On the one hand, there’s Hungryroot with its grocery items, prepped veggies, flavorful sauces, precooked meals, and meal kits. On the other side, there’s the certified organic reputation of Green Chef, which is highly accommodating of a well-balanced diet that includes special dietary preferences such as Keto, Paleo, and more.
Hungryroot’s dishes are easier and less time-consuming to prepare, whereas Green Chef’s superiority in areas of delivery schedule, environment-friendly and recyclable packaging, and protein-packed recipes remains unparalleled.
In that case, which of the two, Green Chef vs Hungryroot, should you pick? Only a thorough comparison between these two best meal delivery services can help you reach a logical, well-informed decision.
Benefits of Using Meal Kit Delivery Services Right Now
Why might someone choose a meal delivery service like Green Chef or Hungryroot?
Because It Means You Can Adjust Your Meals Based On Your Diet
One of the best things about meal plans is that they incorporate plenty of diet-specific options, such as gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, low-calorie, organic, vegan, and more.
Meal kits like these cater to the health needs way better than takeout food.
Because It Is A Blend of Nutrition and Deliciousness
Since you can find recipes that meet special dietary demands, you might think that these dishes are highly nutritious at the cost of taste. In that case, you may be relieved to be proven wrong at this point. With renowned companies like Hungryroot and Green Chef, meals delivered to you are not only high in nutrition but also very flavorful and yummy.
Both services have quite an impressive variety and number of recipes on the menu, which both veggie and meat lovers are sure to find extremely gratifying.
Because Nothing Beats the Comfort of Convenience
The truth about meal kits is that these types of food delivery services eliminate the dreadful cooking effort. Some of them, like Hungryroot, also include grocery items and premade meals.
No more having to make time to go to the supermarket for groceries and then come back home to chop up those ingredients. You do not need to spend even more time in the kitchen cooking a well-balanced, nutritious meal for yourself and maybe even your family.
With meal kit delivery, you receive delicious meals without making any effort other than choosing recipes you like from the website. The burden of grocery shopping, prepping, and cooking is thus eliminated or reduced.
Because It Keeps You from Wasting Money and Food
You save money by not choosing ridiculously overpriced restaurant meals or cheap, unhealthy junk/fast food. Instead, you’re setting a budget and ordering weekly meals you know are not only nutritious but also very delicious.
Also, the meal kits are portioned properly, which means not having to deal with food leftovers or waste.
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Pricing
The way Green Chef works is you order the meals you like, and they deliver all the ingredients and cooking instructions in individual meal kits. Even if it’s a recipe that looks more restaurant-style than homemade, like the Pesto & Kale Salad Flatbread, Green Chef provides you with almost everything required to cook this recipe. Including the flatbreads, vegetables, homemade basil pesto sauce, and other seasonings.
You just have to follow the cooking instructions that Green Chef provides you with and voila, you should have the meal ready in about 30 minutes!
Hungryroot’s method is the same, but slightly different. How so? With Hungryroot, you can browse their grocery aisles as if you’re in an actual supermarket, except that it’s online. You take a look at their recipe catalog which lists hundreds of recipes you can make based on the grocery items you select.
The recipes are all chef-crafted and some take as little as 10 minutes to cook. You can also select different recipes and receive the proper grocery items for them in your weekly meal box.
The pricing structure based on the unique meal kit service of both Green Chef and Hungryroot looks like something like this:
Green Chef
You can select as many meals as you want every week. The meals are prepped, measured, and organized in individual meal kits, so all you have to do is cook the recipe. Each recipe is single serve. Having said that, you can order multiple servings of the same recipe.
The minimum you get to order with Green Chef is 6 meals per week which cost up to $80 plus shipping.
- 6 meals per week – $13.49 per serving
- 8 meals per week – $12.99 per serving
- 12 meals per week – $12.49 per serving
- 16 meals per week – $11.99 per serving
- 18 meals per week – $11.99 per serving
- 24 meals per week – $11.99 per serving
Hungryroot
Hungryroot lets you select recipes in two ways:
- You can either pick the groceries you want to purchase for the week and Hungryroot recommends recipes that you can make with those items.
