Making Turkey Chili with HomeChef

On Black Friday I came across a pretty good sale for Home Chef, "a meal delivery service supplying weekly deliveries of fresh, perfectly portioned ingredients and chef-designed recipes", that I could not resist. My husband and I have been using Hello Fresh for a while now and been happy with it, but the deal was half the price, so I figured for $30 for six meals (two servings of three different meals) I'd give this a chance.

It arrived a few days after ordering. It came first thing in the morning, fortunately right before I left for work so I could put the ingredients in the fridge. It comes with several ice packs so that everything remains cold if you don't get it until later. I picked three meals: Turkey Chili with Cheddar cheese; Rotisserie-style chicken with cheddar, broccoli, and rice casserole; Blade steak with dried tomato-oregano butter with smoky creamed corn and pan-roasted potatoes.

I decided to make the turkey chili first. Most of the ingredients are sent to you, it is assumed you would have basics like olive oil and salt and pepper.

They also include a nice detailed step by step recipe with photos (on the back side) so you are really walked through things, in case you need the help. I've made chili so many times I only skimmed the recipe before setting off on my own.

Sorry Muffin, there are onions in there now.. so none for you.

After adding the crushed tomatoes and the tomato sauce I thought it was a little thin so I chose not to add the additional water they recommended. Even without the water, it took a while to boil down to a consistency I prefer - not a lot of time but enough that I wished that I hadn't put in all of the crushed tomatoes.

What is nice about home delivery meals like this is that everything is proportioned. So you don't have to buy a pound of cheese or 12 oz of sour cream for one meal. You don't have to go to a grocery store and remember everything in the recipe. If you generally cook a lot and enjoy it these subscription services are probably not worth it for you, but if you find yourself with a lot of leftover unused ingredients when you only use part of something for a recipe, this can be quite economical. Home Chef is $9.95 per serving and if you order three meals a week the shipping is free. If you only order two then they charge $10 for shipping. Home Chef also offers fresh fruit for $4.95 per serving (a little expensive in my opinion) and a breakfast option if you would like to cook breakfast. We also like the size of the menu cards and the fact that they sent us a binder to store them in. 

Hello Fresh is packaged a little differently, in cardboard boxes instead of plastic bags. The ingredients seem slightly better in quality and the flavors seem a little more complex, aka orzo instead of rice, but their service is also a little more expensive at $69. The Hello Fresh recipe cards are 5x7 and not meant to be bound in a book. Both sets of recipe cards lend themselves to being replicated if you decide you really like the meal and want to make it again, which we have done with several of the recipes.

Neither site requires that you purchase every week, so if you don't like the sound of the meals you can skip the week. If you know you won't have time to cook, you can skip the week. Both sites also cater to some special needs. Gluten free, seafood, allergies, among others. I don't believe either site claims to be allergen free, though.

What I like about this is that everything is included. My husband gets home before I do so he usually makes dinner and he has very little imagination when it comes to cooking and less inclination to make anything outside of his comfort zone. I would bring home something different, like a head of cauliflower, and he would avoid it at all costs. He also had a very limited palate, so when I would cook with different types of ingredients he would pick them out and it was very frustrating for me. By having recipes, he can follow instructions which he is a stickler for when he cooks, and because he is picking out the meals he has been more adventurous in his eating. He still doesn't eat all of the red peppers in meals, but he eats a lot more than he used to ☺

Yes, I have to put with these two each time I cook. It is why the island is rarely used for food prep

In the end, the meal was very good, and there were leftovers enough for us to have a second meal from it. The chicken dish was very good as well. The sauce reduced a little too much because someone wasn't paying attention to it and it was a little salty and I prefer my rice casseroles to be far cheesier.. (DH said it was just fine to his taste).  The steak was also very good although the potato that came with it had a few black spots inside of it. When I wrote to Home Chef to tell them they promptly gave me a very nice credit for our next box.

All in all, we were pleased and we will be getting another box.

If you would like to give either service a try there are referral options that get you a reduced price for the first box. Home Chef offers $30 off the first box if you use the link and Hello Fresh offers $40.

I wasn't compensated for this, I just needed something to talk about while I wait for kittens. If you decide to order, I do get a small kickback, but that did not influence my review in the least.

What I know - Things you might want to buy when adopting a new kitty

This post is for those of you who have never had a kitty and for those of you who might have a few kitties already in your home but still have questions - especially when bringing a second one home. There are a lot of cat products out there and your cat might like some and might not like others. It generally is hit or miss until you can figure out what it is your cat does like, and even then some things you thought would be great just aren't.  This is by no means an exhausted list of the things you should have, just a nice primer of what I think is important to bring home with a new kitty to get you started.

