I had mentioned e-mealz in a previous post. It is a site that, for $5 a month, provides you with menus and a grocery list for your dinners for a week. You pay for 3 months at a time and a new meal plan is posted once a week. My plan is available on Friday so when I log in I print out 2 copies of the menu and grocery list. One I place in a sheet protector in a 3-ring binder for future use and the other is the one I write on and mark up.
They have several plans to choose from. I chose the Point system meals for any grocery store, since I am counting Weight Watchers points to lose weight.
This will be our 3rd week using the plan and it appears that our average expense is $120 per week. That's about what we were spending before for a family of 5 and not having nearly as nice of meals as we are now.
Everyone in the family is really enjoying the meals. There is a lot of variety and the side dishes are wonderful. Our side dishes before amounted to opening a can of corn or beans. Now we have mandarin orange salad, honey-kissed slaw, oven roasted veggies, etc. Much tastier and healthier.
I think the thing that makes it most worth it to me is that I no longer have the dilemma of "what is for dinner?" and then wondering if I have all of the ingredients. It is a huge load off of my mind. That alone makes it worth it for me.
I like having a list of exactly what I need for each meal when I enter the grocery store. I am not a shopper so, for me, the grocery store is a mission. Get what we need and get out in as short a time as possible.
My grocery bill could be considerably less if we didn't drink as much milk as we do!!!
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I'm thinking I'd like to give this a try, too; however, could you please give a sampling of the meal titles. I'm feeing a family of seven: oldeest child is ten and there are some picky eaters here. Just an idea of the meals might help me figure out if it is worth a try.
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thanks for all the info.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:16 pm 1225750619
Thanks so much. This sounds great!
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And- note to "David": Dave Ramsey makes no money from this whatsoever, he recommends this site because he is a huge live-within your means advocate and this website is helping so many people pay down debt and save for the future by cutting grocery costs.
July 4th, 2010 at 02:49 pm 1278254969
My only wish is that it gave you some choice on what you would like for that week...but the whole point of the system is to handle all the meal planning for you so all you have to do is buy and prepare...
And by the way, "David"...there are programs on the internet and smartphone app stores that just do a grocery list with no meal plans that go for more than $15.00 every 3 months...And if you are so worried about Dave Ramsey and things he endorses, why did you bother to read a review? I suppose it is a ripoff that he gives his entire plan away for free on his radio show almost daily (if you don't know his plan, you haven't looked hard enough)...unlike scam artists like John Commuta who's plans don't work and cost upwards of $600.00.
It's not a crime to be succesful!
July 6th, 2011 at 09:37 pm 1309988254
And thank you for this review. I'm interested in the program, and appreciate your feedback on.
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