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Meal planning and grocery shopping!
We all have to eat, and as much as we wish we could eat out every night or have a fancy chef cook our every meal, in reality, that just doesn’t happen. So, if you are tired of wasting time making a grocery list or trying to figure out what’s for dinner every night? You’re not alone!
For us, eating out happens only on occasions! Therefore, we have learned to cook at home and purchase the right ingredients for our planned out tasty meals. However, that wasn’t always the case.
What Made Us Start Meal Planning?
For years I would go to the store, walk down every aisle, grab items off the shelves and then later figure out what was for dinner with what I bought.
I knew my way of grocery shopping wasn’t working when too many of our perishable items would rot and wither before we had a chance to make a meal. Also, when Matthew and I moved into our RV full-time our fridge just wasn’t as large as an industrial one and our pantry storage became almost non-existent.
I did always try to purchase the Ingredients for basic meals like Tacos, Chicken w/veggies, and Spaghetti. Although basic meals are easy and quick, they can get repetitive and boring.
I specifically remember my husband saying, “what do we have for dinner?”
And I replied; “chicken and broccoli with rice”.
He said “Again?”
That’s when I knew something had to change. We needed new recipes and new ideas!!
We couldn’t continue with our normal routine because we either ended up with not enough room or eventually wasted food. Wasted food equals wasted money, right? We definitely had no room to be wasting money! Especially when we are on our way to becoming debt free which you can read about here on our monthly goal posts: Our Journey to a Debt Free Life.
So I went on to Pinterest and started searching. I came across a blog post regarding meal planning and they recommended the $5 Dollar Meal Plan service. I instantly became interested clicked on their link in the post.
Through my scrolling of www.5dollarmealplan.com website I, of course, read the whole page and the reviews. After all, the reviews are so important.
After about 5 minutes, I realized that this service was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to save money, save time, and most importantly stop buying items and ingredients that never get used. I saw this service as being the answer to my problem.
So, we signed up for the 14 free day trial to try it out. As soon as we did, we received our first planned meals. I also did some searching on my own to see what kind of recipes they had as options.
Do we like the meals and service?
So far we have loved the service! Every week we receive in our email a complete list of meals for the week including a detailed grocery list at the end of the recipes. The list is downloadable, printable, and saves so much time.
We take the list, mark off any items we already have in our fridge or pantry. Then when we go to the store we purchase the items that we still need. The service has been great!
What do you get with the service?
You get a full week of meals sent to your inbox every Friday, with cooking instructions and a grocery list.
The option to build your own perfect plan according to your specifications.
Search for meals designed by cooking method. So, if you love using just one pot for your meals to save on dishes there are recipes for that. They also have meal specifically for crock pot/slow cookers, meals that are freezer friendly, meals for baking, meals for Dutch Ovens, and more.
Search by dietary preferences such as gluten-free, paleo, dairy free, soy free, or vegetarian there are specific meals for you.
Search and create meals plans for the time of day. If you want to plan meals for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner there are plenty of recipes for you to add variety for weeks.
Search by ingredients like beef, salad, beans, chicken, eggs, and more.
They really have thought about their customers with a great meal planning service. Plus, Free Coupons that you can print for your grocery shopping to save even more money. Here are some images of the dashboard and what to expect by searching the categories.
Is it worth it?
Well, you can sign up for a free 14-day trial to see if the service is something that will benefit you and your family. We did exactly that and after the 14 days decided to purchase the full service at only $5 a month.
I feel like the price is definitely affordable and reasonable for the amount of time it has saved us and can save you.
How has the product benefited us?
By using the $5 meal planning service we have saved over $100 a month on groceries by only purchasing what we needed and using the coupons they provide with the service. This, in turn, has prevented us from eating out and wasting food.
I now have more time to focus on playing with my dogs on the weekends, writing, and spending time with my husband, instead of spending my Sunday trying to meal plan and create a grocery list.
If you’re single, a couple, or a family with children this service has so many benefits. It also allows variety for your weekly meals. Before we would always eat chicken, pasta, and tacos, those were my go-to ingredients when I went grocery shopping. Now, we have opened up our meal options and have tried a variety of fish dishes, vegetarian dishes, nutritionally packed smoothies and more!
So save your weekends for the family and let Shane, Erin, and Jim do your meal planning for you! You can start your free 14-day trial here!
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This sounds like a fabulous program! I mean ~ can’t beat the price!
Meal planning is something I struggle with doing so this sounds like a nice service!
We love it!
Sounds like a cool program!
Great idea. I’ve been meal planning for years and it saves money for sure.
Sounds like a great meal plan, lists are key to minimizing waste! Glad that you found such a helpful service! 🙂
Absolutely, Angela! I love my lists! 🙂
I never thought about how important meal-planning could be for RVers, but it totally makes sense! Having planned meals totally saves space on food.
It has helped us so much with saving space in our fridge and pantry! 🙂
This sounds awesome. I have tried tons of different meal kits and plans and still haven’t found the right thing. I might try this- VERY affordable!
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I find that I often waste $$ on ingredients I never use. This sounds like a great service at a reasonable price.
Yes! Only purchase what you need for each meal! Saves so much $$!
What a great service! I love the idea of being able to search by cooking method!!!
Me too! I love it!
What a great service! You don’t have to worry about receiving the box of food and can shop and cook and save time! I’ll have to give it a go.
Yes, No box of food! You buy the ingredients yourself. I hope you enjoy it!
I used a meal planning site for a while and it worked really well. We’ve gotten away from it and have noticed a difference. I will need to check this out.
Wonderful! I hope you find it helpful!
I use another meal planning service but it has helped me save so much time. Even our shopping trip is quicker!
Totally agree! Meal planning services are great!
Great idea! And affordable. I’ll che k them out.
Hi Cindy! Thank you, I hope you enjoy it!
This is a really good price for something like this! We’ve done meal planning services in the past and it helped us a lot!
Glad you found meal planning helpful too! Thanks for reading!
The $5.00 meal plan sounds like a great idea. I like that you can pick meals that suit your cooking style and dietary needs. I can see it saving me time and money by using it.
Yes! I love that about the plan too! 🙂
This is a totally new concept for me around rving. Very interesting read!
Wow that is a great price and saves so much time. I’m finding my time is so valuable and that cost is worth it.
I know right! It’s been so helpful and worth it!
I have heard of meal planning but did not really get it until this post. It sounds like a great idea!
I’m glad you found this helpful! Thanks for reading!
I’ve never heard of this before. I was just talking to my family about how much food ends up getting wasted. This looks like a great solution! Thank you so much for sharing this information!
It has helped us so much to keep from wasting food! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it!
This is great!! $5.00 meal planning is awesome for everyone!! Thank you!
Absolutely! Thanks for reading!!
Wow. This is one cool idea about a $5 meal plan. I will surely check it out. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for reading! You’re welcome! 🙂
I love to cook but absolutely hate to grocery shop!! Having all the ingredients delivered to me and I don’t have to think about what to cook would be a nice little break for me! I’ll have to look into this. Thanks!
I know, me too! Having the ingredient list is so handy to make grocery shopping easier!
RV’ing would be so much fun! Maybe when the kids are older.
It truly is!
Meal planning drives me crazy! I will check out the 14 day free trial and see if it is a good fit for me and my son!
Awesome! Hope you enjoy it as we have! 🙂