I used to think WAY TOO MUCH about meal preparation, and I got tired of it, so I subscribed to the 5 Dollar Meal Plan to get a variety of meals planned for me ahead of time, using their 14-day free trial.
After receiving my 5 Dollar Meal Plan, I prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner, here and there, without much thought. I found it useful, but I didn’t commit to using the plan completely for the entire trial. Yet, after thinking about giving a review of the 5 Dollar Meal Plan for my readers, I purchased a three-month subscription to test the full experience, only skipping 3 or 4 dinners the entire time.
When I used this plan fully for three months, I learned about all the good and bad features of the 5 Dollar Meal Plan. However, before disclosing those details, I should fill you in on what the 5 Dollar Meal Plan actually is.
What is a $5 Meal Plan?
5 Dollar Meal Plan is a website offering weekly menus that plan out your meals ahead of time, so you don’t have to worry about it yourself. You will get a healthy meal prep menu every Friday, including recipes for six dinners, one breakfast, one lunch, and two desserts.
5 Dollar Meal Plan has two plans: the classic plan and the other gluten-free plan. These choices are beneficial when you have to handle any food allergies in your family.
These healthy meal plans provide you with complete details about the preparation times, the number of servings, ingredients, and cooking methods required so that you don’t need to check anywhere else for additional research, like YouTube videos, to understand better how to make your food.
The perfect icons on the meal plan will guide you smoothly and help you understand without much effort.
The Stand-Out Features of $5 (Cheapest) Meal Plan
1. You can search for specific meals through their online portal, using the categories: cooking method (baked, steamed, etc.), meal types (breakfast, lunch, etc.), dietary preferences (vegetarian, dairy-free, etc.), and ingredients (chicken, beef, fish, potatoes, etc.).
2. The 5 Dollar Meal Plan gives you the information you need on each recipe’s nutritional values. The total nutrition is based on the ingredients used in each recipe, and they’ll help you figure out what that value is in the easiest terms possible.
3. After searching for various easy meal plans, you can save the ones you like best or want to try on your meal list in your account. You can also download or email the meal plans you want and print them out for physical copies.
4. Grocery deals and coupons are available on the 5 Dollar Meal Plan website. The coupons can be selected and printed out after the verification of your phone number. Other coupon savings will be emailed to you within a specified timeframe or applied to your cart online at checkout, with or without verification.
Plus, the 5 Dollar Meal Plan gives you access to obtain additional weekly meal plans and shopping lists from their store.
The store has all available plans in a six-week format, such as 6 Weeks of Summer Slow Cooker Meals, 6 Weeks of Skimpy Calorie Meals, 6 Weeks of 30-Minute Meals, 6 Weeks of Vegetarian Meals, and 6 Weeks of Paleo Meals.
The Pros of the $5 Meal Plan
1. It saved me TONS of time preparing any kind of meal every day of the week. Though it is full of various healthy food items that I wouldn’t eat ordinarily and didn’t adapt to, it was easy enough to exchange those food items with things I would eat. You might have a different experience because most of the items are common in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. However, even if you’re not from one of these countries, there are still plenty of flavors to enjoy with a Five Dollar Meal Plan.
2. My grocery bills were reduced. Before using the cheapest $5 Meal Plan, my grocery bills were on average higher by $700. Whenever I went with my own plan, I would buy extra items and spend money I could have saved. With the 5 Dollar Meal Plan, I was able to save quite a decent amount of money, and though you can’t save thousands of dollars at a time using this meal plan, you can potentially save yourself hundreds of dollars a month once you start using this.
3. I have various meals and new recipes to prepare after using a 5 Dollar Meal Plan. It saves hours of thinking about what to make and prepping for your daily meals.
4. You will instantly receive savings and coupons on the household and grocery items you need when you start using the 5 Dollar Meal Plan.
5. The frugal recipes can be made inexpensively while still providing you with plenty of nutrition and a healthy diet.
6. Being able to print out meal plans is useful for those who prefer to have their lists in hand. This option is also useful to save time while shopping since you won’t need to write copy anything down yourself and you can be sure that you aren’t missing anything.
The Cons of $5 Meal Plan
1. The main problem with the 5 Dollar Meal Plan is that you can’t customize or modify the recipes with their classic option. If you want to be able to do so, you have to opt for the gluten-free plan. Thus, it offers two separate plans where one plan may not have the other plan’s recipe items, and it seems inconvenient.
2. The number of servings is 4 in most of the recipes, and you will need to customize your own shopping list if you have more or less than 4 family members.
3. If you or your family are people that don’t like eating a large variety of foods, then you would probably feel overwhelmed by the recipes provided by Five Dollar Meal Plan, especially since you’re likely to come across recipes from different countries.
Other $5 Meal Plan Bonuses
1. Private Facebook group: This group helps you contact the 5 Dollar Meal Plan team directly. It’s here that you can get help fast for the queries you may have about the program.
2. Free Ingredients Printables: Using a 5 Dollar Meal Plan will get you free printables for popular ingredients, price lists, and homemade spice mixes.
3. Recommended products: You can receive the recommended products that Erin Chase, the owner of the $5 Meal Plan, uses for their own meal preparations.
If you’re interested in trying the $5 Meal Plan with the 14-day free trial, please check it out here.
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