Founded in 2013, they quickly grew to deliver over 10 million meals in America by 2016. In 2024, it is still one of the industry’s most popular and innovative meal kit companies with annual revenue of more than $ 750 million, with no signs of slowing down, and for good reason, I might add.
Along with its regular meal kits menu, the company offers a meal plan called ‘Fresh and Easy’ – which specializes in convenient, hassle-free meals. This plan features a variety of options including meal kits, ready-to-cook dishes, and pre-made meals, all designed to minimize prep, cooking, and cleanup time.
To assess its effectiveness, our testers personally tested Fresh and Easy with home delivery, evaluating its performance firsthand – including re-evaluation in early 2024.
Short On Time? In a Nutshell, Do We Think It’s Worth It?
We’re big fans of Home Chef, and their Fresh and Easy Plan has only deepened our appreciation for this meal delivery service! Tailored for busy individuals or those less keen on cooking during weekdays, it offers a diverse menu of quick-prep, oven-ready, and pre-cooked meals.
The Bottom Line: the meals are super easy to craft, delicious, and made with great-quality produce.
Subscribing to the Fresh & Easy plan promises to simplify your life while ensuring you enjoy wholesome, flavorful meals.
Who Is The Ideal Customer?
The Home Chef Fresh and Easy Plan is tailored for busy individuals or households seeking convenient meal solutions without sacrificing health or flavor. This plan is ideal for those short on time for cooking and cleanup, as it ensures super easy, delicious, and nutritious meals that can be enjoyed at home with minimal work involved.
Pros & Cons Of The Service
Fresh & Easy Pros – What Makes It Stand Out?
- Designed for convenience
- Relatively affordable.
- Yummy meals!
- A large variety of weekly meals to choose from
- Classic favorite recipes and meals, often with a fun twist
- Quality ingredients from trusted suppliers
- Options for a low-carb or low-calorie menu
- Option to switch proteins in your selected meals
- Add-on options like juices, fast breakfast, salads, and more
Fresh & Easy Cons
- Lots of packaging (all recyclable)
- Limited dietary support; no vegan and paleo options
- No plan for singles
Meal Plan Options
Home Chef offers the option to choose meals for two to six people, with no maximum meal order limit. The menu has a great selection of 30 weekly meals, including a range of delicious and convenient add-ons.
The Fresh and Easy Plan is the ultimate convenience plan. This plan from Home Chef provides a menu of meal kit options explicitly designed for people with little to no spare time on their hands. As said, the meals in this plan are quick and super-easy to prepare.
Meal Types Featured In The Fresh & Easy Menu
- Express meals that are prepped, portioned, and ready to cook in 15 minutes or less.
- Oven-ready meals that come with pre-portioned ingredients inside a disposable oven-safe tray.
- Slow-cooker meals include prepped and portioned ingredients that can be placed in a slow cooker before you go to work. Home-cooked dinner is ready when you come back home from a long day.
- Grill-ready meals with prepped ingredients that can be assembled in a grill-safe bag and placed on the grill. Usually offered during summer months.
- Entrée salad meals that include vegetables and pre-cooked proteins that simply just need to be combined.
- Customers can specify a preference for low-calorie and low-carb options.
- Customers can specify which foods they don’t want included (E.g., no pork, no meat, etc.)
The Home Chef Fresh and Easy Style of Meals
The Fresh and Easy plan by Home Chef is all about convenience and good taste. You will find a menu filled with fabulous classic favorites. Recipes include modern, surprising twists to keep your taste buds always interested in what the next meal might throw at them.
There are many recipes with international influences, from American classics, like burgers, to Asian noodles and stir-fries, and Mexican favorites like tacos and rice bowls.
The Fresh and Easy Plan offers oven-ready meals, no-prep entrée salads, pre-cooked microwave meals, and 15-minute meals.
The Fresh & Easy sample weekly menu:
How Do the Home Chef Fresh and Easy Meals Taste? Our Hands-On Experience
Part of our thorough review process involves tasting a few of the meals from every company we review. At the Meal Kit Review, we are huge fans of Home Chef, and we have found that the Fresh and Easy Plan meals are as good as the regular Home Chef meal kits.
The meals are filled with the quality fresh ingredients that we have come to expect from Home Chef. Everything just tastes so delicious.
In our most recent delivery in January 2024, we couldn’t get enough of the two meals provided; The Oven-Ready Shrimp Scampi Couscous and The Cherry Chipotle Brisket Tacos. Simply delicious and so easy to prepare!
Taste Review – Oven Ready Shrimps Scampi Couscous
Whipping up the Shrimp scampi couscous was easy, needing just a quick prep despite its 15-minute oven time. Following the simple instructions, it all came together smoothly and conveniently.
Now, let’s talk taste – it hit the spot with its classic, satisfying flavors. The shrimp were fresh and juicy. Note that you can also customize the dish and swap out the shrimp with diced chicken breasts – but we decided to stick with the original proteins.
The meal came with its own oven tray, making cleanup a breeze. Overall, the Shrimp Scampi Couscous served up a tasty, fuss-free experience that left a good impression. A win for a 600-calorie dinner!
Taste Review – Cherry Chipotle Brisket Tacos with Corn Elotes Salad
Preparing the Cherry Chipotle Brisket Tacos with Corn Elotes Salad was an absolute breeze, requiring less than 5 minutes of prep time. The assembly instructions were clear and simple, making the entire process both fun and easy.