- You can browse their menu and pick groceries in bundles for the recipes you’d like to make.
The minimum you spend on Hungryroot is $65, but their meal plans also include various other items such as snacks, breakfast, and desserts. These recipes are not included in their meal plans. They cost a little extra as “add-ons” which you can add to your cart.
Their meal plans, however, for the main course, grain bowls, pasta, tacos, stir-fried, etc. recipes have fixed prices. It must also be mentioned that on Hungryroot, you can order 2 or 4 servings per recipe – single-serve meals are not included in the plan!
For 2 servings each:
- 3 recipes – $9.99 per serving
- 4 recipes – $9.99 per serving
- 5 recipes – $9.49 per serving
- 6 recipes – $8.49 per serving
- 7 recipes – $8.49 per serving
- 8 recipes – $8.49 per serving
For 4 servings each:
- 2 recipes – $8.99 per serving
- 3 recipes – $8.49 per serving
- 4 recipes – $8.49 per serving
Comparing both, I found that Hungryroot is cheaper than Green Chef based on their meal per cost. The price range of Green Chef starts from $11.99 up to $13.49 per serving. Hungryroot is more affordable as its price range starts from $8.49 to $9.99 per serving.
Hungryroot does not charge a shipping fee, even on minimum orders. They do charge $10 for delivery in case the order needs to be shipped by air and not by road. This too cuts a significant chunk from what you’ll spend on Hungryroot which is way more affordable than Green Chef as the latter charges a fixed shipping cost of $9.99 per order – you can get another serving with that if you order from Hungryroot!
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Discounts
For first-time customers, both Green Chef and Hungryroot offer a discount coupon. The coupon is automatically added during checkout, or you can copy-paste the coupon yourself if it hasn’t been added directly. This saves you a great sum of money and you get to try out both services without worrying about spending too much in one go.
Green Chef’s discount is $130 off spread out across 4 boxes and free shipping on the first order. Based on how many servings you order, the first box has a 50% discount, whereas for the remaining 3 weeks’ meal boxes, you get a 20-22% discount.
Hungryroot’s discount is simpler as it gives you a flat 30% off plus a gift on the first order. You can pick what gift you’d like, it could be a snack item, dessert, breakfast, etc.
Unlike Green Chef, you get a discount only on the first box with Hungryroot. Nonetheless, the added advantage of choosing Hungryroot is that it doesn’t charge any shipping fee, whereas Green Chef waives off delivery charges only on the first order.
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Meal Plans
Green chef
Green Chef is a meal-kit-only service that delivers recipe kits straight to your door. Green Chef menu features 24 healthy, nutritious recipes. Once you select the recipes you want to eat for the week, you’ll get premium ingredients that are premeasured and labeled individually to make prep easy and quick.
These are full-sized meal kits for 1-2 people depending on the quantity you order. It will all be delivered to you with the right cooking instructions for each recipe and other personalized recommendations.
Another important thing to remember is that Green Chef changes its weekly menu. You won’t get the same recipe two weeks in a row. The recipes are one-of-a-kind, ranging from vegetarian, chicken, beef, seafood, and pork. Different cuisines are part of the blend too. To name a few, you have Italian, Mexican, Indian, Asian, stir-fried, rice dishes, and more.
To plan your meal, you can view and pick your most preferred recipe according to taste, ingredients, and the most crucial factor, the recipe’s dietary information.
Green Chef includes different dietary labels on each one of their recipes.
- Fast & Fit
- Gluten-Free
- Keto
- Paleo
- Mediterranean
- Vegan, and Veggie
They adhere to a strict and accurate diet plan for people with very specific dietary requirements.
These tags on every recipe card help you find the ideal meal plan for your personal diet. You don’t have to adjust what you eat according to the menu of Green Chef. It goes the other way around, which is a good thing. Not many meal kit delivery services offer such intricate, health-conscious filters for weekly meal planning.
