I'm wondering if anyone has ever used one of the many online menu planning services. I have looked at them in the past and thought they were too expensive to be worth it and that judging by their sample menus, we might not like the meals they plan for you. They seemed to include a lot of soup, for example, and my husband does not believe soup is a meal.
One of the blogs I subscribe to, Money Saving Mom, had a post today on one of these services. This one is E-Mealz and is very inexpensive and does not have soup on any of the sample menus I looked at. You can also cancel at any time. I'm considering trying it for a coupld of reasons. Lately I feel like I make meals that are too complicated or "fancy." We've been trying to cut our grocery budget and I feel like making simpler meals would help with that as well as actually being easier and faster to prepare. "30-minute meals" always take me longer than 30 minutes! So I have been keeping my eye out for simple, more basic meals. The recipes here seem to be very simple and quick - they can type the instructions in one little box on their meal planning sheet...
I don't think this particular service will really cut my grocery budget though. They claim to keep it around $75/week for their meals. But by the time I add in breakfast & lunch groceries, milk, etc. I don't think my total will be much different. So I wouldn't be trying it for that reason. I think I would try it b/c I have 2 kids and a newborn and don't want to have to plan meals right now! And because I want some new simple & quick recipes. And then I would probably cancel it after a few months.
What do you think? Have you tried this or other menu/meal planning services?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I can't vouch for E-Mealz...but I agree with you. I think the online planners are too expensive, AND I'm always worried I won't like what the planner plans and then I'd feel like that day was a waste of the $ for me. I just sit down and plan my meals myself for the month. It seems daunting, but I just take 1 day toward the end of the previous month and write down all of the days I KNOW we will be either out of town or busy that evening and then I plan the rest of the days. I try to stick with at least 2 days of the week being "leftover" type meals (ie--roast a chicken on Sunday, chicken quesadillas and bbq chicken pizza later in the week). I would be happy to send you a few of my calendars to show you what I mean if you'd like. Just let me know!
I think you hit the nail on the head, Claire. It's really not about the money (saving it or spending it), it's about the convenience. When I was on bedrest with the girls, we went and got a month's worth of dinners at Studio Kitchen. We were actually pleased with the selection and quality (no soups! :) ). While I don't think I could have eaten their food day in and day out for months at a time, for a month, it was just fine. It was seriously a sanity-saver to walk to the freezer before bed and pick something out to thaw in the fridge for dinner the next day. Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! I say go for it. Especially if you only intend to use it for the short term.
Post a Comment