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Home Chef Alternatives: Top 5 Meal Delivery Services to Try in (2026)

Home Chef Alternatives: Top 5 Meal Delivery Services to Try in (2026)

Home Chef is a meal delivery service known for its flexible weekly meal plans and impressive customizability, but it might not tick all of your boxes.

Written by

Anju Mobin

May 11, 2023

Home Chef is a meal delivery service known for its flexible weekly meal plans and impressive customizability, but it might not tick all of your boxes.

Home Chef delivers over 7 million convenient meal kits to satisfied customers each month. You can also tailor each recipe according to your preferences, which is especially helpful if you have food allergies.

But Home Chef might not be the best fit for everyone. That's why we've put together a list of our favorite Home Chef alternatives to help you find a meal delivery service that meets your needs.

» Want even more options? Check out our top 10 picks for the best meal delivery services.

Top10's Best Home Chef Alternatives at a Glance

HelloFresh: Best Home Chef alternative overall

Martha & Marley Spoon: Best for unique recipes

Blue Apron: Best for chef-designed recipes

Green Chef: Best for USDA-certified organic products

Fresh and Easy: Best for no-prep meals

A Closer Look at the Best Home Chef Alternatives

1. HelloFresh

Offers a wide variety of regional cuisines

Best for: Families with kids

Starting price: $7.49 per serving

Special diets: Vegetarian, flexitarian, pescatarian, low-carb, low-calorie

HelloFresh offers easy-to-prepare meal kits with fresh, pre-portioned ingredients. You can take your pick from 25 recipes each week, with each meal taking around 30 minutes to prepare. They have Fit & Wholesome, Family Friendly, Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Quick & Easy, and Pescatarian menu options.

HelloFresh was able to simplify meal planning for me despite my busy schedule. One customer favorite is their prosciutto-wrapped chicken with truffled chive mashed potatoes and lemony green beans.

Pros

Takes only 30 minutes to prepare
Pre-portioned and prepped ingredients
Affordable pricing

Cons

Not many plant-based proteins
Not suitable for those with allergies

2. Martha & Marley Spoon

Delicious meals from Martha Stewart’s famous cookbook

Best for: Those who want nutritious meals

Starting price: $8.69 per serving

Special diets: Vegetarian, vegan, low-calorie, gluten-free

Martha & Marley Spoon offers delicious meals that use healthy, farm-fresh ingredients. Recipes come straight from Martha Stewart's cookbook which offers over 100 weekly recipes with instructions included in each meal box.

Their recipes are sorted into five different menus: Health and Diet, Vegetarian and Vegan, Meat and Fish, Family-Friendly, and Under 30 Minutes. Customers rave about their lemon-brown butter salmon and cauliflower rice.

Pros

Allergy-friendly meal options
High-quality, fresh ingredients
Master recipes from Martha Stewart's cookbook

Cons

No separate breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu
Lengthy prep time

3. Blue Apron

Restaurant-quality meals with fresh and seasonal ingredients

Best for: People who love gourmet meals

Starting price: $7.99 per serving

Special diets: Mediterranean, vegetarian, pescatarian, low-carb, low-calorie

Blue Apron's weekly menu has about 15 chef-designed recipes to choose from. You can choose from their Signature, Signature for Four, Vegetarian, or Wellness menus. You also have the option to select from a wide variety of add-ons, including sides, appetizers, breakfast, and desserts.

I appreciated that Blue Apron's ingredients are made with sustainable farming practices. Their garlic-caper chicken with parmesan mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts is especially tasty.

Pros

WeightWatchers (WW) recommended
Chef-designed recipes
Ingredients made with sustainable farming practices

Cons

Meals aren't organic
Not suitable for severe food allergies

» Want more recipe recommendations? Check out the best-rated dishes on Blue Apron's menu.

4. Green Chef

Certified organic and environment-friendly meal delivery service

Best for: People with dietary restrictions

Starting price: $11.99 per serving

Special diets: Mediterranean, vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, pescatarian, paleo, keto, gluten-free

Green Chef provides USDA-certified organic meal kits. With these, you can easily create a fabulous and healthy dinner in just 30 minutes. If you are a first responder, teacher, nurse, medical provider, or military veteran, you even get a special discount on Green Chef’s meal kit plans.

Make sure to try out their mushroom, artichoke, and pesto flatbread.

Pros

Easy-to-follow recipes
Organic ingredients
Eco-friendly packaging

Cons

More expensive than other options
Shipment delay complaints

5. Fresh and Easy

Ready-to-go meal kits with no prep and no cooking

Best for: People who don’t want to cook

Starting price: $9.95 per serving

Special diets: Low-calorie, low-carb

Fresh and Easy has recipes with pre-portioned ingredients, so no cutting, chopping, or other prep work is needed. You only need to heat up your meals in a microwave or oven. Oven-ready meals arrive in an oven-safe aluminum tray, and grill-ready meals come in grill-safe bags. You can also customize meals to make them vegetarian or omit ingredients you're allergic to.

Pros

No preparation needed
Oven and grill-ready dishes
Meals ready in 15 minutes or less

Cons

Limited dietary choices
No plans for singles

Why Choose These Alternatives Over Home Chef?

For a Broader Menu

When comparing Home Chef vs. HelloFresh, HelloFresh has a much broader menu selection and provides around 50 recipes to choose from each week.

For a Wider Variety of Gourmet Meals

With Martha and Marley Spoon, we found the dishes to be more advanced and use higher quality ingredients. Every week, 10 dishes are selected from Martha Stewart’s collection of 18,000 recipes, each with a complex and nuanced flavor profile.

For More Unique Ingredients

Blue Apron uses ingredients you may not encounter often, such as ponzu, red rice, and matcha. Recipes are also specially tailored by guest celebrity chefs.

For More Plant-Based, Organic Meals

Green Chef meals have more vegetarian options both as main and sides. And in contrast to Home Chef, all Green Chef's ingredients are certified organic.

Bottom Line: Our Best Home Chef Alternatives

Home Chef is a reliable and customizable meal delivery service. However, the services we highlighted above will give you a range of unique options to choose from according to your specific dietary requirements, taste, and budget. From organic and locally sourced ingredients to tailored meal plans, each of our top five Home Chef alternatives has something for you.

» Do you want to eat quick, healthy meals? Try these Freshly alternatives.

Written byAnju Mobin

Anju Mobin is a certified nutritionist, Diet and Fitness Consultant at numerous medical clinics, founder and editor of fitnesshacks.org, and a writer for Top10.com. Anju strives to simplify complex information about nutrition, health, and fitness for the general public.