If you’ve been curious about eMeals, you’ve come to the right place. In this eMeals review, you’ll hear all about how it’s change meals at our house.
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I’m a busy mom; I’m currently working full time from home, am homeschooling my two young boys, and am managing most of the household duties. My husband (who helps out as much as he can) is an internal medicine resident. His work hours fluctuate, but for the most part, he’s incredibly busy.
Meal planning is just another item on my very long to-do list. I can’t afford to spend too much time on it, but I also don’t know that my kids surviving on chicken nuggets and corndogs is my best idea.
For several months we were in a meal planning rut; eating the same meals over and over again. Planning dinner was literally the last thing on my daily to-do list and I wouldn’t even think about it until 5:30, when it was too late to thaw anything out.
To be honest, our meal rotation was mainly comprised of tacos, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, pasta, and breakfast for dinner. Our main source of veggies could be found in a can.
When all else failed, we’d get take out. We were eating more processed food than I’d like, but I simply did not have hours to spend finding new recipes, managing a big grocery list, and spending time making elaborate meals that my kids weren’t likely to eat.
As you might know, in the past I used to LOVE freezer meals. I would cook 3 months of food in one weekend. Due to the chaos of life, I couldn’t find time to shop for and prep freezer meals consistently.
At this time, I wasn’t actively looking for something to help me with meal planning because I didn’t think I could afford the kind of help I needed.
I needed something for meal planning that:
- Wouldn’t require much time.
- Would increase the variety of meals at our house.
- Wasn’t expensive. (I ran the math on various meal delivery kits and just couldn’t justify it when I can get take out for the same price and not have a mess to clean up.)
- Would help us reduce processed foods at our house.
- Wouldn’t require me to use time-consuming or difficult recipes (or leave me a huge mess to clean up after making dinner)
- Would ideally allow us to shop at Walmart (since that’s where we currently buy most of our groceries).
In September of 2020, I saw an ad for eMeals ad on social media. I saw the ad several times before I actually clicked through to learn about their program. I was beyond excited when I learned that eMeals would help with all 6 things on my above list.
When they offered me a 2-week risk-free trial, it was a no brainer; I signed up. (If you want to try eMeals, click here to get your own 2-week trial). After the first week, I was hooked. I couldn’t believe that I’d never heard anyone talking about eMeals.
Click here to try eMeals free for 2 weeks!
Before using eMeals, it would take me 1-2 hours to plan meals; finding recipes, writing a grocery list, and shopping for the items online. After I started using eMeals, the time it takes me to choose meals and shop for groceries is usually less than 15 minutes a week!
The price and convenience of eMeals makes it something that every busy household in America should be using (I honestly and sincerely mean that – I am not exaggerating).
In this eMeals review, I’m going to tell you all the reasons why you should be using eMeals for meal planning and also tell you the one reason why you may not want to use it.
What is eMeals?
eMeals is a meal planning service that you can use on your phone, computer, or tablet.
eMeals has been around for over a decade and has had over a million customers. It has an endorsement from Dave Ramsey and great reviews on Trust Pilot.
How does eMeals Work?
You can use eMeals on your phone, tablet, or computer. The general process of planning your meals though is incredibly easy and convenient.
Here’s an overview of the meal planning process, but I’ll share more details about each of the steps below. (eMeals makes the meal planning process so convenient, I literally don’t think it could be any better – unless a chef comes to my house to cook my meals!)
- You choose the recipes you want to make. They have a variety of meal planning options (including meals for those with dietary restrictions or who are health conscious – more about this later!) You can choose any number of recipes you want.
- eMeals will put together a grocery list. You can quickly skim your pantry and fridge to remove ingredients you already have.
- eMeals will allow you to login into partner retailers (listed below) and shop for the items you need online. (This step is my FAVORITE!)
- You can pick up your groceries or have them delivered.
- Make the meals, while easily referring to the recipe on the eMeals app.
How much does eMeals cost?
If you sign up for a 3-month subscription, the cost is $9.99 a month.
If you sign up for a 12-month subscription, the cost is $4.99 a month.
