E-mealz Review – Easily Plan Cheap and Healthy Meals

I have used E-mealz for about 2 years now. And love it. One time a stop my subscription because I wanted to save money. My grocery bill went up and the stress of trying figure out what to fix different drove me crazy. I re subscribe and have not stopped it since.

Paula

I swear I probably look like a paid consultnat for the site or something–I am not.

I think its a great concept and can’t believe it isn’t more popular than it is.

Thanks for stopping by!

Regarding e-mealz.com; I have been disappointed with the subscription. There have been several weeks where the meals have been store bought “Lean Pockets”, or “Blueberry Pancakes”, or HOT DOGS! That is hardly creative. I supposgeed you really what you pay for.

Ashley

Thanks for commenting. Its always great to hear from all sides.

I do not subscribe to them, but certainly I’d be disappointed as well if I were paying for meal ideas and all I was getting was hotdogs or pre-packaged stuff.

Thanks for chiming in!

With such a vast amount of free information out there on various websites, forums, etc., I totally refuse to pay $60 a year for your crap.

I know how to save quite enough money through research and sales without paying for your crap.

Thanks, anyway; and good luck.

I’ve subscribed to e-mealz for a couple months now, and it’s made a world of difference in my attitude toward preparing meals for my family. My whole week is printed out on a single sheet of paper, stuck up on the fridge. I can glance at it and know exactly what I have to do to get a meal on the table on time. Plus I know the ingredients are all in my kitchen. My husband is happy because he’s getting healthy meals at a decent time, and never has to stop by the store and pick up dinner on his way home from work.

Out of the 10 weeks that I have menus for, only MAYBE 3 meals have been something store prepared – deli BBQ pork, brats, and maybe one other thing. And even if the entree is pre-made the sides aren’t necessarily. If this was a regular feature of e-mealz, I would be disappointed, but since it’s not, I still find it convenient to remove this one decision from my life. OK, tonight we’ll have an easy meal of brats, roasted potatoes (which are delicious BTW) and green beans. It still makes my life easier.

If Nancy wants to spend her time researching, finding free info on the internet, she’s certainly welcome to do that. Personally, I hate it and feel I waste way more than $5/month in time — not even counting all the frustration. E-mealz is not for everyone, but for people like me it is a life saver! My family is eating a better variety of food, and healthier. If there’s a vegetable on the menu, I’m more likely to include it, even if it is just heating up some peas. If you can relate to the 5PM stare into the pantry, you will LOVE this service!

Nancy

Thanks for your input–it is always appreciated!

Jennifer

We sincerely appreciate the time you took to leave such insightful feeeback. I think you hit the nail on the head–e-mealz might not be for everyone! But for people like you ( and me, by the way) it is truly a valuable asset!

I wish you luck and thanks for joining the conversation

I have tried e-mealz for two weeks now and my family loves it. It is convenient and saves money. I also have picky children and at first they didn’t like the way certain foods looked but once they tasted them it was a hit. I am glad we found this website because it has been wonderful.

La Rea

Thanks for your relevant comments. I know that myself and all of our readers appreciate it!

I have used this for 2 weeks now and all but 1 meal were delicious! The one that wasn’t so great was really just that the chicken was dry but the rice and sides were great. Most of these items are not store bought unless it is like a premarinade to save some time. I am on the low fat family meal plan and introduced this to my in-laws who are on the weight watchers for 2 plan and we have the same reaction… Grocery shopping is now enjoyable (given the organized shopping list!) and is only once a week, as opposed to my 3-5 usual trips. Cooking is fun because it is always something different so you are excited to see what this new recipe will be. There are things I would never have considered making but sure glad I was able to, and knowing what generics are acceptable is wonderful. Just all around great reviews. I am in school and have 2 boys involved in several extra curricular activities and my husband gets home so late dinner time was really becoming so stressful and we were eating out entirely too much simply because we were not prepared. That is a thing of the past now, truly a diamond in the rough!

Shannon

I appreciate the time you took on your detailed feedback, and I’m really glad it worked out for you

Thanks for commenting

I tried e-mealz because it sounded great. But I don’t think it is great for picky eaters and it really isn’t very health. It calls for a lot of processed foods. I did the regular 2 person plan and then changed to portion control to see if the meals were a little healthier. Here are some examples from the meal plans in the last two weeks:
Skillet Burger Supper w/ Broccoli in Ranch Dressing
Mini cinnamon rolls as a side dish
Blueberry and sausage pancake roll ups
Mexican meatloaf which specifically calls for “processed” cheese
Broccoli soup which also calls for easy melt processed cheese.
Tater tot casserole
Crescent roll pizzas
Even on the portion control menu – almost every recipe calls for fat free mayo, some call for cornflakes.

And here is the other catch: the menu’s in the sample menu category are a lot better than the ones you actually get AND you can’t just pay for one month at a time you have to pay for 3 months so I have just wasted $15 and will not be using any of the recipes.

Kristin

I agree with you. I was a much bigger fan of e-Mealz before our household went to a much more fresh diet. They should consider coming out with alternatives for families with diets such as these.

Thanks for commenting

Wait…do they plan for recipes and lunch as well. Or is it just for dinner?

*breakfast

not recipes. Haha oops.

Courtney,

E-Mealz only does dinner planning. They do not include breakfast or lunch menus. I have been using the service for around six months now and love it. For our family, it is perfect. We, as others have stated, were spending WAY too much money eating out simply because we weren’t prepared and didn’t have the time to throw together a meal at home between work, school and sports. Having everything planned and knowing that the meals never take long to get on the table or are already ready in the crockpot have been such a blessingb to us and a real sanity saver for me! We have lowere our food bill substantially by not having to eat out as much and also by not picking up ‘extras’ on those little runs to the grocery store to pick up things during the week. I would recommend this to any busy family who needs a little help with getting it all together.

you poor ass people- I can eat out every night and have someone wait on me

I wanted to thank everyone for their comments regarding eMealz. I was considering joining, but we are really pinching pennies so I wasn’t sure it was worth five dollars a month. Y’all have convinced me that we will be joining. (After I talk to my husband first, of course). Thanks for all the input. God’s Blessings!!

