Is Green Chef Worth It? I Compared the Organic Meal Delivery to Grocery Shopping

Shopping Is Green Chef Worth It? I Compared the Organic Meal Delivery to Grocery Shopping Organic ingredients are notoriously more expensive, so I wanted to see if a meal kit could save me money. By Lizzy Briskin December 22, 2025 Home cooks (and those who aspire to be more frequent home cooks) have been turning to meal kit deliveries as a dinnertime solution for over a decade. And even as an avid cook and culinary school grad, I get the appeal: preportioned, pre-chopped mise en place and an elaborate recipe that takes minimal time and even less forethought. Sign me up! Beyond convenience, Green Chef distinguishes itself by offering organic ingredients without the supermarket markup . With grocery prices on the rise, I set out to find out if a Green Chef subscription can actually save you money, or at least help you break even, compared to buying organic at the store. Green Chef Shop at Green Chef How much does Green Chef cost? As a new customer, you’ll get a nice discount of 50% off your first box. But once you’re seasoned, GreenChef meals cost an average of $12.99 per serving plus $10.99 for shipping. A six-serving box (three meals serving two) costs $88.93, including shipping ($10.99 per box), without discounts. That’s $14.82 per serving. What I ordered and how it arrived I received a three-meal box from Green Chef, which included: Sirloin Steak With Parmesan Fettuccine Garlic-Herb Chicken With Sun-Dried Tomatoes Southwestern Shrimp Tacos With Corn Slaw Off the bat, each dish sounded more elaborate than what I’d typically put together on a weeknight. I was happily surprised (but a little skeptical) that the cooking time estimates ranged from 25–30 minutes. The Green Chef ingredients come packaged in a single paper bag per recipe, with proteins at the bottom of the box sandwiched between ice packs; within the paper back, most ingredients are packaged in plastic. Most of the veggies in the kit (onions and shallots) arrived whole. Each meal included a few premade sauces or flavoring agents, such as roasted garlic butter and creamy mushroom broth. My methodology for comparing the cost of Green Chef vs. grocery store To figure out the precise price difference between a Green Chef subscription and grocery shopping, I tallied up what I’d spend on the ingredients at my local Wegman’s in Manhattan, choosing organic whenever possible. I assumed I had nothing at home but salt, pepper, and olive oil (which is what Green Chef requires from your own pantry). In the price comparisons below, I’m including two per-serving costs. For the first, I took the total cost of my grocery haul and divided by two, the number of people I’d be serving with the meal (and the same number of people fed with the Green Chef recipe). Of course, when you’re buying many of the ingredients brand-new, you will have a lot left over for future use (spare cloves of garlic, near-full spice bottles). In the second calculation, I priced out the cost of only the amounts of the ingredients you need for the Green Chef recipe. This may give a more accurate per-serving price comparison, but that really isn’t the way people shop. You can’t buy a half jar of sun-dried tomatoes, for instance. Arrow Arrow Recipe 1: Sirloin Steak With Parmesan Fettuccine Ingredients ⅓ oz. parsley, 1 shallot, ¼ oz. garlic, ½ oz. sun-dried tomatoes, ¼ cup breadcrumbs, 12 oz. sirloin steak, 1 Tbsp. ranch seasoning, 1 package fresh fettuccine, 3½ oz. creamy mushroom broth, 1 oz. crème fraîche, 1½ oz. Parmesan, 1 package umami stock concentrate, 1 Tbsp. butter, salt and pepper Cost comparison Green Chef Grocery Store #1 Grocery Store #2 Meal price (2 servings) $25.98 $86.13 $86.13 Shipping $3.67 per recipe $0 $0 Total cost per serving $14.82 $43.07 (total cost divided by 2) $22.10 (cost of only ingredient amounts in recipe) This meal had several premium ingredients, including sirloin, crème fraîche, and fresh fettuccine. The organic steak, which cost $43.99 per pound, really jacked up the price at the grocery store. For comparison, conventional sirloin costs $16.99 per pound. Experience This was a rich meal that felt far fancier and more cheffy than my usual weeknight fare. I liked the inclusion of fresh pasta, not only because it added a restaurant-y feel to the meal, but also because it cooked in all of two minutes. I even impressed myself that the dish was done in half an hour. Taste-wise, this meal was on the heavy side. I’m not a huge ranch lover, but the seasoning added a nice herby note that the rich, creamy sauce needed. The steak was a bit tough and slightly stringy; grass-fed grocery-store sirloin would likely