Meal planning is one of the hardest jobs I have as a mom.
One kid complains if I serve meat.
The other one complains if I serve veggies…or anything that’s not a hotdog or dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets.
I’ve had to start eating gluten free…and my husband doesn’t get home until late.
Over the last few years I’ve tried a few different online meal planning sites, so I thought it might be helpful to put them all down in one spot…and maybe check out a few new ones.
The Six O’Clock Scramble
Price: 3 month for $7/month or 6 months for $6/month
Specialized Meal Plans: Yes
Customizable: Yes – you can save favorites and adjust the assigned meals for the week
How Many Meals/Week: 6
Grocery List: Yes
Website: http://www.thescramble.com/
E-meals
Price: 3 months for $7/month or 6 months for $6/month
Specialized Meal Plans: Yes
Customizable: No
How Many Meals/Week: 7
Grocery List: Yes
Website: http://www.emeals.com
Relish
Price: 3 months for $7/month or 6 months for $5.95/month
Specialized Meal Plans: Yes – you can save favorites and adjust the assigned meals for the week
Customizable: Yes
How Many Meals/Week: 7
Grocery List: Yes
Website: http://www.relishrelish.com/
5 Dinners in 1 Hour
(I’ve actually reviewed this one before…here.)
Price: $5/month, but you pay for 3 months at a time
Specialized Meal Plans: Yes
Customizable: No – but they do give options if you don’t eat pork or seafood.
How Many Meals/Week: 5/week, but you get the month in one email
Grocery List: Yes
Website: http://5dinners1hour.com
The Fresh 20
Price: $5/month, but you pay 3 months at a time
Specialized Meal Plans: Classic, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Lunch plans
Customizable: No
How Many Meals/Week: 5
Grocery List: Yes – You buy 20 fresh items each week and the meals are made from those.
Website: http://www.thefresh20.com
Real Recipe Plans
(I recently reviewed this plan. You can go here to read it and learn about how to get a free month.)
Price: 3 months for $10/month
Specialized Meal Plans: Yes – they have classic which is gluten, dairy and soy free and then a vegetarian option
Customizable: No
How Many Meals/Week: 5
Grocery List: Yes
Website: http://realrecipeplans.com/
Food on the Table
Price: $15 for the first 3 months then $9.95/month
Specialized Meal Plans: Yes – You choose the recipes each week and there are tons of options.
Customizable: Completely
How Many Meals/Week: 5-7
Grocery List: Yes
Website: http://www.foodonthetable.com
Pepperplate
Price: free
Specialized Meal Plans: Yes – This is more of a recipe building site. You can find the recipes online and import them and then use those recipes to plan.
Customizable: Completely
How Many Meals/Week: 21
Grocery List: Yes
Website: http://www.pepperplate.com
This one’s going to take some work to build up, but it’s a great place to store all those recipes that you find, or add your own, and then plan from what you found that you like.
I hope this gave you plenty of options for online meal planning and that one works for you.
Which do you think you might want to try first?
