Green Chef vs. Blue Apron 2024: Meal Delivery Battle

Green Chef vs. Blue Apron – this isn’t an easy comparison to make. Both are top-tier, excellent options in 2024. Each offers great gourmet meals, but Blue Apron has a few unique tricks up its sleeve. So, find out which 1 prevails in this ultimate comparison with the help of this guide.

I wanted to get a better understanding of both companies before crowning the winner. I spoke with my colleagues and did my own research. I wanted to compare meal variety, dietary preferences, pricing, packaging, add-ons, extras, and more. After that, I made my decision and have rounded up the results in this article.

Overall, if I were buying for myself, I’d be going with Green Chef. I find that Green Chef offers better ingredients and a wider selection of meal options and serving sizes.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety: Green Chef Has More Extensive Add-Ons

Green Chef is the winner between these 2 competitors, but it was a close race. Blue Apron offers more meal options and has an entire menu dedicated to prepared meals, but Green Chef has a better selection of high-quality proteins, a more extensive add-ons section, and is more focused on dietary needs.

Both companies offer a wide range of recipes to choose from per week. Green Chef features 45+ recipes in the core menu and 40+ items in the Add-ons menu. Blue Apron offers 80+ recipes (meal kits and prepared meals) and 15+ add-on options.

Blue Apron really stands out with its prepared and oven-ready meals. It offers around 6 prepared meals per week which you’ll find in the Add-Ons section of the menu. It also has something Green Chef doesn’t – oven-ready meals requiring minimal prep time.

When it comes to cuisines, there’s also no clear winner as both offer very interesting, flavorful dishes. For instance, with Green Chef, you can find items such as the Apple and Farro Bowls with kale, red beets, Brussels sprouts, dried cherries, and walnuts.

Blue Apron, on the other hand, provides you with delicious twists on traditional meals, replacing well-loved, family favorites with healthier, gourmet ingredients – like Smoked Gouda Burgers with Caramelized Onion and Roasted Carrots.

Let’s talk about extras – each vendor has its own unique offerings.

Blue Apron Add-Ons and Market

Blue Apron offers a limited selection of Add-ons and has a Market section from where you can purchase more meal kits and ready-to-cook recipes.

The Add-ons section includes soups, breakfasts, desserts, salads, and extra proteins. You can use this section to spice up your regular order with goodies like Prosciutto & Mozzarella Wraps, Roasted Brussels Sprout Salad, or Breakfast Apple Crisp. You can also get ground meat like pork chorizo or Skin-On Salmon Fillets.

Green Chef Add-Ons and Extras

There are 2 specific areas in which Green Chef outshines Blue Apron when it comes to add-ons and extras. 

For one, you can get a more diverse array of protein and meat add-ons. You get the option of various types of steak, and ground meats including beef, turkey, or pork, pork chops, chicken breast, shrimp, fish filets, and tons more.

The second area is its offerings of breakfast and lunch items. There seem to be more options here than Blue Apron. For instance, you can get everything from lots of flavors of oatmeal, various egg bites, pancakes, salads, muffins, keto-friendly cookies, and tons more.

Green Chef offers what it calls Breakfast & Lunch Bundles. These include Egg Whites Bites or Smoky Bacon Bites, Prosciutto Wraps, and Black Bean Mexican Salad. This is an interesting way to look after every meal time of the day without the headache of choosing.

Once again, this was a close call. But I think that Green Chef has a better selection of meal offerings and add-ons, so I’m giving it this round.

Meal Customization: Green Chef Caters to More Dietary Requirements

Neither company allows you to filter your meal preferences to avoid allergens. However, both services offer a full list of ingredients and allergens for each recipe. If you’re allergy-free and trying to stick to a particular diet, Green Chef’s the obvious choice.

Green Chef caters to a wide variety of dietary preferences and requirements such as keto, high protein, plant-based, and gluten-free. Plus, the eco-conscious company also prides itself in its use of completely organic, high-quality ingredients with no GMOs, toxic pesticides, irritation, antibiotics, or steroids.

Each of the 2 meal plans (Meal Kits and Prepared & Ready) has its own categories, but you are free to choose whichever suits your needs the best. In fact, the options may be a bit limited if you were to choose only one category.

