I am canceling my subscription to Relish!. I would have been canceling anyway, but this was really not what I was expecting. Of course their website is so sparse until you pay, that you really don’t know what you are going to be getting until you do pay.
Pros:
- Real Food Focus: All of the recipes are made from scratch, with little to no processed foods on the shopping list. Breads are bought, not made, but the shopping list says whole-grain, multigrain, whole wheat, etc.
- Lots of Fruits and Veggies: In tandem with the focus on real foods, there is a focus on fruits and veggies. I always like it when my produce shopping list is as long as the rest of my list combined.
- Vegetarian Options: For health and budget reasons, we tend to eat vegetarian 2-4 dinners a week. I don’t like to contemplate how I would feel if I went back to eating up to 16 oz of meat every day (meat at all three meals adds up!).
- Lots of Choices: If nothing on their weekly menu sounds good, you still have the option of using any of the hundreds of menus listed on the site.
Cons:
- Lots of Choices: Okay, I have said it before and I will say it again – the whole point of paying someone else for a weekly meal plan is so that that person will plan your meals for the week. Having hundreds of options is pretty much what I have with my current system, and isn’t any different than owning a large library of cookbooks. The time looking through all the recipes and narrowing it down to just 5-7 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners is what I was trying to save, and this site didn’t save that for me. What might work is to have just their 15 choice weekly menu available, but have the ability to keep track of family favorites that you can then swap in at any time – not every freaking recipe from the past 3 months.
- Expensive Ingredients: The second week, I really had to work to avoid the recipes which called for 2 avocados, or beef filets, or other ingredients which are out of my budget.
- Frustrating website: The FAQ is inadequate. A community is talked about, but I couldn’t find any way to talk with the community – no forum, no chatter on Facebook, no comments on recipes, nothing. Having to have your week start on Thursday, because theirs does, or print every single thing is ridiculous.
- Confusing Categories: I kept bumping up against some truly weird categorizations, mostly in the Freezer Friendly Category. Mind you, these are not recipes which are Kid Friendly, but also might freeze well. No I am talking about the ones that are Freezer Friendly, and might also be kid friendly. Like those ham and apple wraps. Freezing raw apples. To eat raw. Seriously? Have they not see what happens to an apple 10 minutes after it has been cut? And the cellular damage caused by freezing means that frozen apples are only suitable for applesauce or pie, but definitely NOT for eating raw.
If I were just starting out, without a large database of recipes, and I enjoyed the recipes (which were fine, not extraordinary, but enjoyed by both kids and adults here), then I might think about continuing with Relish!. If you trying to stop eating out every night because you really have not quite gotten the hang of cooking every night, then Relish! might work for you. If you already use a meal planning service, but are concerned about the ingredients on it, Relish! might work for you.
I cook just about every morning, noon, and night (M-F). I know how to pinch a penny and make a nickel fall out. I would like to save time that I use making up my weekly menu. This is not a meal planning service for me.
In Scout's Freezer 