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Whole30 Meal Plan FAQs

Get answers to frequently asked questions about Whole30 meal planning with Real Plans.

General FAQs

  • Do you have a sample plan or free trial?

    We don’t offer free trials. To really start to transform your habits, the first step is often investing in the change. We do, however, offer a 10 day full-refund from the date of subscription for purchases made through our website. If you’re not happy, drop us a note and we’ll refund you ASAP.

  • Unlike meal delivery kits, Real Plans is a highly customizable meal planning tool for people who want to cook.

    Real Plans tailors to your family’s specific size, diets, tastes, and preferences—giving you a schedule of recipes and an interactive shopping list so you can streamline the process to getting wholesome, home-cooked food on your table.

    Unlike common, static PDF meal planners, Real Plans remains flexible to changing tastes and schedules—no matter who you’re feeding, how often you plan to cook, and what you feel like eating this week.

    We also provide you with over 1600 kitchen-tested recipes to get started (and many more to add from your favorite food bloggers), so you don’t have to scour the internet for inspiration.

  • We have both iPhone and Android apps, both of which closely mirror the desktop version of Real Plans.

    You can modify your meal plan, access the recipe box, and check off ingredients as you shop.

    For Windows users, we have a lightweight version of Real Plans that works on your phone’s browser.

  • Real Planning tip number one: be realistic about how often you’ll cook. Time in the kitchen depends on how many recipes you’re game to prep.

    In Real Plans settings, you can specify how many breakfasts, lunches, and dinners you’d like included each week.

    You can always filter for “simple recipes.”

    Batch cooking, yummy leftovers and the occasional cooking holiday (ahem, takeout + wine) encouraged.

  • Real Plans is used globally and costs of food vary greatly country to country, state to state. That said, we love happy bellies and happy wallets.

    We’ve built a pricing filter that allows you to choose recipes based on cost and have a recipe tag for “budget meals.”

    Savvy Real Planners find they save money by selecting a realistic number of meals they’ll cook in a week and because ingredients map to a specific recipe, food actually gets cooked (and gobbled).

    Less food waste equals less money wasted.

    Our Facebook group has some pretty clutch budget-tips and a boatload of ideas for swapping out pricey ingredients.

  • Yes. At checkout, you will be asked to provide a recipient email address and gift message.

    You can choose the date you’d like the gift sent and you’ll only pay for the first subscription period. After that, it’s up to your pal to keep up the planning and add her own payment method.

    You’ll be sent a confirmation email once your order is complete.

  • We have customers from all over the world!

    Your plan will be generated using seasonal recipes for your hemisphere.

    And, you can choose metric measurements if you’d like.

  • You are welcome to send us an email on support at realplans dot com and one of our agents will be available to help you as soon as possible.

Diet FAQs

  • I am gluten free but the rest of my family isn’t. Can I see all options within my plan type?

    THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST PARTS OF REAL PLANS. Sorry for the all caps, but this is our superpower.  Your preferences will be marked as a filter called ‘My Diet’. That said, you can always add recipes that fall outside of your diet. ie. if you’re dying for spaghetti Wednesdays but doing paleo the rest of the week, you can search and add the best gluteny recipes we’ve got. We’ll even add it weekly if you’d like (seriously, no judgements). This is mega helpful for dealing with families with a variety of food preferences and restrictions.

  • You decide how many people you want each meal to serve when you sign up. All meals will default to that serving size, but if you’re having guests over or the kiddos are at a friend’s house for dinner you can increase or decrease the number of servings as needed. The recipe, ingredients and shopping list will automatically update.

  • Yes.  Allergies were one of the reasons we created Real Plans—they can throw a real wrench in everyday cooking. You can remove any food group you’re allergic to (or just don’t like) in the settings tab.  

  • YES. Your tastes will continue to change and shift depending on your health and those that you cook for. We want you to feel that you can change your diet as often as you like. Each time you update your food groups and ingredient exceptions, Real Plans will put together new meal plans for the following four weeks.

  • YES. You can see all our Real Plans subscription recipes, all the time. Your preferences will be marked as a filter called ‘My Diet’. We have cataloged all our recipes so you can easily filter by course, season, prep time etc. You can then add recipes to your meal plan directly from the recipe box.

  • If you have a question about the Whole30 program itself, here are the steps you should follow:

    1. Google! There is so much information on the Whole30 blog and forum, and googling “Whole30 + your question” will bring up the most pertinent resources.