Hungryroot
Hungryroot has a similar meal planning style with a few alterations in its menu. For starters, they feature a recipe menu as well as a grocery menu. You’ll also find that Hungryroot offers more dietary customizations than Green Chef that also extends to different sub-categories, such as cuisine type, serving size, protein, spice levels, and cooking time. You can further adjust your meals with the help of these filters.
Compared to Green Chef, Hungryroot’s customization is better because Green Chef only displays the cooking time, dietary needs, and nutritional information. With Green Chef, you can’t filter the recipes any further to accurately and quickly find what you’re looking for.
On Hungryroot’s recipe catalog, you get to filter and pick your meals by these categories:
- Meal type: All, Main + Sides, Grain Bowls, Pastas, Tacos, Stir-Fries, Salads, Wraps, Sandwiches, Burgers, Bakes, Flatbreads, Soups + Stews, Roast + Ready, and Veggie Bowls.
- Serving size: 2 servings and 4 servings.
- Protein: Beef + Bison, Poultry, Pork, Fresh Fish, Lamb, Shellfish, Smoked Fish, Tofu + Tempeh, Beans & Lentils, and Plant-Based “meat” alternatives.
- Spice level: No heat, mild, medium, and hot.
- Cook time: 5 minutes or less and 10 minutes or less.
- Calories: 500 calories or less.
- Dietary needs: Vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, tree nut-free, peanut-free, egg-free, and shellfish-free.
Isn’t this a brilliant way to keep your food requirements in check while also getting the most of your meal planning subscription? Hungryroot even has a search box where you can write down any ingredient or recipe name and you’ll see all the matching results.
Moving forward, Hungryroot’s grocery catalog which has thousands of ingredients features the same ‘protein,’ ‘spice level,’ and ‘dietary needs’ filters as their recipe menu.
They have two new additions, which make browsing for groceries very quick and effective:
- Ingredient type: All, Produce, Sauces + Condiments, Meat – Seafood, Plant-Based Proteins, Grains + Pasta, Bread + Bakery, Snacks, Dairy + Eggs, Sweets, Pantry, Beverages, and Ready to Eat.
- Featured categories: Newest Additions, Breakfast, and Organic.
You can read all the nutritional information about the grocery items you select. For example, their Organic Southwest Chopped Salad Kit has no nuts and is vegetarian and gluten-free. You can also read what you can add to this salad kit, such as wraps, grain bowls, tacos, salads, and main dishes.
I wish I could go on about Hungryroot’s intricate and well-rounded grocery menu. It’s truly one of the best and you’ll find everything here prepped and premeasured.
With an eye to improving how you eat every day, Hungryroot is the better option than Green Chef for meal planning and trying newer, more nutritious recipes every week. The endless recipe and grocery menus make subscribing to Hungryroot a treat for the eyes as well as the stomach.
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Ingredients
Between Green Chef and Hungryroot, the former is an organic and non-GMO certified company. Even though Hungryroot features an organic and non-GMO menu, it does not have any specific organic certification.
To get to the bottom of this, I did a little digging and found that most of Hungryroot’s recipes include GMO-free, organic ingredients. They are free of preservatives, artificial fillers, colorants, and excess sugar.
You can quickly filter by dietary needs to avoid nuts, soy, gluten, egg, or shellfish in your diet. For vegans too, there is a separate category you can pick and filter all the recipes to avoid non-organic meals altogether.
Meat items such as poultry are raised without antibiotics. Hungryroot’s chicken products are GAP-certified. It says so here in their very helpful FAQs section.
Green Chef, on the other hand, is a certified organic meal kit service. All its ingredients are certified organic, which means they contain no preservatives, GMO, or artificial elements. On top of that, the ingredients are sourced from organic produce farms.
Even their meat is sustainably sourced. They only work with farmers who follow animal welfare measures, which means all meat is antibiotic and hormone-free.