As someone who’s trying to shed some weight, I like the look of the Wellness plan. Here you can find nutritionist-approved recipes with carb-conscious and calorie-conscious options. However, the same can be said about Green Chef, where there are more options for people on a fitness-related diet.

Overall, customization options for both meal delivery services are limited. For Green Chef, the only way to tweak your food is while cooking it by adding or subtracting ingredients, spices, or sauces. Blue Apron offers several customization options, but it’s mostly for meals that can be turned vegetarian.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing: Green Chef Has More Eco-Friendly Packaging

This was another close round, but Green Chef’s more eco-friendly packaging and 6-serving meal option gave it a narrow edge. 

Both Green Chef and Blue Apron make it easy to place an order and manage your subscription (edit, skip, or cancel) from your account. It’s also easy to create an account (while placing your first order).

The only notable difference is in the number of meals required per order. The minimum order for Green Chef is 3 meals (6 servings), while Blue Apron only requires you to order 2 meal kits (4 servings). However, Green Chef offers a 6-serving option, while Blue Apron only offers 2-serving or 4-serving meal kits. Additionally, Blue Apron offers 4 to 10 single-serving ready-made meals each week.

Blue Apron delivers your meals to all areas of the contiguous US. Delivery is available 6 days a week, but the exact days will depend on your zip code, so you’ll find out when you sign up.

Both services deliver their goods in insulated boxes to keep your ingredients fresh even if you’re not home to accept your delivery. If this happens, the insulation will keep the food inside the box cold until the end of the day it’s delivered.

Neither service delivers ingredients frozen or dehydrated. It’s highly recommended that you place all perishable items in the refrigerator as soon as you’re able to after it’s been delivered.

While 85% of Blue Apron packaging is recyclable by weight, it uses a lot of plastic. However, its site does clearly lay out all the recycling instructions you’d possibly need.

Green Chef is far more committed to eco-friendly packaging. It uses the most innovative materials on the market, making sure all of its packaging is made from recyclable, reusable, and/or compostable materials – except when it's not possible for food safety reasons.

You’ll find plastic film packages inside the Green Chef box. This is because all the ingredients are prepared and packed separately. Plus, the proprietary blend sauces and spices are delivered in small plastic film packets to keep the inside of the box intact.

Meal Prep: Both Take Around the Same Time to Prepare

Blue Apron and Green Chef meal kits take roughly the same amount of time to prepare. While Blue Apron offers a solid selection of prepared meals, its recipes are a bit harder to follow than Green Chef’s. I declare this round a draw.

Blue Apron’s meal kits take around 30 to 40 minutes to prepare, and Green Chef’s are around the same. Both competitors do offer meal kits that take a bit less time as well. But to me, the 5 minutes here or there doesn’t make much of a difference.

Both companies also clearly display the prep time on each recipe card. Also, like all meal kit services, both Green Chef and Blue Apron deliver pre-portioned ingredients to save you some prep time.

Green Chef includes ready-to-use, chef-curated sauces, dressings, and spice blends, along with super clear and detailed step-by-step instructions – easy to follow for even the most inexperienced chefs. The Mojito-Style Shrimp, for example, takes just 25 minutes to make and comes with the prepared marinade.

A lot of its ingredients come pre-chopped, but you’ll probably still need to do some dicing and grating. However, everything’s explained clearly, with chef tips to guide your cooking experience.

While Blue Apron’s meals appear simpler, the recipes are harder to follow. With vague instructions, some kitchen newbies may get confused. The instructions for the Chimichurri Shrimp, for example, could’ve been clearer to explain that the jalapeno peppers should be cut on a different board and placed to the side so that you can carefully add more in to adjust the spiciness.

Blue Apron does offer several Ready to Cook meal kits (oven-ready) each week that only require assembly. However, if you’re in a hurry, the Prepared & Ready section may be your best option.

Customer Support: Blue Apron’s Agents Are Very Knowledgeable

This was a tough one, but Blue Apron won by a slim margin. Both services offer email, phone, and chat support, along with an extensive FAQ section that answers most of your questions. However, if I were to give the slight edge, it would definitely go to Blue Apron. Overall, the chat feels more responsive, and the agents are more knowledgeable.

