Hey guys. All right, so here’s what we’ve decided to do. We are (SUPPOSEDLY) getting one more 5-day shipment from eDiets on Wednesday, February 27. [The following plan hinges on that actually occuring!] Then we’re going out of town the first week in March, and we won’t be eating any delivered diet food that week.
Now, we heard about Pure Foods Fresh Start, which is owned by PurFoods (which manufacturers Deliciously Yours as well). PFFS has a 3-day trial option so you can buy just 3 days of food at a time. The PFFS plan is very similar to DY, but the caloric value of the provided food is slightly higher (it’s around 1300-1400 calories a day vs 1000-1200 for DY). It looks like some of the meals that were dinner options for DY are lunches for PFFS. Also, PFFS provides some fresh fruit options in the snacks, and PFFS includes a daily “treat” item (a cookie, a piece of chocolate, etc). PFFS is $19.95 a day ($4 more than DY). You get breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, and a treat each day.
We’ve also been looking into the 3-Hour Diet, which is also manufactured by PurFoods, so a lot of the foods are the same. With the 3-Hour Diet, you get breakfast, lunch, dinner, two snacks, and a treat. The snacks look like they are often pre-packed 100-calorie packages of things like Chips Ahoy, Ritz Chips, etc. As with PFFS, the calories still work out to about 1300-1400 per day. 3HD offers a 4-week plan only.
PFFS seems to be more about the freshly-prepared options, and 3HD has some more processed food options. They both look good. The menu options are similar but have some differences — 3HD has more choices, I think, than PFFS. Mr. Peanut is totally feeling 3HD, while I’m more attracted to PFFS, though I haven’t totally pledged my allegiance either way.
So, what are we going to do?
Well, I’ll tell you. 
Get ready, because this is going to be confusing… but here we go.
Next Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday (2/25-27), we’re going to get Lean Cuisines or whatever and try to eat the right amount of calories and stuff. On Wednesday 2/27, we should receive a shipment from eDiets containing 5 days of food. Assuming that happens, we’ll eat the eDiets food for the rest of that week.
Then, on Friday, 2/29, we’re each scheduled to receive a 3-day “sampler” from PFFS. Since the food stays fresh for 14 days, we’re going to just pop those meals in the fridge while we eat the eDiets food.
Then, the next week (3/3-3/7), we’ll be out of town.
Then, when we return home on March 10, we should have a couple of days of DY food left as well as the 3-day PFFS sampler. So we’ll eat those things for that week (3/10-3/14).
Then, on Thursday, March 13, we are going to receive deliveries of whichever service we choose (Mr. Peanut is ordering 3HD right now and I am going to order PFFS probably, but I may go with 3HD — I’m going to scope out this sampler we’re getting next week first and see what I think) for the following week. We may be getting different things so we can see how it goes.
What this means for YOU, darling readers, is that Thin By Mail is going to have a vast array of review, photos, and comments on at least 3 different meal delivery programs. While all this stuff is going on, we’re going to keep taking photos, writing reviews, and updating all of you on our progress. And if Mr. Peanut is eating different food than I’m eating, you’ll probably be hearing from him a lot more often.
So what do you guys think????
Tags: 3-Hour Diet, eDiets Deliciously Yours, noodlebean, plans, Pure Foods Fresh Start, weight loss
February 23, 2008 at 5:21 pm |
Wow. You guys sound like me and my husband. He likes the french toast with sausage option on DY and so for now doesn’t want to switch just yet. I have to see if the 3H plan has that. If so, I would guess he would be all over that. I am trying the PFFS plan and we have done a similar thing in ordering the 3 day sampler first and then I just went for it and ordered the 3 week plan for myself. If the ol’ DH wants to switch, he can look at the others or do PFFS with me. I thought I had this down and it is frustrating. I am starving right now and have to go shopping for some food for the weekend (we do the 5 day plan) but I don’t know if I need more food in case my DY doesn’t arrive today. Who would know? It’s not like you can track it anymore like you could before. What a major pain. I wonder if anyone ISN”T unhappy over there. Hmmm
Good luck with your decision and have a fun trip.