Teresa

I am glad you got so much out of the other comments, and thanks for taking the time to post. I wish you luck with the site.

This looks like a wonderful site. However, I would like to comment that these are just the dinner menus and the money quoted that you spend for groceries does not include breakfast, lunch, snacks,OR what is considered staples in recipes like MILK etc. So, you certainly save on your dinners but you will have to spend quite a bit more than the $75-90 a week once the other meals and staples are included in your grocery budget.

I LOVE THIS SITE!!! I am a full-time working mother of three and this has saved us. We would spend close to $800/month on groceries, most of which would go bad before we could use them in addition to the extra costs we would rack up in take-out because we wouldnt feel like figuring out what to cook. I have used this site for two months now and it is wonderful. I don’t have to think. I take out the next days meal to thaw the night before and I have saved around $500 and that includes staples, lunches, snacks and toiletries for my household. I even have enough food left over to take for my lunch the next day. The $5/month is well worth it in my opinion.

Skohler

Thanks for chiming in. Our other readers will benefit from your comments.

Me and my wife just got married in July and started this a little after that. I have worked in the food industry for about 10 years now. I must say that this is a bad program. The actual meals are cheap. They even taste cheap. You can find most of these meals online with about 5 minuets of work. We stopped using it and we have been eating much more healthy than we did when we where on it. The meals are packed with carbs and starches. This is why they are so cheap. People say that they buy food and than throw it away. Rice doesn’t go bad but veggies do. It’s common sense. I think that people are lazy and don;t want to spend the time that they should cooking. This is why Americans have so many health problems. Save the $5 a month. Also the recipes do not tell you what you should do. If you are not a good cook do not use this. You have to know a little about food to follow these recipes. I know that I sound rude. Our grocery bill went up after starting them. They have you buy so many things that are only used in one meal. Anyone knows that you should never buy food unless it is used in at least 3 meals before it goes bad. We are sitting on a whole pineapple that was used in one meal. Tell me that is saving money.

Me and my wife just got married in July and started this a little after that. I have worked in the food industry for about 10 years now. I must say that this is a bad program. The actual meals are cheap. They even taste cheap. You can find most of these meals online with about 5 minuets of work. We stopped using it and we have been eating much more healthy than we did when we where on it. The meals are packed with carbs and starches. This is why they are so cheap. People say that they buy food and than throw it away. Rice doesn’t go bad but veggies do. It’s common sense. I think that people are lazy and don;t want to spend the time that they should cooking. This is why Americans have so many health problems. Save the $5 a month. Also the recipes do not tell you what you should do. If you are not a good cook do not use this. You have to know a little about food to follow these recipes. I know that I sound rude. Our grocery bill went up after starting them. They have you buy so many things that are only used in one meal. Anyone knows that you should never buy food unless it is used in at least 3 meals before it goes bad. We are sitting on a whole pineapple that was used in one meal. Tell me that is saving money.

Philly

I don’t fin d your comments to be rude, I find them to be direct and to the point. Obviously, people either love this site or hate it.

Thanks for chiming in…

[...] by financial author Dave Ramsey and praised by Money Crashers, E-Mealz charts out a week’s worth of dollar- and healthy-savvy dinner recipes to relieve [...]

Then you aren’t a candidate for e-mealz because e-mealz is for those that want a family meal at home that won’t be as expensive as a meal out unless you want 99 cent tacos from taco bell. Also, I just got e-meals from a Groupon for $29 for a year subscription! That’s a great way to try it out!

i think the e-mealz site is easy and perfect for a busy family! i can see some of the points made below, but i too wouldn’t have probably bothered using this as a newlywed, However, I diffidently use it as a busy-working mom with two kids and a busy husband! of course, you can find some of these recipes on line, but the point is to have a ONE stop site that creates super organized dinners for the week! And each week is printed on only 2 pieces of paper-one for recipes and one for shopping list. AND the shopping list is organized by what store you shop most often! But MOST importantly, you aren’t printing out random recipes, these are organized to help you reuse some of the ingredients you are buying THAT week. Definitely worth $5 per month!

Barclay;

Thanks for your insight–our readers will surely appreciate it!

Snarky much?

does this have an ipad app?

As of yet, no. But apparently there is an app called Meal board which could be helpful to you.

Thanks for commenting

I absolutely love this!! I can see how it may not be right for some people and their lives, but it works great for someone in my situation. My breakfasts and lunches are pretty standard (oatmeal for breakfast, yogurt and banana for snacks, and salad with grilled chicken for lunch) — dinner is where I always had difficulty and this site picked up the slack. I’m in graduate school and constantly studying, my boyfriend works full-time with a lot of overtime, so between our schedules, cooking is the last thing on our minds and we usually end up eating take-out. We use the portion control meal plan for 1 or 2 and find that it’s enough for us (it gives a plan for 5 meals each week). I have noticed there are times when there are extra ingredients left over, but instead of throwing them away, I save them and make the same meal twice in the same week and either eat it for dinner again or my boyfriend will take it for lunch.

If you’re someone who loves being in the kitchen, finds cooking enjoyable, and doesn’t mind searching the net for recipes, you may not find this site to your liking. For those that just want a decent meal and spend the rest of their time living there lives, you’ll probably really like it.

Lin

You’re right–I think this is a great option for a lot of people, but not for everyone. Thanks for commenting