Now, let’s talk about the star of the show – the brisket. The meat was tender and richly flavored, beautifully complimented by the tangy sweetness of the cherry jam-infused BBQ sauce. The addition of cherry jam added a unique twist to the traditional BBQ flavor.
The portion size was incredibly satisfying. Pairing the brisket with the refreshing corn elotes salad created a wonderful balance of flavors and textures, enhancing the overall dish. Overall, these tacos exceeded expectations, delivering a truly delicious and mouthwatering experience.
Other Recommended Meals to Try From Home Chef Fresh and Easy
- Sour Cream and Onion Chicken Penne – Oven-Ready Meal
- Hearty Caesar Salad with Brussels Sprouts and Parmesan Crisps – No cooking required and 5-minute prep
- Boom Boom Salmon Tacos with Quick-Pickled Vegetables – Express 15 minutes of cooking
- Hawaiian-Style Pulled Pork with Quinoa, Cabbage, and Green Beans – Prepared meal to heat in the microwave or oven
- Blackened Tofu Tacos with Slaw and Guacamole – Express 15 minutes of cooking
- BBQ Pulled Chicken Thighs with Corn Bread Pudding & Black Beans – No cooking required and 5-minute prep
Home Chef Fresh and Easy Nutritional Values
Home Chef is all about healthy, balanced, and enjoyable eating. You can rest assured that the Home Chef meals are well-balanced and provide all your daily nutrient requirements.
The beauty of Home Chef is that with every recipe, available both online and on your recipe card, you get information including calories, carbohydrates, and fats.
If you’re on a specific diet, the Fresh and Easy menu also offers a range of low-calorie and low-carb meals. You will also find that the 5-minute prep entrée salad meals are also very low on the calorie count if that is a priority for you.
The Ingredients Quality
We are consistently impressed by the quality of ingredients used by Home Chef. The Home Chef has established partnerships with many trustworthy and reputable suppliers who continue to deliver the best and freshest ingredients.
As for meat and poultry, Home Chef is committed to responsible business practices, including the humane treatment of animals. It ensures that all suppliers follow the industry-aligned animal welfare standards as defined by trade associations, including the National Chicken Council.
Managing Your Account
Home Chef values a user-friendly experience for its customers. To subscribe to the Fresh and Easy Plan, the registration process is as straightforward as the main Home Chef registration. You simply need to enter your email address, and select the number of meals and number of servings you would like to receive per week. Next, you choose your dietary preferences, confirm your address and payment details, and choose your first delivery meals.
With Home Chef, you have a great deal of flexibility. There are no limits on the maximum number of meals, and you can skip weeks or cancel your subscription without penalties directly from your account area. You are also able to switch meals and select meals for weeks ahead.
Manage your account online:
Home Chef Fresh & Easy Unboxing
With every delivery, Fresh and Easy provides a tracking number, ensuring you can monitor your shipment’s progress. Our shipment arrived precisely on schedule, and the boxes were in excellent shape, a testament to their durability in transit.
The delivery box was well organized, with ingredients sorted per recipe/meal, so unpacking was a breeze. The box came packed with enough ice to keep all the ingredients at the right temperature until we unpacked them a few hours after arrival.
Home Chef makes every effort to be environmentally conscious by using as much recyclable packaging as possible. For example, the inner liners and insulated liners are made of recycled cotton and denim, while the boxes and dividers are curbside recyclable, and the plastic bags are also recyclable. To see full details on Home Chef disposal instructions, refer to their website.
Shipping & Delivery Areas
Fresh and Easy ships to 98% of the continental United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). When signing, you will need to enter your zip code. If there are any issues delivering to your area, you’ll receive an error message during registration.
Similar to the regular Home Chef meal plan, Fresh and Easy allows you to select your preferred delivery day and change it weekly via your account settings. We had the option to choose any weekday, though delivery day options may vary in rural areas.
Customer Support
Home Chef has a professional and responsive customer service team. You can contact Home Chef via the following contact options:
- The FAQ section on the website
- Online chat through the website or app
- Phone number: 872-225-2433, Monday to Friday between 9 am – 6 pm CST and Saturday between 10 am – 2 pm CST
Easy to contact customer support:
What Do Other Customers Think Of Fresh & Easy Meal Plan?
Customer opinions on the Fresh & Easy meal plan are overwhelmingly positive. Many praise its convenience, variety, and delicious flavors. Users appreciate the ease of preparation and the flexibility to customize meals to their preferences.
We gathered a few Reddit reviews for you to check out:
One customer said: “I’ve been using Home Chef – Fresh and Easy close to a year now and it’s been great. It’s right in the sweet spot with decent pricing, low effort (very little cleaning), good flavor, and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten the same thing twice”. See the full review here.
Another customer shared: “Yep, the Fast and Fresh meal that Home Chef provides each week is usually pretty good”. See the full review here.
Bottom Line For Our Home Chef Fresh and Easy Review
We love Home Chef – and their new Fresh and Easy Plan made us love this meal delivery service even more!
The Fresh and Easy Plan is tailor-made for those who are short on time or prefer not to spend much time cooking. It features a wide variety of delicious menu options that are quick to prepare, saving you precious time in the kitchen. The meals are not only convenient but also delectably satisfying, designed to cater for both lunch and dinner.
By subscribing to the Fresh & Easy plan, you gain the convenience of having healthy and tasty meals at your fingertips, simplifying your daily routine and enhancing your dining experience. This plan is a perfect solution for anyone looking to balance a busy lifestyle with the desire to eat well.