Tricia
February 23, 2008 at 8:01 pm |
Yes, I also wonder if there are DY customers out there who are just plugging along like normal with no problems! I kind of doubt that there are!!
And I totally agree. Who knows if your delivery will arrive?? UGH!
You guys must have been on the “gourmet” version for DY (I don’t remember seeing any french toast or sausage options on what we had!). 3HD has a “gourmet” option too, so maybe they have that meal. I don’t think PFFS does.
Please come on back or email us and let us know how you like PFFS! You’ll be starting on your food before we will so I’ll be dying to know what you think.
February 24, 2008 at 3:53 am |
Hey Noodlebean,
Just chiming in to say that I am trying Diet to Go starting next week. I have put in a call to my credit card company to deny any charges from DY, and we’ll see what happens there.
I don’t know where you and Mr. P live, but Diet to Go also does delivery and allows for local pick up in some locations (including where I live), which I really like. They offer a la carte options, including choosing how many and which meals you would like to get per day and per week. Because I can pick the food up near my office, I don’t have to pay delivery and can afford to get a few more meals per week than I did on DY. Also, they make their foods fresh more often, which means pick up twice a week (here’s hoping that means smaller coolers!). Another option I liked is that you can choose which caloric level you want (1200 or 1600/day), which seems to make a lot more sense than the one size fits all option of DY.
I’ll let you know what I think when I get my first shipment next weekend.
One last question: have you or the Mr. thought about publicizing your experiences with DY more widely? Say, contacting any media? I am SO not the kind of person who would ever think to go public (I have had a life in a public arena before, and it was a lot of work), but I really feel for all the folks getting the shaft on DY these days. Although other forums seem to indicate at least some people are doing o.k. and adjusting, the DY one is chock full of horror stories. I wish I could post what I heard from Customer Service about the no refunds for newbies, but I’m loath to do anything until I know they’ve stopped billing me.
I hope that doesn’t seem cowardly!
Best of luck to you and Mr. P. I enjoy reading up on your adventures.
February 24, 2008 at 4:24 am |
Hi Beth,
Oh yes, we looked at Diet to Go too! In fact, I vaguely remember that when I used to go to a gym in the neighborhood, they had a fridge (or freezer?) there for Diet to Go food, so I bet if we tried that service, we could probably pick up our food there. We really liked the caloric level options they offer, too. The only thing that was a sticking point for us with DTG was that we didn’t find the food selections very appealing for our personal tastes. But I will be very eager to hear how you like it because we are like rogues now and aren’t loyal to ANY company in particular!
As for the media, well, I don’t know.
It’s probably not something I would pursue on my own, though if someone contacted us, that would be a different story. I agree, though, that there should be some negative publicity generated by this. I cringe each time I see one of eDiets’ snazzy new commercials — I’m like noooo, please no one sign up right now! I was thinking if a lot of people complain to the BBB, that might create some media about the situation somehow. (I’m going to make a formal complaint myself, but I’m going to wait and see whether they actually screw up any of my billing first because I obviously want that to be part of my complaint, even if I resolve it with my credit card company!)
And also I wanted to say that IN NO WAY do you come off as a coward! The customer service person you talked to insinuated that you wouldn’t get your money back if you complained on the boards!!!! Yowza. I’d be scared too. I don’t want to post there either because I don’t really want them to know who I am; however it would be great if some of y’all posted the link to the blog to drive some traffic over here (I’m thinking our conversations here at TBM would be helpful for some poor confused eDiets members who signed up recently and are wondering just wtf they’ve gotten themselves into).
Best of luck to you as well and definitely keep us posted on how it goes!
February 27, 2008 at 4:02 am |
Hi Noodlebean,
Keep us informed of your choice in your new service. I’m still trying to get a hold of customer service to cancel my account even though I’ve sent an email telling them to cancel. I did go to BBB and file a complaint. It was pretty easy if you guys wanted to file one. Maybe if enough people file, a media interest will pick up the story.
