Do you use Emeals? (menu planning)

[lovetoscrap]

Living Social has a good deal on a year subscription to this service and I am intrigued. I just started working full time and am still trying to adapt to not being home and having free time during the day to plan and shop. I am doing Weight Watchers so meals on the fly are not a great option. It appears that their Portion Control menu has points listed (not sure if they conform to the latest WW plan though, would need to find out)

If you use them how do you like their menus/recipes? We are not a casserole type of family-- if it has Cream of Anything soup in it and/or potato chips/cheez its/tatertots on top then I am not interested. We also don't do a lot of processed foods (boxed noodles, boxed or frozen potatos, already prepared frozen stuff) I have looked at Menus 4 Moms in the past but they seemed to use a lot of crap ingredients. I do get a few ideas from OAMM and was surfing Pinterest but don't have much time for that now. Emeals also has a Clean Eating menu that might work better for us but it doesn't have points listed. Anyone tried both? What about the Low Fat and Low Carb ? Opinions?

Mostly I am just looking for some fresh new ideas for main dishes that will keep me on track and I like the idea of the shopping list. I am looking at it as spending $30 on a cookbook that I can use weekly to help with meal planning. We are a little picky (no seafood particularly) so I would guess that we won't use all of the meals they provide each week, so would this still be worth it?

If you don't use this one do you use a meal planning site that might be helpful? Anything that conforms to Weight Watchers would be a plus!

 

[scrapquitler]

Living Social has a good deal on a year subscription to this service and I am intrigued. I just started working full time and am still trying to adapt to not being home and having free time during the day to plan and shop. I am doing Weight Watchers so meals on the fly are not a great option. It appears that their Portion Control menu has points listed (not sure if they conform to the latest WW plan though, would need to find out)

If you use them how do you like their menus/recipes? We are not a casserole type of family-- if it has Cream of Anything soup in it and/or potato chips/cheez its/tatertots on top then I am not interested. We also don't do a lot of processed foods (boxed noodles, boxed or frozen potatos, already prepared frozen stuff) I have looked at Menus 4 Moms in the past but they seemed to use a lot of crap ingredients. I do get a few ideas from OAMM and was surfing Pinterest but don't have much time for that now. Emeals also has a Clean Eating menu that might work better for us but it doesn't have points listed. Anyone tried both? What about the Low Fat and Low Carb ? Opinions?

Mostly I am just looking for some fresh new ideas for main dishes that will keep me on track and I like the idea of the shopping list. I am looking at it as spending $30 on a cookbook that I can use weekly to help with meal planning. We are a little picky (no seafood particularly) so I would guess that we won't use all of the meals they provide each week, so would this still be worth it?

If you don't use this one do you use a meal planning site that might be helpful? Anything that conforms to Weight Watchers would be a plus!

I used SavingDinner.com for a while. I never used all the meals on the plan, but I made one or two a week. I thought it was worth it for that. She also sells cookbooks (I have the lowcarb one). The author is Leanne Ely.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I used SavingDinner.com for a while. I never used all the meals on the plan, but I made one or two a week. I thought it was worth it for that. She also sells cookbooks (I have the lowcarb one). The author is Leanne Ely.

I have looked at that site but can't really find any details-- no sample menus, no information on exactly what my money will buy and if there is a choice of menus.

 

[scrapquitler]

I have looked at that site but can't really find any details-- no sample menus, no information on exactly what my money will buy and if there is a choice of menus.

You get a weekly email that give you menus, side dish suggestions, a shopping list and nutrition information for each menu (she is a registered dietitian) There are several choices weightloss/low carb, daytime meals (breakfast and lunch menus), and a few others.

If you click on her main page, on the right, there is a place to enter youre email address, she'll send you a sample that shows all the various menus for one week and you can look to see which type appeals to you.

It's been a long time since I did it, but I still have the recipes all on my computer from back then so I can go back and reuse them. So you could just spend the $15 and get it for three months then cancel. They don't correspond to sales like emeals does, but then again emeals doesn't 'do' the store i shop at.

If you do flylady, sometimes LeeAnn offers a special for flylady member (I think when I did it, I paid half price or something).

 

[lovetoscrap]

Thanks, I did that. There are WWpoints on the sample menus!

So if I pay for just the regular subscription then I all of those menus? I think there were 5 different types? That might be a pretty good deal. Since we are kind of picky that gives me more choices to mix and match.

I have seen special offers in my Flylady emails, but haven't seen one lately. Of course as soon as I decide to do it and pay the money one will probably come out!

 

[Coconut36]

I don't see the value in paying for such a product personally. I meal plan with paper and a pencil (or in a word document). I create my shopping list based on the ads/what is on my menu (and sometimes adjust my menu to suit what is on sale). It takes a minimal amount of time to do really. For recipes the internet is full of options and ideas you can search to find different things to make.

 

[lovetoscrap]

That is what I was doing too, but I started working and started WW about the same time and just don't have time now to search the internet for ideas and then figure out the Points value to see how they will work in my plan.

And I am in pretty much of a rut with our regular options. I want some new things to try and having them come directly to my inbox with all the information I need instead of having to wade through hundreds of Pins (many of which keep ending up to be spam lately ) or posts on recipe sites, or even the WW site, is worth a few dollars to me, especially if it helps me continue to meet my weight loss goals. As I said in my op I am looking at it as similar to the cost of buying a new cookbook.

I was hoping that someone here was using the Emeals and could tell me how they like it. Maybe I need to ask on the Budget board. The Saving Dinner meals do look promising too.

 

[can84]

Have you checked out the Skinnytaste site? She usually lists WW points with the recipe.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/

 

[Buckalew11]

I use eMeals! I've used it since mid-January and have really liked it.

I shop at Kroger and like that they match the recipes up to the sale items for the best use of my money + I use Southern Savers for Kroger sales/coupon matches. It works well and takes all the thought out of it for me.

 

[Piper]

I have tried SavingDinner two different times a couple of years apart. It wasn't worth it. The items on the menu use many ingredients that I don't normally keep on hand (and just a small amount of each ingredient.) It was just too expensive. I spent more in a week than I would have in a month otherwise.

 

[Theginster55]

I have been using recipes from Skinnytaste for a couple weeks. My husband has said most have been "keepers".

I think Dave Ramsey touts Emeals and while it looks attractive I have a hard time paying for something I could do for free. From the Skinnytaste site I found "once a month mom"...and today did a "mini" OAMC for chicken primarily for the crockpot. 8 meals for a family of five. It took such little prep time using frozen veggies already etc while keeping it WW friendly.

I wil lsay though if the Emeals site used a store in my region (Wegman's) while being Portion Control I would consider it since they promise to keep a family of four to a really minimal grocery budget.

 

[Buckalew11]

LoveToScrap,

Looking around eMeals, it seems like the portion control menu lists points for WW. I have no idea if it is the new typeof WW or an older verison but I knew they used to do it. Now, if youlook at the portion control sample it will say something like, "3 servings @ 5 each" or "4 servings at 2 each" and I believe that might be WW points.You could contact them and see. $29.00 is a good price. My family has loved the food, DH doesn't even know we're on a plan! I find everything easy to prepare and love knowing I have all the stuff when I start the recipe!