What is eMeals?
In this eMeals review we explore eMeals.com—a meal planning service designed to simplify the process of preparing home-cooked meals. The company eMeals, Inc. is based in Birmingham, Alabama, that specializes in digital meal planning services. Founded in 2004 by Forrest Collier, Jane DeLaney, and Jenny Cochran, eMeals aims to take the stress out of meal planning and grocery shopping, making it easier to enjoy healthy, home-cooked meals.
eMeals is designed to make home-cooked meals more accessible and less stressful by providing curated meal plans and seamless grocery shopping options. They offer weekly meal plans and in addition to dinner, they also provide breakfast and lunch plans. Users can use a mobile app, grocery lists integration and personal recipe storage.
How Does eMeals Work?
eMeals simplifies meal planning and grocery shopping through a straightforward process:
- Select Your Meal Plan: Choose from a variety of meal plans that cater to different dietary preferences and needs, such as keto, low-carb, family-friendly, vegetarian, and more.
- Receive Weekly Menus: Each week, eMeals sends you a new menu with recipes tailored to your chosen meal plan. These menus include a variety of dishes to keep your meals interesting and balanced.
- Generate a Shopping List: The service creates a shopping list based on the recipes in your weekly menu. This list can be customized to add or remove items as needed.
- Shop for Groceries: You can either shop for the ingredients yourself or use eMeals’ integration with grocery services like Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Instacart to have your groceries delivered or ready for pickup.
- Cook and Enjoy: Follow the step-by-step recipes provided by eMeals to prepare your meals. The recipes are designed to be easy to follow, making cooking a breeze.
Additional Features:
- Mobile App: Manage your meal plans, shopping lists, and recipes on the go with the eMeals app, available for both iOS and Android.
- Breakfast and Lunch Options: In addition to dinner plans, eMeals offers recipes for breakfast and lunch.
- Personal Recipe Storage: Save your favorite eMeals recipes and add your own or web-found recipes to your collection.
eMeals aims to make meal planning and cooking more convenient, helping you enjoy home-cooked meals without the hassle of planning and shopping.
14-Day Free Trial
eMeals offers a 14-day free trial for new users. During this trial period, you can explore all the features and meal plans eMeals provides, including sending your shopping list to grocery services like Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Instacart for pickup or delivery.
To start your free trial, you can sign up on their website and choose the meal plan that best fits your needs. If you decide not to continue after the trial, make sure to cancel before the trial period ends to avoid any charges.
eMeals vs. Plan To Eat Comparison
Here’s a comparison between eMeals and Plan to Eat, two popular meal planning services:
eMeals
- Meal Plans: Offers a variety of pre-made meal plans tailored to different dietary preferences like keto, low-carb, family-friendly, vegetarian, and more.
- Recipes: Provides weekly menus with recipes crafted by professional food teams and registered dietitians.
- Shopping List: Automatically generates a shopping list based on your selected recipes, which can be sent to grocery services like Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Instacart for pickup or delivery.
- Customization: Limited customization of recipes; you can’t edit ingredients or adjust serving sizes.
- Mobile App: Available for iOS and Android, allowing you to manage meal plans and shopping lists on the go.
- Price: Offers a 14-day free trial, followed by a subscription fee.
Plan to Eat
- Meal Plans: Does not provide pre-made meal plans. Instead, it allows you to create and customize your own meal plans by importing recipes from various sources.
- Recipes: Users can add their own recipes or import them from the web. Plan to Eat does not provide its own recipes.
- Shopping List: Generates a shopping list based on your custom meal plans. The list can be organized by store sections.
- Customization: High level of customization; you can edit recipes, adjust serving sizes, and organize meals on a calendar.
- Mobile App: Available for iOS and Android, with features to manage recipes, meal plans, and shopping lists.
- Price: Offers a 30-day free trial, followed by a subscription fee.
Key Differences
- Pre-Made vs. Custom Plans: eMeals provides pre-made meal plans, while Plan to Eat focuses on user-created plans.
- Recipe Source: eMeals offers its own recipes, whereas Plan to Eat relies on user-imported recipes.
- Customization: Plan to Eat offers more customization options compared to eMeals.
- Integration with Grocery Services: eMeals has direct integration with grocery services for easy shopping, which Plan to Eat does not offer.
Which One to Choose?
- eMeals: Ideal if you prefer convenience and ready-made meal plans with minimal effort in planning and shopping.