Having said that, certified organic ingredients are more expensive to purchase and have a shorter shelf life. Now you understand why Green Chef is a more costly meal kit planning service than Hungryroot?
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Pre-Cooked Meals/Cooking Time
Hungryroot stands out because it has Ready-to-Eat meals – I counted 20 meals in total, varying from chicken, salads, curries, and Mexican dishes to breakfast items and soups.
Pre-cooked meals take less than 5 minutes to heat and eat. You can heat them in a microwave, oven, or on the stove.
Amazingly, Hungryroot’s Ready-to-Eat meals are soy-free, gluten-free certified, antibiotic-free if the protein is meat-based and contains no artificial preservatives or fillers.
You can easily read about nutritional value, serving size, and ingredients list before adding the meal to your cart. In fact, Hungryroot also suggests some helpful tips along with nutritional information. In fact, it’s very helpful that they recommend what you can pair the meal with (grain bowls, tacos, salads, etc.) to bring out the best flavor.
All these are chef-curated tips and tricks to improve your overall experience of every meal and make full use of the grocery items you’ve selected.
My favorite prepared meals on Hungryroot are the Thai-Style Coconut Chicken, Chickpea Curry, and Lime Coconut Chicken Broth Cup. Ideal for a quick weeknight dinner when I don’t have time to cook a homely, nutritious meal and, at the same time, want to stay away from takeout food, at least during the weekdays!
Unfortunately, Green Chef does not include any such prepped and precooked meals in their meal plan. All the meals you see and select have to be cooked by you with the help of the cooking instructions and ingredients that Green Chef provides you with.
The average cooking time for a meal by Hungryroot is anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, this includes premade meals and meal kits.
Green Chef is more time-sensitive and requires more effort as their meals take longer than 15 minutes – even their vegetarian meals! If you pick beef or chicken, the average cooking time is between 25 and 35 minutes.
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Packaging & Delivery
Green Chef packs each ingredient separately in plastic seal bags. All chicken, seafood, and beef items are stored using ice packs. Because they arrive cold, you need to put them in the refrigerator/freezer as soon as the packaging arrives.
Every meal you get is contained inside a brown paper bag, and inside this bag, the ingredients are packed using either hard plastic or plastic bag – all of which is reusable, recyclable, or compostable, including sauce packets.
Thanks to such stringent packaging, all ingredients in a Green Chef meal box are fresh, firm, and not rotten or squished at the time of delivery.
The ice packs or any other insulation that Green Chef might provide you with in the meal box are recyclable pouches that come with different coded colors for proper organization. The large cardboard box is eco-friendly and reusable as well. I would recommend you open it up and recycle it depending on where you live.
Along with such organized packaging, you’ll also find a recipe card, which consists of the accurate cooking instructions for each recipe. Since most of the ingredients are color-coded and labeled, you come to know which ingredient to use first especially if you’re not familiar with cooking.
Green Chef’s approach to meal kits is completely beginner-friendly, so even if you have no clue about what certain ingredients look like, the recipe card and labeled ingredients should help you out.
Hungryroot’s packaging details are quite similar. Every ingredient is packed separately. The wrapping and seals are made of plastic. Hungryroot uses different varieties of plastic in its meal kits.
Just like Green Chef, the parcel arrives in a cardboard box. You can take the box apart for recycling purposes or even make use of it yourself for storage. Inside the cardboard box, you’ll find ice packs made of biodegradable gel. To throw the ice pack away, empty the contents in the sink first before discarding the wrapper of the ice pack.
Next, the plastic bags of varying sizes store small to larger items such as vegetables, seasonings, sauces, etc. All the plastics are labeled from recyclable rigid to non-recyclable soft plastic, which means you’ll know exactly which plastic bag or container goes into the trash.
Green Chef delivers to all continental US states, but not to Alaska and Hawaii. They also offer flexible delivery schedules to those who don’t work from home. You can select a delivery time from 8 am to 8 pm from Monday to Saturday.
In fact, Green Chef may also deliver your meal kits straight to your office before 5 pm, but you will have to check with their delivery slots when you’re placing an order.
