A friend offered me a free kit, and Green Chef offers a Paleo option. So, I tried it.

Oh, also, side note? Today is day 59 on our Whole60!!! Whaaat? Yes.

OK, Green Chef, paleo version. The three meals, in the order we ate them (with links to the recipes on the Green Chef site) were:

Zesty Shrimp with Collards with Root Veggies and Squash, Cashew “Parmesan”

This was good! Being Paleo and not Whole30, there were a couple of things throughout that I subbed…in this one, I subbed the bacon. It didn’t say specifically that there was sugar in the cure but it also didn’t say specifically that there wasn’t sugar. So? Bacon was subbed. I really liked the cashew parmesan element on the roasted veggies…also I don’t often include red onion in my roasted veggies and they were a spectacular addition. Also rutabaga isn’t something I generally think of, so it was nice to eat some things I wouldn’t normally buy. However, it was a pretty standard meal, I thought.

Caraway Meatballs with Braised Parsnips, Fennel & Cabbage, Pear and Rosemary

This one holds a special place in my heart, since, wait for it…I didn’t make it!! If you’ve been reading my blog since the beginning, you know that I tried Blue Apron and was annoyed that the recipes were complicated and there was a near disaster with the meal I farmed out. But Green Chef held up for that test, with my honey preparing this whole thing with zero assistance and kicking its ass. Also, something I wouldn’t really think to cook, and pretty tasty. The pear makes it, for sure. Well, you know, the pear and the meatballs.

Herbed Chicken with Spiced Sweet Potato Mash, Cranberry and Pecan Salad

This was probably my favorite of the three. I mean, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with mashed sweet potatoes and chicken. Also, I love a simple salad with just a nut and a dried fruit. However! I did have to sub out both the chicken broth (isn’t there no sugar in paleo, too?) and the dressing, which came again, with no listed ingredients, which is a bummer. It may have been fine but this diet has taught me to just assume there’s sugar in everything. Most of the time that’s true. Anyway, Green Chef, I’ll never know, cause you didn’t tell me the ingredients. It was also the most complicated of the three to cook…though still it wasn’t very complicated. The whole thing was really yummy, too, very nice flavors.

Things I liked about Green Chef:

• It came with simple, easy to follow recipes that anyone could follow, even if they aren’t used to being in the kitchen. (Isn’t that the whole point of these things, really?)
• The ingredients were all organic; they looked good, they tasted good, and they were obviously fresh.
• Certain things were pre-chopped!! If there was a service that sous chef-ed for you, I might actually order it once it a while.
• They offer paleo options! That’s nice. They also offer vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options. Which is smart, cause you can appeal to more types of people.

I would probably say that between the two, Blue Apron has better tasting meals. But! MUCH more laborious and complicated, and the Green Chef meals were good, too.

Would I order again? Meh. Maybe. If I was feeling swamped one week and had a little extra money to throw around and didn’t want to go grocery shopping. But, normally, I’m super geeky about my food, and I like to pick out what looks best and use that as a guide for my weekly eating. It serves as inspiration. But! If you’re new to cooking? Sure, why not.