did have an economic attack a few years ago, the meal kit company surged back up when the pandemic came about. Their net revenue shot up to 22%, their customer orders with a 15% raise, and 6% average order over 2020. The year 2021 wasn’t as excellent, but its first-quarter still gave Blue Apron a solid footing.
HelloFresh SE (HFG) acquired Green Chef, the USDA-certified organic meal kit delivery service, now offering the largest selection of meal choices for consumers. Adding Green Chef’s popular organic vegan and gluten-free menus/recipes, including those plans compliant with Paleo and Keto diets, HelloFresh technically owns and partners with Green Chef. [1]
Blue Apron or Green Chef? We Choose...
In the battle between Blue Apron vs Green Chef, we choose Blue Apron because it costs less and even offers a free shipping fee. It also provides meal plan options that are farm-fresh and highly nutritious ingredients.
This delivery meal kit service also provides a refund policy that may fully or partially give your money back if you find a problem with their menu/recipe. It also allows you to mix and match your meals depending on the menu/recipe you wanted to take for a certain week.
We Recommend
Blue Apron Highlights
- Fresh ingredients
- Allows mix-and-match between menu items
- Has a wine club
- Recyclable packaging
About Author
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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