FAQs

Will these meal plans work for me if I’m on a special diet?

We offer 3 alternative diet options -- gluten-free, paleo and vegetarian -- for each one of our meals, and they are available to all members. Regardless of what diet option you choose though, you are always in control of the ingredients, which means you can customize for any food allergies and dietary restrictions you need. We have members on a variety of diets from FODMAP to keto, who all make it work with some ingredient tweaks. We also have an incredibly supportive Facebook Group to answer any of your questions and to help you get the most out of our meal plans.

How long does it take to cook the meals?

Weeknight doability is one of the key requirements we consider when creating our recipes. We try to keep the active hands-on time for all of our meals under 30 minutes. Our quickest meals are also tagged “Quick and Easy” in our Archives for easy searching, and they can always be added to any menu you’re using. One other thing to note is that we’re creating whole meals vs. just a single recipe, which means you’re not having to put together multiple recipes on your own to create a meal. In addition, you can always swap in any ingredient shortcuts you want! #youdoyou

Do I need to make all of the meals? And can I swap in other meals?

We strive to be the most flexible meal plan out there, which means you get to decide which meals you want to make for any given menu. When you become a member, you can start from any of the menus we’ve created since 2013 and swap in any of the meals from our very vast Recipe Archives. Some members make just 2 to 3 meals a week, and others might make 6 to 8. Again #youdoyou.

Do the meals require a lot of ingredients?

Again, weeknight doability is one of our key requirements, which means we try to do as much with as little as possible. If you see a long ingredient list, it might be because the meal is more spice-focused but otherwise, we try to keep our lists short and tasty. We also try to look for ingredient synergies between meals on a given menu to keep the overall list as efficient as possible.

Will I need to buy a lot of new ingredients?

That really depends on your starting point in the kitchen! If you already cook a lot and also from across different cuisines, you are probably all set in the kitchen. Most of our members who have a sparser pantry to start with say that the items they add are mostly spices and vinegars (for all your new homemade dressings!). Since we do try to offer a wide variety of cultures and cuisines, there may be a few specialty condiments that all can be purchased from Amazon these days.

Are the meals kid-friendly?

60 to 70% of our members are parents and many of them are also dealing with some level of picky eating. We encourage parents to follow the Ellyn Satter philosophy: your job is to decide what to feed your child; their job is to decide what to eat and how much to eat. We see our role as helping parents expose their kids to a wide variety of ingredients and flavors without having to think about it every week. We’ve seen so many kids grow up on our meal plan service but we also know that some kids take longer to accept new foods. To avoid cooking a separate meal for those kids, many of our members will just serve the meal deconstructed so that their kid can still have control over what they eat.

Is there a mobile app?

We do not have a native mobile app but our site functions exactly like an app if you follow the steps here to install a shortcut on your mobile device (Android or iOS).

How is this different than the meal kit companies (e.g., Blue Apron)?

There are so many differences, and we’ve had so many members come from meal kit companies because they were looking for a more budget-friendly alternative. A typical serving at a meal kit company can cost anywhere from $8 to $15 whereas a typical serving of one of our meals costs $3 to $8 (depending on the meal and where you shop). Additionally, because you are in control of the ingredients, you can substitute based on your preferences and budget. You can also scale up any of the recipes so that you can have leftovers whenever you want. There is also of course significantly less packaging waste! Lastly, while meal kit companies allow you to pick from 12 to 20 meals / week, you literally can choose to make any meal from our vast Recipe Archives, so whatever you’re craving, we’ve likely got a recipe for it!

How do I cancel?

You can cancel your membership anytime from your Account page and we will make sure not to bill you for the next payment cycle. You can also start back up whenever you want too if all you need is just a break.