E-Mealz

[Sam_2.0]

Does anyone here use E-Mealz? SIL uses it & was telling me about it tonight. I think it would really help DH and I not eat out so much if I shopped by the plan & had meals ready to cook (with some of our all-time favorites on-hand for nights when we don't like a particular E-Mealz recipe). And I love that the lists are already made up - all I have to do is shop (or send DH out to shop!!)

Although, from what I see, the meals are based around a few particular ingredients. I am wondering how they keep business - I would think after 6 months or so you would have enough recipes & lists on-hand to cycle them around. At least that's what I plan on doing - making notes and saving our favorites in a binder to be used later.

[Malarky]

I just checked out the site briefly and I have to say that the free recipes and advice you can get here will serve you better.
Buy what's on sale at your local grocery, stockpile staple items on sale and if your stumped for something to do with it, start a thread such as : " I bought 12 pounds of chicken on sale, what can I do with it?"
I'm a pretty good stockpiler and batch cooker and I get great ideas nearly every week just from the "What's for lunch?" threads on EE.

[Sam_2.0]

I have to say that the free recipes and advice you can get here will serve you better.

That's why I signed up for it. Because even after being around here for 4+ years I still could not make myself do it on my own. I HATE cooking, and anything related to it, so going to find recipes on my own is not going to happen. I kind of hope since I am paying for it that we will be more likely to stick to it. DH is on a diet right now, so we chose the low-fat option, which makes him more on-board too. The good news is that I should be able to get what I need for dinners for $40 or less per week.

Ughgh, part of me hates that I signed up for it though because Dave Ramsey endorses it. I seriously, SERIOUSLY don't like that guy.... ;D

[regina24601]

sam - At the risk of hijacking your thread (and just out of curiosity) - why do you hate Dave Ramsey?

[Sam_2.0]

Regina - something about him just bugs the heck out of me. I agree with most of what he says, but I don't know if its his voice or what...I just can not actually stand him. There's my weird quirk for the day

[bluecluessubtlety]

I fall asleep to Dave every night. I heart him.

[regina24601]

Fair enough, sam. Just wondering.

[HappyCat]

Sam, What are the costs to sign up with E-Mealz?

[Sam_2.0]

Its $15 every 3 months, but if you use the code "Dave" you get $2.50 off your first order (LOL - I know, I don't like the guy but I used his coupon code. What can I say.... )

It auto-renews every 3 months, but you can stop it at any time. So far we are enjoying the meals. SIL has done it for over a month now and she loves it. In the dinners for 2 plan you get five meals. In the dinners for 4-6 plan you get seven meals, plus a shopping list is included for either plan. The shopping list is great - organized by section, and numbered by meal. If there's a meal on the plan that you just don't like, then you don't buy the ingredients with that number & just sub in one of your family's favorites.

I am keeping the weekly plans (printing them out & putting them in sheet protectors in a binder). I am making notes on which meals we liked, and which ones we didnt. After 6 months or so I plan to stop, but that should give me about 20 good weekly plans to go off of. There are main ingredients repeated in the meals based on what's on sale. I am making notes of the main ingredients too, so that way I can quickly find weekly plans that correspond with the sales on any given week (chicken, fish, beef, produce, etc).

[Wisconsin Beth]

Sam, you may want to skim though the thread I started on meal planning. It may give you some suggestions to add to your binder.

[hockeygrl]

I tried it, but I didn't like it. It just didn't work for me, because I am a very poor menu-in-advance planner and I have always been that way. I thought that if someone else did the planning it might work, but I still dreaded following the menu every night - I'm very much a "what sounds good NOW" dinner chef, lol. That's why my pantry is stocked to the hilt - I like options. My DH thinks my grocery habits are nuts, but he likes my cooking, so whatever.

[bluecluessubtlety]

I agree. Same reason I don't lay out my clothes on Sunday for the week. I am a what-do-i-feel-like-wearing-today kind of girl.

[twinmama85]

e-mealz is only $15/every 3 months...but the thing that sucks, is that its only for dinner...so you spend maybe $90-$100/ a week for DINNER only. so for us, it was actually costing us more to use e-mealz then it was for me to just use www.foodft.com, www.foodtv.com, www.eatbetteramerica.com, or www.eatingwell.com ... so i had it, cancelled it after a week because my DH didnt like the food and it was costing me more money to use it