Blue Apron has agents available Monday through Friday 10 am to 9 pm ET and Saturday to Sunday 11 am to 6 pm ET.

Green Chef’s agents are available Monday through Friday from 6 am to 11 pm EST, and on weekends from 7 am to 7 pm EST via phone. Its live chat is available Monday through Sunday from 9 am to 7 pm EST.

That said, I tried both chat services to see how they fare against one another. Overall, I’ve always found Green Chef’s chat agents a bit lacking in knowledge. This was evident when I chatted with an agent.

The agent answered my question about dietary accommodations by stating that the company offers 7 meal plans. It was a great attempt at answering my question, but it didn’t tell the full story. But the agent was still very friendly and courteous, which speaks volumes.

Blue Apron’s chat agents always surprise me with their knowledge. This time was no different. However, it took an unusually long time to connect with an agent on this occasion.

Of all the times I’ve chatted with Blue Apron, this was the only time it took longer than 5 minutes to connect with someone. Perhaps they were low on staff that day or experiencing an unusually high volume of queries.

Nonetheless, once I did connect with someone, my experience was stellar. The agent answered my question professionally, courteously, and with a high degree of knowledge.

Pricing: Blue Apron Is a Very Affordable Choice

Blue Apron works out much cheaper than Green Chef – so it wins this round. Blue Apron tends to have special offers for first-time customers and special deals like this one here: Enjoy meals starting as low as $4.00 + get your first week shipped for free!. 

On the other hand, Blue Apron’s Prepared & Ready meals are a bit more expensive. Prices start at $12.49 for 10 single-serving meals per week and go up to $13.49 for 6 single-serving meals per week.

Meals start at $9.99 per serving at Green Chef. However, most of Green Chef’s meals actually come out far pricier. The best value is 4 meals for 4 people.

If you want fewer meals for fewer people, you could end up paying over $13 per plate (price for 3 meals per week, for 2 people before applying any discounts). However, Green Chef does sweeten the deal with special offers for first-time customers and seasonal discounts like this one here: Free Salads for Two Months + 50% Off Your 1st Box.

Green Chef’s higher prices can be explained by its high-quality, fully organic ingredients, eco-friendly packaging, variety of menu choices, and dietary preferences. But if these factors aren’t important to you, it might not be worth paying the extra.

Green Chef vs. Blue Apron — Quick Overview

And the Winner Is: Green Chef

Green Chef emerges as my superior choice. While Blue Apron brings a lot to the table, Green Chef's commitment to organic produce and wide selection of certified gluten-free meals places it a step ahead in health and variety. Its emphasis on sustainability and dietary needs truly sets it apart.

Both services offer delicious, health-focused meals. However, they cater to different niches. Blue Apron delivers crowd-pleasing, family-friendly meals, whereas Green Chef targets those seeking specialized diets and organic ingredients. 

I prefer Green Chef for its comprehensive meal delivery service. That said, Blue Apron remains a commendable option in its own right. The diversity and quality of meals from both services ensure a delightful dining experience.

Both feature prominently on our top meal delivery services list. You can delve deeper into their offerings and strengths there. This list serves as a comprehensive guide for those eager to explore the best in meal delivery.

FAQ

How much is Green Chef each week?

Green Chef’s price changes depending on how much you order at a time. If you order the maximum amount (24 meals per week), you’ll pay $9.99 per serving, plus the shipping fee. On the other hand, if you choose the minimum order (6 servings), you’ll pay a bit more.

What kind of meals do you get with Blue Apron?

Blue Apron offers meal kits and prepared meals, along with some add-ons, such as desserts, breakfasts, salads, and extra proteins. The menu includes meat, poultry, fish, seafood, and plant-based options, but there are some low-carb and low-calorie recipes as well.

Is Green Chef worth the money?

If you want to follow a specific diet and care about only using organic ingredients, then yes. Though a bit pricey, if you order the maximum number of meals per week, you can save some money. And if you use our special discount code Free Salads for Two Months + 50% Off Your 1st Box, even more savings are to be had.