Review & Giveaway: E-mealz

 This giveaway is now closed and the winner has been contacted. Thank you for your interest!

Do you menu plan? I love it! I don't get it done every single week, especially if we super busy.  But you know what I've found?  Those weeks that are super busy is when I need menu planning the most!!

My usual menu planning practice is to sit down Sunday afternoon, look through our previous menus that I post on my recipe blog, search through any recipes that I might have stumbled during the week, and assess what we have on hand and what we'll need to purchase.  It works well.

But sometimes I run out of inspiration.  I don't want the same old meals week after week.  But I do want healthy and 3-year-old friendly meal ideas.

So I was very excited when I was asked do a review of E-mealz!


E-mealz is a menu planning service to which you subscribe.  Yes, you pay (but I have a giveaway, so don't bail on me already!).  But for $1.25 a week, you get not only a menu with recipes, but also a full shopping list.

E-Mealz was created by sisters Jane DeLaney, mother of four, and Jenny Cochran, mother of three. The sisters were frustrated by the challenge of coming up with healthy, budget-conscious meals for their own families and inspired by their own mother’s frugal ways, they launched the program in 2003.

Their goals are: 1) to provide delicious, family-friendly recipes; 2) with ingredients on special or at the best price available; 3) to help families provide an easy and stress-free home-cooked dinner; 4) to provide special memories for families who gather around the dinner table together. 

There are several different meal plan choices. You can chose the regular meal plan that is based on your favorite grocery store and their sales.  Or choose Gluten-Free, Low-Carb, Low-Fat, Vegetarian, WW Points Plan, or the new WW Points Plus plan.  So many choices!  

I chose the new WW Points Plus plan and have tried three recipes so far. They have been easy to follow, nutritious, and acceptable to even our 3.5 year old.  I have made a few substitutions, mainly because we don't use store-bought Cream of Something soups.  I made a homemade cream of something instead and it worked quite well. I've also been enjoying their blog, which includes recipes, coupon tips, and other food related features.

Until March 1st, you can try this service for 15% off by entering the code BLISS. And if you click on this widget, I'll receive a referral commission. 

Now for the giveaway! One lucky reader will receive a FREE 3-month subscription to E-mealz!  Three months of menu planning!  This giveaway will close Sunday, March 6, 2011, at 9pm EST. The winner will be notified by e-mail, so please make sure you leave your e-mail in the comments or that your account with which you comment has an e-mail associated with it.

Mandatory Entry: Visit the E-mealz site and leave a comment telling me one thing that you learned that I did not mention in my review.

Bonus Entries: 

1) Like Not a DIY Life on Facebook

2) Like E-mealz on Facebook

3) Follow E-mealz on Twitter

4) Tweet the following (Max 1x/day): "I just entered to win a 3-month subscription to @Emealz with @notdiyheather ...http://bit.ly/h4qiEV"

Please leave a separate comment for each entry, stating what the entry action is, including your e-mail and/or twitter ID in each comment. 


The winner of the 3 month free subscription will be notified via e-mail on Monday, March 7, 2011, and will have 48 hours to respond. If there is no response in that time, another winner will be chosen. 


Disclaimer: Emealz provided me with a free one month subscription. The opinions in this post are my own.