As you all know, we've made the decision to enter the school system. After 8 years of homeschooling, I will now have all my kids in a traditional school setting, which means packing lunches for lots of people every day. I thought it might be fun to not pack the same old thing all the time. While at home, we have the advantage of mixing it up here and there with some hot lunch options, ranging from hot dogs to quesadillas or leftovers. But I'll be honest, I don't really have a very wide repertoire for cold lunches... mainly just PB&J and lunch meat.
So, when I came across Momables, I thought I would give it a try. I've used various meal planning services for our dinners with (mostly) good results. Today, I received my 7th menu for Momables, and I feel like I have enough experience to write a review.
The Set-up
Momables is a once-a-week, 5-meal plan that is sent out via e-mail and available on the Momables website for download. The pdf has a coverpage with a summary of the 5 lunches and time-saving tips. Then, each recipe gets its own page with a picture, as well as being included on a one-page quick reference sheet. The last page is a grocery list. A free sample plan is available if you're willing to give them your e-mail address.
Three of the recipes are measured for one serving, and two are called "family size" with the stated purpose of eating them for dinner and packing leftovers.
When I signed up, they had two options for subscriptions: 3 months for $18 or 12 months for 60. Those prices increased on July 5 to 3 months for $24 and 12 months for $79 (that's $8 or $6.60 per month, respectively).
The Good
Momables definitely has a nice format. I really like that they include both individual recipe pages, as well as the one-sheet printoff. I personally like the one-page because it's easy to tack up inside my cupboard door (which is what I often do with my dinner plan).
The packing tips are also nice because they have already tested how much of a lunch can be prepped ahead and how far ahead compared to which steps really need to be completed the day of.
And, of course, like all meal planning services, Momables takes the work out of compiling meals and grocery lists.
Lastly, though perhaps most importantly, most of the recipes and ideas are kid-friendly. I have tried adding the lunch option on e-meals only to have the money go to waste because the meals were so un-friendly to kids. (The exception is the occassional meal like "Salami, Olive, and Cream Cheese Pinwheels." Does that sound good to anyone at all?)
The Bad
Unfortunately, Momables' lunches are not very diverse. As I said earlier, I have received 7 weeks' worth of plans (including the free sample). So far, there have been 7 types of sandwiches or wraps that include cream cheese. In both week 6 and week 3, there were 2 each. There have been 3 different variations on the grilled cheese sandwich. Week 3 lunches also had 3 different recipes that incorporated bacon as a main part of the meal.
Another downside is that the "family size" meals are not very dinner-friendly. My family doesn't eat risotto or orza salad for dinner. Those would be considered a lunch or a side in this house, and I would imagine in most American households. In one menu, the "family size" dinner meal is a grilled cheese option. Certainly, I can do sandwiches now and again for my family at dinner, but that would be considered a light meal for dinner, so when they try to say that they are giving bonus dinner ideas, I find this to be a little bit of a white lie. In reality, they are giving you lunch ideas and then suggesting you eat a light dinner the night before.
Fortunately, I use a different meal-planning service for dinner, so this particular problem isn't that big of a deal to me.
The last - and possibly least important - negative is that the plans don't include sides, but only the main meal for lunch. Most meal plans I've used (and trust me, I've tried a lot!) include sides. There are pictures with some interesting side items, so I can always take a look at those and adjust my shopping list accordingly, but if I'm going to pay for a meal plan, I do like to have a full meal planned for me. This is particularly true because the Momables site has a lot of great homemade sides recipes, and I think it would be great to include these in the meal plan and grocery list.
The Verdict
Honestly, I'm still on the fence. If the price change hadn't happened, I probably would have renewed my membership. After all, the menus are more diverse than what I was working with at first (remember? PB&J or lunch meat). And $5 or 6 a month is worth it when you consider that time is money. However, with the seemingly arbitrary price increase, I'm not sure that I can justify it right now, if only for the principle of it. I will certainly re-evaluate when my 3 months is up, but at this point, I'm thinking that I can spend a couple hours a month looking at Pinterest to find some basic ideas and then come up with my own variations on a theme, which is what Momables basically boils down to for me.
So, while Momables fills the internet's lunch-packing gap, I'm not so sure it will fill a gap in this family
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