Review of Top Three Meal Planning Services

The majority of women that I know who cook dinner regularly for their families report that their main complaint is trying to decide what to cook. Families get tired of having the same dishes repeatedly, but original recipes on a weekly basis are hard to plan. In addition, once the cook decides on the entrée, he or she must decide on side dishes and desserts. This problem now has a solution-meal planning services!

A meal planning service provides menus on a weekly basis, with a selection of meal plans to choose from, for families with children, or cooking for two. The menu planning service provides the menu for each day's entrée and sides, recipe instructions, and a detailed grocery list. The meals are kid friendly, simple to prepare for even a beginner cook, and can be prepared quickly. Meals are not repeated, except for the most requested ones, and then they are only repeated every four to six- months. The cost of the service is relatively low, and consumers report they usually save more than the cost of membership in using the shopping list and not buying extra items on impulse. Meal planning services are an excellent gift idea for a new mom or newlywed.

The top three meal planning services are www.e-mealz.com , www.dinnerplanner.com , and www.dinnerwithoutwhine.com .

E-Mealz offers a wide variety of meal plans to choose from, from grocery lists for specific stores (such as Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Publix), low fat menus, low-carb menus, and point menus for those counting points. They also offer menus for families or menus for couples. Their service is five dollars per week, but is billed three months at a time with automatic renewal if the service is not cancelled. An advantage of their service is that choosing a list from a specific grocery store means your meals will be planned according to that grocery stores specials on items in their sale flyer that week, which saves money.

I've found their meals to be simple but tasty, and equally enjoyed by adults and children alike. This service also allows you to transfer between plans if you need to, as long as it's not too often. Their grocery list is broken down into sections of the grocery store, such as produce, meat, etc. This makes it easy to shop. Their meals are budget friendly with a family of four to six eating seven meals for a cost under $100, and usually in the $75 dollar range. A week's meal for two averages $35. In order to access their menus for your meal plan, it is necessary to login to their website at least every two weeks to get your meal plans and shopping lists. They accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover, but not Paypal.

Dinnerplanner does not offer a choice of grocery stores, but they do include a weekly dessert that can be served on the night of your choice. They rate their meals according to difficulty and ease of clean up. Their shopping lists are also color-coded to allow ease of shopping. They also claim their meals are kid-friendly. Dinnerplanner is also $5 per week, billed for three month at a time. They do not automatically renew after three months, but it is up to the subscriber to renew. Their website says the renewal is $10, but it does not say if the special price is just for the first renewal or also for subsequent ones. They offer sample menus on their website, and the meals sound very appetizing but not time consuming. With Dinnerplanner, the menus are emailed to you each week. Dinnerplanner also offers a free cookbook of their favorite recipes with membership.

With the service DineWithoutWhine, menus are also e-mailed each week. They include two desserts and brunch ideas for the weekend. Their shopping lists are divided by grocery store aisles. They offer a money back guarantee if you are not happy with the service and cancel within two weeks. Another advantage of DineWithoutWhine is the lifetime membership option. For $135, one can join for a lifetime of menus. They offer a monthly plan, with the first week being a free trial, and the subsequent weeks being $4.95, as well as a 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month subscription. They accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and Paypal.

I have found that E-Mealz best met the needs of our family, and we subscribe to the Kroger plan since that is where we usually shop for our groceries. Using a meal planning service has saved us a significant amount of money each week, and we have found the service pays for itself with those savings. I usually omit one meal that sounds like my least favorite (sometimes it's hard to find one I don't want to try!) in order to have a night out at a restaurant, and a weekly break from cooking. Using a meal planning service makes dinner preparation much less stressful. I also don't have the problem of not having everything on hand when I begin to cook, because of the printed grocery list. The only problem with a meal planning service is that I wish they had been around when my children were small, because they would have been a godsend to a young mother!