Even Hungryroot delivers to every continental US state including Washington DC, but not to Alaska and Hawaii. You can customize your delivery date and time on weekdays from 8 am to 9 pm.
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Vegetarian Meals
Green Chef and Hungryroot have a wholesome and versatile plant-based diet on their menus. Only that, in comparison to Green Chef, Hungryroot’s menu is more customized and wider ranging for vegetarians.
The vegetarian and vegan filters on Hungryroot are worth noting especially if you’re a finicky eater looking for very specific recipes.
Green Chef also has a few good plant-based recipes, including a bunch of vegan options, but you have no filter with which to eliminate the meat-based recipes. You cannot select vegetarian- or vegan-only recipes because Green Chef’s menu is a bit limited.
With Hungryroot, this is possible and more. If you’re on a strict no-meat diet, I recommend Hungryroot because all their pantry items, snacks, and desserts are plant-based once you filter out meat-based ingredients from the menu.
The vegetarian recipes of Green Chef, on the other hand, are easy to cook and take less than 30 minutes to serve. The ingredients are all fresh and organic, which means they should be cooked and consumed within 3 days for the best flavor. All the recipes boast a good balance of leafy greens and colorful veggies packed with proteins, vitamins, and other essential nutrients.
Green Chef vs Hungryroot – Protein Sources
You may not be able to keep a check on your daily protein intake, but your body does. Protein is not only beneficial for weight loss and building stamina, but it’s also needed for proper organ functioning, healthy hair and skin, and bone health.
A higher protein intake in your diet in the form of chicken, eggs, and plant-based protein is a great way to prevent a deficiency that causes muscle loss and a weak immune system.
After taking stock of Green Chef and Hungryroot, and the most protein-rich dishes on their menu, this is what I found:
[I have included one recipe from each meal category (vegetarian, chicken, beef, and seafood) to compare. There are many other recipes you can choose and compare, but the ones below I found to be high in protein and the top picks.]
Vegetarian Recipes
| Green Chef | Hungryroot | |
| Linguine Peperonata with Zucchini | Beyond Meatball Marinara Tortelloni | |
| Calories | 840kcal | 850kcal |
| Total Carbohydrates | 80g | 69g |
| Proteins | 24g | 42g |
| Total Fats | 49g | 38g |
| Sugar | 11g | 4g |
| Cooking Time | 30 minutes | 16 minutes |
Chicken Recipes
| Green Chef | Hungryroot | |
| Smoky Harissa Chicken Over Salad | Miso Citrus Chicken Mushroom Stir-Fry | |
| Calories | 550kcal | 490kcal |
| Total Carbohydrates | 15g | 25g |
| Proteins | 41g | 40g |
| Total Fats | 38g | 6g |
| Sugar | 4g | 13g |
| Cooking Time | 20 minutes | 32 minutes |
Beef Recipes
| Green Chef | Hungryroot | |
| Beef Tenderloin with Truffle Cream Sauce | Stovetop Bison Chili | |
| Calories | 800kcal | 520kcal |
| Total Carbohydrates | 15g | 27g |
| Proteins | 41g | 42g |
| Total Fats | 65g | 19g |
| Sugar | 7g | 6g |
| Cooking Time | 35 minutes | 17 minutes |
Seafood Recipes
| Green Chef | Hungryroot | |
| Tilapia With Spicy Scallion Aioli | Creamy Miso Salmon + Broccoli Florets | |
| Calories | 630kcal | 660kcal |
| Total Carbohydrates | 42g | 31g |
| Proteins | 33g | 38g |
| Total Fats | 38g | 6g |
| Sugar | 10g | 8g |
| Cooking Time | 30 minutes | 15 minutes |
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How is the sign-up and cancellation process on Green Chef and Hungryroot?
Both Green Chef and Hungryroot need your email address to sign up. Basic information such as name, email id, phone number, delivery address, zip code, and age you must add as a part of creating your account.