be more tender for the price, although quality will vary by your store and when you buy it. The dish was finished with buttery breadcrumbs, which didn’t add much and I could have skipped. Arrow Arrow Recipe 2: Garlic-Herb Chicken With Sun-Dried Tomatoes Ingredients ½ cup jasmine rice, ½ oz. sun-dried tomatoes, ¼ oz. garlic, 1 yellow onion, 5 oz. spinach, 10 oz. chopped chicken breast, 1 oz. roasted red peppers, 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning, 1 package chicken stock concentrate, 1 oz. roasted garlic-herb butter, 2 oz. cream cheese, ¾ oz. Parmesan, cooking oil, salt and pepper. Cost comparison Green Chef Grocery Store #1 Grocery Store #2 Meal price (2 servings) $25.98 $75.98 $75.98 Shipping $3.67 per recipe $0 $0 Total cost per serving $14.82 $37.99 (total cost divided by 2) $20.12 (cost of only ingredient amounts in recipe) Again, Green Chef came out on top here. The organic chicken breast was a high-ticket item, as was the jar of chicken stock concentrate, of which you only need about a tablespoon. And if you were buying every ingredient, this meal would leave you with a stockpile of barely used items, including a bag of jasmine rice, jars of sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers, Italian seasoning, and cream cheese. Experience This was a quick and simple meal that delivered great flavor. It wasn’t the prettiest on the plate, but I loved the buttery, garlicky sauce that coated the chicken. I’m more of a thighs over breast girl, but I was pleasantly surprised by how moist this chicken came out. I also appreciated that it was pre-diced so I could skip working with raw meat (you likely wouldn’t get this luxury when getting your poultry at the grocery store). The spinach was added directly to the cooked rice, so it sort of withered away. Yes, there were globs of green in the rice, but they didn’t add much flavor; I think the recipe could be improved by using more spinach or none at all. Arrow Arrow Recipe 3: Southwestern Shrimp Tacos With Corn Slaw Ingredients 1 lime, ¼ oz. cilantro, 1 shallot, ¼ oz. garlic, 2¾ oz. corn, 3½ oz. cabbage, 10 oz. shrimp, 1 Tbsp. fajita spice blend, 6 flour tortillas, 1¾ oz. vegan chipotle-lime aioli, ¾ oz. Cotija cheese, cooking oil, olive oil, salt and pepper Cost comparison Green Chef Grocery Store #1 Grocery Store #2 Meal price (2 servings) $25.98 $65.95 $65.95 Shipping $3.67 per recipe $0 $0 Total cost per serving $14.82 $32.98 $11.50 (cost of only ingredient amounts in recipe) Here, you’d actually save a few dollars at the grocery store when you look at only the ingredients used. Despite having to buy a jar of aioli and frozen shrimp, this meal was surprisingly affordable per serving at the store. Experience I loved these tacos. They were a little more involved than I would’ve liked, requiring multiple skillets and a bowl for the slaw, but it was also my favorite meal of the bunch, so the extra effort and dishes were worth it. The slaw was crunchy and fresh with a hint of sweetness from the corn. It tasted summery, but the ingredients were winter-approved (cabbage and frozen corn). The shrimp also brought real flavor to the table—often, frozen shrimp can be rubbery and flavorless, but these were juicy and sweet. There was plenty of fajita seasoning to coat every crustacean, and the tacos were fully loaded. I didn’t understand why the aioli was vegan, especially since the tacos included cheese, and I would have been happy with the real thing, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. Given the price, ease, and flavor of this meal, I’d definitely make it again sans meal kit. Arrow Arrow The verdict: Is Green Chef worth it? It turns out that a Green Chef subscription, even including shipping, can, and likely will, save you money compared to buying organic groceries. In fact, any money you save at the grocery store is marginal, and it heavily depends on the meal. And let’s not forget, time is money. That measly $3 in savings on the shrimp dish hardly makes up for the time I’d spend considering a recipe, writing a list, shopping, commuting to and from the store, and prepping and measuring the ingredients myself. If you really want to squeeze the most value from your meal kit, opt for complex meals with more premixed sauces and pricier ingredients, like the steak dish with fresh pasta. The bottom line: A meal kit, even a more premium one with organic ingredients like Green Chef, can indeed save you money as well as time. Sign Up for Green Chef Find the right meal delivery service for you Compare the most popular meal kit brands If cost is your top concern, start your meal delivery service journey here These are the best meal kits for families