- Plan to Eat: Best if you enjoy customizing your meal plans and want more control over your recipes and ingredients.
eMeals Review: Other Meal Planning Services Like eMeals
There are several other meal planning services similar to eMeals. Here are a few notable ones:
1. PlateJoy
- Personalization: Offers highly personalized meal plans based on a detailed survey of your dietary preferences, health goals, and lifestyle.
- Grocery Delivery: Integrates with grocery delivery services like Instacart.
- Cost: Starts at $12.99 per month, with options for longer subscriptions.
2. Mealime
- Beginner-Friendly: Designed for beginner cooks with easy-to-follow recipes.
- Customization: Allows you to customize meal plans and adjust serving sizes.
- Free Version: Offers a free version with basic features.
3. Eat This Much
- Weight Management: Eat This Much focuses on meal planning for weight management and fitness goals.
- Automation: Automatically generates meal plans and shopping lists based on your dietary needs.
- Cost: Starts at $9.00 per month.
4. Prepear
- Social Media Integration: You can share and discover recipes through a social media-like platform.
- Customization: Offers extensive customization options for meal plans and recipes.
- Cost: Starts at $119.88 per year.
5. Yummly
- Recipe Options: Provides a vast library of recipes with detailed instructions and nutritional information.
- Smart Shopping List: Generates a shopping list based on selected recipes.
- Cost: Starts at $4.99 per month.
6. BigOven
- Using Leftovers: Helps you plan meals using leftover ingredients.
- Recipe Database: Access to over 500,000 recipes.
- Free Version: Offers a free version with basic features.
These services offer a range of features from personalized meal plans to grocery delivery and social media integration, catering to different needs and preferences.
eMeals Review: Cost
Eat This Much offers both free and premium plans. The free plan allows you to generate daily meal plans, track your intake, and create custom recipes.
For more advanced features, you can upgrade to the Premium plan:
- Monthly subscription: $14.99 per month
- Annual subscription: $5.00 per month (billed annually)
The Premium plan includes additional benefits like weekly meal planning, automatic grocery lists, and more customization options.
eMeals Review: Pros and Cons
PROS
Variety of Meal Plans: eMeals provides a wide range of meal plans tailored to different dietary preferences and needs, such as keto, low-carb, family-friendly, vegetarian, and more.
Time-Saving: By generating a weekly menu and shopping list, eMeals saves you the time and effort of planning meals and creating grocery lists. You can also send your shopping list directly to grocery services like Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Instacart for pickup or delivery.
Easy-to-Follow Recipes: The recipes provided by eMeals come with step-by-step instructions, making it easy for even novice cooks to prepare delicious meals. Each recipe includes detailed nutritional information, helping you make informed choices about your diet.
Mobile App Convenience: The eMeals app, available for both iOS and Android, allows you to manage your meal plans and shopping lists on the go. You can select meals, customize your shopping list, and even add personal or web-found recipes to your collection.
Cost Savings: eMeals claims that users can save an average of $2,000 a year on food costs by reducing food waste and avoiding impulse purchases. The service also offers a 14-day free trial, allowing you to explore its features before committing to a subscription.
Flexibility: You have access to all meal plans and can mix and match recipes from different plans to create a custom weekly menu. This flexibility ensures that you can adapt your meal planning to your changing lifestyle and family needs.
Health Benefits: With meal plans designed by registered dietitians, eMeals helps you maintain a balanced and healthy diet. The service offers plans for specific health goals, such as heart-healthy, diabetic-friendly, and low-calorie options.
CONS
Limited Customization: eMeals provides pre-made meal plans, which can be convenient but you can’t easily modify recipes or adjust serving sizes.
User Interface Issues: Some users have reported issues with the user interface, particularly on the web and Android app.
Ingredient Management: The shopping list generated by eMeals doesn’t automatically match existing pantry items, which can lead to food waste if you’re not careful. The list may include fractional items (like 2.5 tomatoes) without combining similar items, making shopping less efficient.
Recipe Simplicity: While the simplicity of recipes can be a benefit for beginners, some users find the recipes too basic and not always appealing.
Subscription Management: There have been complaints about difficulties in managing subscriptions, including issues with canceling memberships and unexpected charges.
Limited International Availability: eMeals is primarily focused on the U.S. market, which means that some of its grocery service integrations and meal plans may not be as relevant or available to international users.
eMeals Review: Final Verdict
eMeals aims to make meal planning and cooking more convenient, helping you enjoy home-cooked meals without the hassle of planning and shopping. The platform is a convenient and valuable tool for those looking to simplify meal planning and enjoy more home-cooked meals. It’s particularly beneficial for busy individuals and families who want to save time and maintain a healthy diet. However, potential users should be aware of its limitations in customization and occasional app performance issues.
