eMeals – Meal Planning for Busy Moms {Review & A Free Mother’s Day Menu for You!}
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have enough time in the day. I don’t know if it is just a Mama thing, or a homeschooling thing, or a ME thing…. but there aren’t enough hours in the day to get things done. I am lucky in that I have a husband who is really helpful, and likes to cook. But even with him cooking, I have to make sure the cupboards are full of food so he CAN cook.
In the past, I never planned for meals, I just bought what I bought, and he made do with it. This also means a lot of nights, we ended up with fast food because only so much can be made with a can of black beans and a jar of peanut butter. Luckily, there are programs out there that *save* people like me. eMeals is hands down the best thing I have come across for meal planning and my overwhelmed, overbooked life as a Mama.
eMeals is a program that emails a menu plan once a week. You get to pick what kind of menu you want; the choices are: Classic Meals, Clean Eating, Paleo, Slow Cooker, Simple Gourmet, Low Carb, Low Fat, Portion Control, Natural and Organic, Gluten Free, and Vegetarian. Each meal plan comes with 7 dinners with a side dish, and a shopping list.
The shopping list is broken down by grocery store section, and is labeled by what meal the ingredient belongs to. This makes shopping so easy, because I can either get everything all at once, or break it down into two shopping trips. If I go twice, I can easily see what I need for the first 3 meals, and save the rest for later. Recently, eMeals added in an iPhone app, which makes this even MORE user friendly, because I can leave meals out of the shopping list all together, and check off which ingredients I already purchased.
I can’t use this feature here in Germany, but eMeals can also be set to use whatever specials and deals your grocery store has for the week, which will help you save money. Even having the program set to “any store” I have never spent more than 120 on groceries for a full week’s worth of dinners. Even using the meal plan for 4-6 people, my family of 5 always has enough left overs for Hubby to take for lunch the next day, so we are saving an incredible amount of money.
When we first started using eMeals, I selected the Simple Gourmet plan. Everything we cooked was fantastic. After a month of that, I switched to Paleo just to try something new, and still wasn’t disappointed. I think Paleo is my favorite plan, because each week includes recipes to be grilled and also cooked in the slow cooker, so there is lots of variety! I love that I am getting to try new things, and every last thing we have cooked has been delicious. Even my husband who LOVES to cook enjoys using eMeals. He does “fancy” them up with his own seasonings and additions, but the framework is amazing for him, and I follow the recipes rote, and they still turn out wonderful.
The thing that really impresses me the most about eMeals is that I have freed up so much time. I don’t have to worry about what to buy at the store, or plan a menu, or have that 4 p.m. panic of “what’s for dinner?!” There is no last second grocery store shopping. I am relieved and have less stress on my shoulders. That is priceless to me! I received a dinner plan subscription for free in exchange for this review, but I love this program so much that I purchased a breakfast plan on my own dime!
I think you should give it a try- I really feel like there is something for everyone at eMeals. As a special treat from them, they have a free Mother’s Day Brunch menu you can try! This way, you can see how the shopping list works and have a small taste of how eMeals can work in your home. Click the image below to download your free menu and shopping list!
I received a dinner subscription for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. Links in this post are affiliate links, and I potentially earn a small commission from any sales originating from this review. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC regulations.