To make the process go faster, you can sign up using your Facebook log-in details too, which is great if you don’t like remembering passwords for websites. Both Green Chef andHungryroot provide you with the Facebook log-in option. You can also use your Google account to sign up on Green Chef.
Just follow the steps on Green Chef or Hungryroot once you sign up and you’ll be done with your first order in no time! Both websites have an incredibly smooth and straightforward interface.
About cancellations, on Green Chef you can do that by logging in to your account. The option to cancel any upcoming order, customize or edit the scheduled delivery time, or freeze the order can easily be done from the account page itself.
As for canceling a Hungryroot order, go to accounts setting. There you’ll find all your current and upcoming orders and if you wish to make any quick changes, you can do so easily. Hungryroot also lets you pause or cancel your subscription on the accounts page.
2. Can you skip a box with Green Chef and Hungryroot?
You get the freedom to skip a whole week with Green Chef, you just have to make sure you do it 5 days before the scheduled delivery date. Head on to “My Menu” > “Edit Delivery” > “Skip Week.”
Even Hungryroot lets you skip your delivery very easily. On the app, find the Cart icon and then choose the option you like from Reschedule Delivery, Skip Delivery, and Clear Cart.
As for those using the Hungryroot website, all you have to do is click on “Upcoming” on your My Hungryroot page and choose “Reschedule” and then “Skip Delivery” and confirm.
With Hungryroot, you can skip as many as 3 deliveries before time through the Account > Settings page.
3. Are Green Chef and Hungryroot allergy-friendly services?
Starting with Green Chef, its menu is quite fitting for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The meal plans include Paleo and Keto recipes crafted for those on gluten-free and low-carb diets, along with the Plant-Powered section strictly for vegans and vegetarians.
Green Chef ingredients, for the most part, are certified gluten-free, but the facility, unfortunately, isn’t completely allergen-free. You can always check the nutritional information and list of ingredients on every recipe page.
To sum it up, Green Chef is great for health-conscious eaters who are probably on a paleo/keto or plant-based diet.
Hungryroot certainly makes it a point to cater to multiple specialty diets, such as vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, and more. As for accommodating allergies, they also include grocery items and dishes that contain certified gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, dairy-free, etc. ingredients.
Although, just like Green Chef, even Hungryroot processes its products in the same facility that processes nuts and other such allergens. The possibility of allergies flaring up, as a result, is not completely eradicated.
Green Chef Pros
- Well-balanced recipes with 3-4 meals per week
- Protein-rich and plant-based dishes
- Paleo + Keto diets included
- Great family plans for easy, quick, nutritious meals
- Environment-friendly packaging and commitment to sustainability
- Certified organic ingredients
- You can log in through Facebook and Google
- Flexible delivery schedules
Green Chef Cons
- Not the best for a vegan lifestyle
- Not allowed to mix and match meals across the menu
- No larger serving sizes or add-ons
- Meal modifications cannot be made
Hungryroot Pros
- Very flavorful, vegetable-oriented recipes
- Includes pre-cooked meals and meal kits
- Plenty of choices with groceries, desserts, and sides
- Many specialty dietary needs accommodated
- Cooking process is quick and easy
- Expert chef tips to improve cooking experience
Hungryroot Cons
- Not a weekly menu
- Complicated credit-based purchasing system
Final Takeaway
I would like to reiterate that Green Chef, no doubt, is the more suitable choice indeed for those on a special Paleo or Keto diet. On top of that, they offer a brand new, fresh menu every week with more than enough recipes to choose from.
However, Hungryroot’s menu is far more versatile with a broader range of dishes, even though they don’t follow a weekly menu system. On top of that, Hungryroot offers quick Ready-to-Eat meals, which are perfect for those super busy, living alone, or with only a few family members.
In that case, Green Chef seems to be a more diet-specific meal kit delivery service, whereas Hungryroot is for customers who prefer not just more variety but also more convenience over sticking to a specific diet regime.
Overall, both services are great in terms of providing you with a pleasurable and healthy food experience!
