Menu Planning Services for Moms Who Hate to Cook

Back in the day, when I worked in a cube and had a two-hour round-trip commute, I used to spend the last 15 minutes of my workday scanning the internet for a recipe to make for dinner.

Having this loosely knit meal planning system worked well because I got to leave work around 3:00 pm, which gave me enough time to stop at the grocery store to grab the necessary ingredients. I’d make tasty seafood dishes and spicy Mexican food, and I actually enjoyed cooking.

Fast forward to the present time — I hate cooking and menu planning!

Working from home has a TON of perks, but because I don’t have a daily commute and because I batch my errands to be more productive. I only make it to the grocery store once a week. So, this means I have to be super organized with meal planning and my grocery list.

But, when Sunday night rolls around, the last thing I want to do is take an hour out of my busy schedule to sit down and meal plan. Besides hating to menu plan, I hate cooking. At the end of a busy day, I don’t want to take 60 minutes to cook a meal that’s eaten in 10 minutes, with another 20-30 minutes of cleanup. Ahhhh, I dread it.

Over the past few years, I’ve tried a lot of different solutions to solve the problem of what to make for dinner. During this time, I’ve found a lot of good options for moms who hate cooking and menu planning.

Budget-Friendly Meal Planning Systems

1. $5 Meal Plan

The $5 Meal Plan is a weekly service that contains six dinner recipes, one breakfast recipe, one lunch recipe, and a dessert and snack recipe, along with your weekly shopping list. Meals are family-friendly and supposedly cost $2 per person per serving. I have yet to try this one — but it gets good reviews online, and it’s perfect for budget-friendly cooking.

The $5 Meal Plan offers a free 14-day trial, and after that, if you like it you’ll be switched to the monthly plan, which is $5 a month

• Cook time: 20 minutes or more
• Price: $5 a month (each portion costs $2 per person to make)
• Specialty diet plans: Regular and gluten-free

2. Lauren Cobello

Lauren Cobello is a well-known personal finance blogger who has come up with four different crockpot meal plans that can save you time and money. Each plan comes with ten different recipes that you prep, dump, and freeze for later use. I have yet to try this meal system, but the recipes sound appealing, and most of them are family-friendly. The downside with this plan is the ten recipes repeat themselves — so you may get bored of having the same recipe twice in one month.

• Cook time: 3 hours for 20 meals
• Price: $4.97 per plan (estimated $150 – $165 for food)
• Specialty diet plans: No

Menu Planning Services

3. Green Chef

Green Chef is the first meal-planning subscription box service I tried out. As its name suggests, all ingredients in these boxes are organic. Subscribers can choose between a two-person plan (which comes with three meals) or a four-person plan (which comes with two meals). With the two-person option – you get to choose between 11 different recipes, and with the four-person plan, you get to choose between four different recipes. It’s been a while since I’ve used this service, and the reason I stopped was that I wasn’t crazy about the recipes, and they’re not kid-friendly.

If you decide to try this option out — you can get two free meals with your first delivery.

• Cook time: 30 – 45 minutes
• Price: $10.49 – $14.99 per serving
• Specialty diet plans: Omnivores, vegetarians, vegan, paleo, carnivore, and gluten-free

4. HelloFresh

I recently tried this service, and I really liked it. The recipes were tasty, and they were super easy to make. With HelloFresh, you choose between their classic plan (for two or four people), their veggie plan (for two or four people), or their family plan, which feeds four people and consists of two or three meals. With the classic plan, you get to choose between six recipes that were created by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. However, with the other two plans, your choices are limited to three recipes. The recipes with this service tend to be more family-friendly.

With HelloFresh, you can get $35 off of your first box.

• Cook time: 30 – 45 minutes
• Price: $8.75 – $11.50 per serving
• Specialty diet plans: Classic and vegetarian

5. Blue Apron

A friend introduced me to Blue Apron, and I LOVED their recipes! In fact, I probably used this service for about six months. Like the other subscription boxes, you can choose between a two-person plan which comes with three recipes, or the family plan, which comes with either two or four recipes and feeds four people. With the two-person plan, you make a choice between six different recipes, and with the family plan, you choose between four different recipes. While I loved their recipes with this option, it took me forever to make each meal — which is why I stopped ordering.

If you decide to try this option out, search online for a coupon code, you can usually find one for $30 off your first box.

• Cook time: 45 – 60 minutes
• Price: $8.74 – $9.99 per serving
• Specialty diet plans: No

6. One Potato

One Potato is a relatively new subscription box service. Unlike the others, their box is geared toward people with kids. Each box contains organic, pre-prepped ingredients, with family-friendly recipes and special pricing for children’s portions. Each kit includes three meals, which you get to choose from, either three veggie options or three omnivore options. And here’s the fun part — each box comes with an organic slice-and-bake cookie dough to complete your meal. I actually signed up for this option after doing the research for this post. Sadly, they’re not available in my area yet — but you can sign up for alerts.

• Cook time: 45 – 60 minutes
• Price: $4.50 per child, $11.99 per adult, and $13.49 for gluten-free servings
• Specialty diet plans: Omnivore, vegetarian, and gluten-free

7. Home Chef

If you like home-cooked meals, this may be the perfect option for you. Home Chef offers a standard plan (three meals for two people) and a family option (which serves five people) for your convenience. Each recipe takes approximately 30 minutes to make. With the standard plan, you can choose between 11 different home-cooked recipes, and the family plan allows you to choose from six different options. The cook time and pricing are comparable to the other options, and many of the meals are kid-friendly — but they are very meaty.

You can usually find coupons for Home Chef on Facebook for $30 off your first order.

• Cook time: 30 minutes
• Price: $9.95 per serving
• Specialty diet plans: No

Custom Meal Plan

8. In-Home Personal Chef

Now, I’ve only splurged on this option once — but I LOVED it! I met a local chef who came to my house and cooked four restaurant-quality freezer meals. I choose the recipes, and she came with all the pots, pans, tools, and ingredients to make four meals (four servings each) with sides and a dessert. She was at my house for about three hours, and the meals were fantastic! The cost was $200 for three chicken entrees and one ground beef recipe, plus I tipped 20% on the total. Really if you break it down ($15 per serving), it’s not much more than the other options above.

• Cook time: Just reheat
• Price: $200 and up
• Specialty diet plans: Yes

Grocery Delivery Services

Now, if you just hate going to the grocery store — there are a lot of options for you to have your groceries and spices delivered. Companies like Favor, TaskRabbit, Shipt, and Instacart will shop for and deliver your groceries to your doorstep for a fee. I’ve used Instacart for the past few years, and I love it! While it saves me a ton of time, it does have one con, and that is it’s pricey to use.

Other companies like Tastefully Simple and RawSpiceBar will send you spices and mixes along with recipes — so you can get out of the funk of what to make for dinner. I’ve tried both of them out, and I enjoyed them, but they didn’t solve my problem of hating to cook.

Best Meal Kits

So what’s the best menu planning system for moms who hate to cook? That’s for you to decide!

There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to choosing a meal planning option — but I think each one of these is a viable option.

Now that I’ve shared my take on the best meal planning options – I want to know what you think!

Leave a comment and let me know:

1. What’s your favorite menu planning system, subscription service, or meal delivery option?

I was given a sample box from HelloFresh and RawSpiceBar — all opinions are my own.