    2. If you still can’t find an answer, post your question on Whole30 social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat; all can be found @whole30).

    3. If you need to speak with the Whole30 team directly, email headquarters@whole30.com. Note, due to the volume of email Whole30 receives, they’re unable to provide medical advice or personal consultations over the internet.

  • Yes, and as often as you like. We hope the recipes in your planner inspire you to love new types of food, meet personal goals or improve health challenges. Whenever you update your food groups and ingredient exceptions in the settings tab, Real Plans will put together new meal plans for the following four weeks.

  • Yes. Allergies were one of the reasons we created Real Plans—they can throw a real wrench in everyday cooking. You can remove any food group you’re allergic to (or just don’t like) in the settings tab.

  • It does! But, if your days start out like the tornadoes that ours do, you might not be up for cooking in the morning. In that case you can just add ingredients—milk, eggs, oats, etc—to your plan and they’ll automatically be added to your shopping list. That said, lots of Real Planners find cooking batch breakfasts and freezing them in single servings is a ridiculously easy time-saver.

Shopping FAQs

  • Does the shopping list only include items in the recipes or can I add my own? What about items I need to restock regularly?

    Yes! Food and other household items can be added directly to the list.

    And, you can schedule ingredients to appear on your shopping list at regular intervals—milk weekly, bacon twice a month. You get it.

  • You can choose the day you would like to start your week in your settings. So, if your CSA box arrives on a Wednesday or you do most of your grocery shopping on Sundays, you can plan accordingly.

Recipes FAQs

  • What about meatless Mondays or a slow cooker meal every Wednesday?

    Ready to be a meal planning pro, are you? Love it. You can customize your schedule by meal size, main ingredient, prep time, tags, cuisine and origin.

  • Yes, you can plan your ideal week on the My Schedule page. You can choose exactly which days and meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, extras)  you’d like recipes scheduled for.

  • All recipes are catalogued by season. Real Plans only picks recipes based on the season where you live—if you’re soaking up sun in Melbourne while someone else is shoveling snow in Boston, we’ve got your back.

  • Each recipe has nutritional information on the recipe card. You can read it just like any other nutritional label— calories, carbohydrates, fats, etc. in each serving.

  • Yes, successful meal planning means keeping you from food boredom. So let’s say you eat chicken. We’ll mix up variations on roast chicken—one month it’ll be our Roast Garlic Chicken, and the next our Rosemary Roast Chicken. However, the more restrictive you make your diet, the more repetition you will find.

Billing FAQs

  • How do I get a refund?

    If you are within the first 10 days and wish to be refunded, contact us via the leave a message button on the bottom right or email us support(at)realplans.com. The 10 day period begins on the initial date of purchase and after 10 days we cannot issue refunds. Renewal payments are non-refundable and you will have access to your account through the paid time frame.

    If you purchased on iTunes, the payment was processed by Apple and we cannot refund you directly. To directly ask for a refund from Apple, please open your iTunes receipt. Apple usually sends the receipt within one or two days. On the receipt, click on the “Report a Problem” link in the “Item” column, right next to “Write a Review.” A new window will open where you can ask for a refund directly from Apple.

  • Yes. You can manage your billing period by visiting your “My Account” page. Contact customer service if you need any additional help.

  • YES. To cancel, simply follow this link and log in to your account if not already. You will have access to your plan for the remainder of the subscription cycle. Since renewals are not refundable, we suggest you cancel your subscription 2 working days before the renewal is due in order to make sure the cancellation is processed in time.

    If you purchased from iTunes, you will need to manage your subscription through your iTunes account. See here for the latest updates from Apple on the process.

  • We are an authorize.net verified merchant and process thousands of transactions per year. We use 128-bit bank level security for all communications involving financial transactions. Also, realplans.com uses HTTPS for all communication. All your data is encrypted.

  • We have 3 options: monthly – $30, quarterly – $60 and annual – $99. We are a subscription service so we automatically charge at every billing interval. If you enjoy using Real Plans, we recommend purchasing the annual plan to maximize your savings. If we save you 1 trip to the store or one ingredient that does not get spoiled from being left at the back of the fridge… we feel we have done our job. Even if you purchased the monthly plan to try us out, you can always upgrade to the annual plan.

    If you already have a Real Plans subscription and wish to purchase the Whole30 upgrade, you can do so from within settings and this will be the same pricing as above, less the Real Plans subscription cost.

See all Real Plans FAQs

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