If you want to try eMeals free for 14 days, click here. (You have nothing to lose!)
What kinds of meal planning options are there?
eMeals has a meal plan for everyone! (I sincerely mean that!)
When you sign up, you select a meal plan which will be the most prominently displayed one when you open the app. However, you have the freedom to select recipes from any of the meal plans, any time you want.
Every week there are 7 new recipes for each meal plan. You can select any number of recipes from any of the meal plans.
The 15 meal plan options can be broken down into 4 categories; popular, family-inspired, weight management, and specialty meal plans.
Popular meal plans:
- Quick and Healthy
- Keto
- Clean Eating
Family inspired meal plans:
- 30 Minute Meals
- Budget Friendly
- Kid Friendly (this is where most of my meals come from!)
- Slow Cooker
Weight management meal plans:
- Paleo
- Heart Healthy
- Low Calorie
- Low Carb
- Diabetic
Specialty meal plans:
- Gluten Free
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Mediterranean
They even have a section where you can find bonus collections (like freezer meals), desserts, and special occasions (like recipes for Halloween or tailgating).
Where can I shop for groceries?
Before telling you which retailers pair with eMeals – I need you to know how CONVENIENT this is. After I have my grocery list, I log in to my Walmart account on the eMeals app to directly order my groceries. The app shows the item I need for my recipe, for example 1 lb of thin sliced turkey. Listed below the item is all the options for thin sliced turkey available at Walmart. I simply select the one I want and move on. It is SO fast. I don’t have to search for any item, I just have to select the one I want.
This part is SO nice, because you can always order the item you prefer. For example, we always try to watch our sodium, so I can always choose reduced sodium chicken broth.
eMeals currently pairs with the following retailers:
- Albertson’s
- AmazonFresh
- HEB
- Instacart
- Kroger
- Safeway
- Shipt
- Walmart Grocery (this is what I use!)
How do I access the recipes?
After your groceries have arrived, you simply open the eMeals app and click on the “Shopping List” icon at the bottom of the app. Then click on “Meal Recipes.”
If you enjoyed a recipe, you can favorite it by clicking on the heart under a recipe. You can then add the recipe to your meal plan list any week you want.
All of the recipes I’ve tried have been VERY easy to make.
Why wouldn’t eMeals work for me?
The only reason someone may not want to use eMeals is that they have a preferred retailer that eMeals doesn’t currently partner with or perhaps none of the retailers eMeals works with are available in their area.
(If eMeals doesn’t partner with a retailer in your area, they would still give you a grocery list that you could shop from; it just wouldn’t be as convenient as linking directly to the one you use.)
Other than that one reason, I see no reason that eMeals wouldn’t work for everyone.
Why do I LOVE eMeals?
eMeals has been a huge gamechanger for our family.
It saves me a ton of time, because meal planning is nearly effortless (the hardest and most fun part is choosing the meals for the week!)
It has saved us money, because shopping for groceries is cut and dried. The app tells me exactly what ingredients I need to make each meal. It doesn’t use strange ingredients and I’ve found that online grocery shopping reduces my impulse buys. (The cost of eMeals is negligible, seriously it’s less than 2 Happy Meals).
It has made our meals so much more exciting because we aren’t eating the same meals over and over again. My husband fell in love with one of the sides from a meal we had a few weeks ago. It was a creamy spinach rice (my kids thought it was okay.) Without eMeals, I NEVER would have made something like that. (Before that meal, I’m not sure my kids had even had spinach.)
It has allowed me to make healthier meals for my family by reducing the amount of processed foods we eat.
It has decreased my stress and anxiety about meal planning, especially during this particularly busy time of our lives.
So what are you waiting for?
If you are struggling with meal planning, if your family is tired of eating the same meals, if you are looking to reduce your grocery bills, then eMeals can help you. Click here to try eMeals for 2 week for free. You can sign up for a free 2 week trial by clicking here. You literally have nothing to lose and SO much to gain! (Think of all you could do with all that time you’ve saved?)
I sincerely believe in eMeals and am grateful for its existence.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Stay savvy,
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