This post contains affiliate links to specific items on Target.com these are specific examples of the general items I am talking about. (and if you are going to do any shopping this season at Target, feel free to stop back by my site and click on the ad in my sidebar first 😻)

The first thing most people think of is a litter box. A lot of people think that they should get a little box for a kitten or a small box to go into the space they have. What I think you should do is get the biggest litter box you can find. In the cat's mind, you can not have too much surface area to do your business and it is a good idea to have one box per cat plus one. A nice high-sided litter box will also protect your home if you have a cat that likes to stand up to pee. A litter box with a removable guard will help you if your kitty likes to dig in the litter a lot and it tends to be flung from the box. There are also round litter boxes if you find your cat likes to pee in the corner of the box and you have a hard time with that.

Personally, I like unscented scoopable litter for litter boxes. Cats are very sensitive to scent and scented cat litters can cause problems with cats if they find the scent overwhelming. Some people prefer a covered box with a scented product because they think it will help their house stay fresher longer, not realizing this is about as appealing to their cat as an overly deodorized highly used highway rest stop bathroom is to them. I know a few people who use a Litter Genie and really like it to help minimize the odors of the litter box so they don't have to make a separate run out to the trash every time they scoop.

Play is very important to kittens and cats. It keeps them busy so they aren't investigating or snoopervising your activities and it helps keep their mind and body exercised. Finding toys for both individual play and interactive play will keep you both busy and entertained. Small prey like toys are good for hunting and stalking and, if you are very lucky, for bringing to their owners for praise. Toys that look like mice or small birds play to the cat's visual cues for hunting whereas belled balls and even ping pong balls play to their sound and tracking abilities.

Wand or fishing pole type toys help you interact with your kitty and engage them in more aggressive hunting style play. This is very good for draining off their excessive energy which if not channeled into playing will often show itself at 2 AM running across your bed or climbing your curtains. These types of toys can have feathers or toys on the end and I generally prefer the feather wand toys as they more closely mimic bird prey. Get your kitty running and climbing and jumping up and over things in its quest to capture its prey. Do not forget to let your kitty capture the prey from time to time as it helps build self-esteem.

One of the most important decisions you will have to make is what to feed your kitty. I am a huge proponent of feeding your obligate carnivore like a carnivore. This means a diet full of animal-based ingredients and low on plant-based ones. I would like you to feed raw, but I know most people are unwilling or unable to do so. Canned foods in a loaf or pate form are generally the next best option but read your ingredient lists. Do the best you can.

What you feed your kitty on isn't something a lot of people take into consideration. Most suppliers of pet products will sell you a double bowl option with deep sides so you can put a lot of food or water in it.  This is convenient for the owner but it is often hard for the kitty. Cats do not like to eat near their water source so having the food and the water so close together is unnatural. Getting two separate bowls and putting them in different locations in the house is more natural and it will help the water to stay fresher. Investing in a water fountain is a good idea. Cats were originally desert creatures and they gravitate towards flowing sources of water.  The food bowl should be flat and without sides to prevent the bowl from touching the cat's whiskers. There is a joke going around the internet showing a bowl mostly full but with a small hole in the middle and saying that is an empty cat bowl.  This is because of whisker stress.  Cats have to hold their whiskers up to get the food at the side of the bowl with a lip and it is uncomfortable so the food goes uneaten.  Feeding your cats on a plate will keep this from happening.

credit: weknowmemes.com

The one recommendation I always make, if I am asked, is to get a cat tree or a scratching post *at least* as tall as your hip. Scratching and 'sharpening their claws' is a very important and very natural thing for a cat to do. It spreads their scent and their mark in their home and says "this is mine!" much like you put things you like around your home. Without a nice sturdy place to do that, the cat will resort to other nice sturdy things in the home like your bed, your couch, your door frames. They also like to put their scent next to yours so hiding the scratching posts away in a room you don't go into much will mean that the cat will probably not use it.Getting nice tall pieces of cat furniture will allow the cat to perch safely up off the ground to survey its surroundings and keep an eye on everything that is going on. Cat beds are nice to have, but I don't think they are an immediate priority as more often than not the cat will end up sleeping with or on you.

Lastly, you should have a good solid sturdy carrier for each cat in your home. Some cats are good enough friends to share, but traveling is stressful and if there is even an inkling of an issue being able to separate them will keep everyone safe. You want to be able to get your kitty in and out easily so look for carriers with wide openings and the ability to close them quickly. Ones that easily come apart so you don't need to drag a cat out while it is at the vet can be helpful as well. There are hard sided carriers and soft sided carriers; even carriers on wheels! They even have a carrier that folds flat to store away when you don't need it. I have seen people try to do without a carrier for their kitty and have it go horribly wrong.

Providing for your cat's basic needs will help you form a stronger bond with your kitty and will allow you to help understand your kitty's personality.  This will help you know if you should buy them places to hide in or places to perch on, it will help you understand what can distract them from the trouble they are about to get in, and how much play they need to drain out all the mischief.

What did I miss? What do you think is important for a new cat owner to have for their new kitty? Tell me in the comments.