Shannon
February 27, 2008 at 2:30 pm |
Hi Shannon,
Yes! I agree re the BBB. I am planning on filing a complaint. I want to wait and see if my cancellation goes through and whether they screw up my billing. I got my February credit card statement and it looked okay, but whatever has happened post-eDiets website switchover will be on my March statement, so we’ll have to see. I agree, though, I checked it out and it looks super easy to file a complaint.
What have you decided to do? Are you going to just stay w/eDiets until your cancellation goes through and then decide? Are you going to get a different meal delivery service?
Keep us posted!
-NB
February 27, 2008 at 3:45 pm |
Just a quick response:
As I understand it, if you were on the signature plan with DY, you were supposedly getting around 1300 calories a day anyway. At least that was one of the differences explained to me at the time I signed on.
Also, I tried BistroMD out for 2 weeks and found the food to be delicious. Problems being the cost was a little too high for me with 7 days being $190 including tax and shipping, and the meals are all predetermined, but they do allow you to make allowances for what you don’t care to eat on a regular basis.
Thanks for your great site! And best of luck to everyone!
one last thing re:BistroMD, no community board.
February 27, 2008 at 7:44 pm |
Hi Candy! We were on the basic plan with DY (not signature).
Thanks for the info on BistroMD!
What are you going to do now — are you on a different plan?
Best of luck to YOU too!
February 28, 2008 at 12:51 pm |
Good morning, Noodlebean,
This morning, I expect the 3 day sampler from Pure Foods and my ediets order…anxious to see the difference, if any. By the way, messages that contained complaints about ediets have been deleted…nice, very nice. This company has a lot to learn about public relations.
Take care
Ro
February 28, 2008 at 3:21 pm |
Please let me know how you like PFFS! I can’t wait to hear about it.
Yes, I noticed the situation with eDiets deleting messages on their forums. Ack… not good on so many levels (that’s no way to run a community; in fact it can be really damaging in the long run).
February 29, 2008 at 12:12 pm |
7:00 a.m., Good morning,
Pure Food sampler came yesterday but Ediets food did not. Called Fedex to track it and they don’t have any delivery scheduled except another package from PF, which I don’t know what that’s all about. I hope their food selection is satisfactory and we can get back to our quiet lives.
Take care, friends
Ro
September 22, 2008 at 2:19 pm |
I purchased 4 weeks of PFFS starting Aug. 28 and have lost about 7 pounds, but despite my weight loss success I have just cancelled my fifth week and asked them to close my account. There were some excellent parts of the program (their marinara sauce was excellent in any recipe they offered it, and I also loved their Italian lasagna and turkey breast wrap with black beans.) I learned a lot about portion control over the past four weeks, too, and saw how effective it is to eat low glycemic foods regularly during the day… whenever I got hungry I’d look at the clock and it was meal time again!
That’s’s the positive stuff, but I’m stopping the program anyhow because the customer service/fresh foods aspect of the program was so incredibly poor. Here’s what happened:
Week 1: 8/28-9/4. They substituted small, dry apples for all the pears and oranges I’d requested (the packing slip said they had to do that in order to ship it out on time). Most meals were fantastic, but the carrots did taste rotten, and I looked at the exp. date on them which was 9/3 so I called and they said they’d refund that part of the order.
Week 2: 9/5-9/11. They sent me apples instead of pears and oranges again. They’re starting to pile up, and they’re not that tasty so even my kids don’t want them. I called cust service and they promised to substitute nuts for the apples if they didn’t have fruit the third week. The carrots had an exp. date of 9/20 so they were fine. Small wheat rolls are usually dry and stale tasting so I just taste and toss them when they come in now. I do love the actual meals, though, and am losing weight, so I keep going.
Week 3: 9/12-9/18. You got it, 4 more apples came again instead of the fruit I’d ordered! My family’s starting to make jokes about it, but I’m not amused since I’m buying my own fruit at the grocery store while paying for this “all inclusive” program. I called cust service again, and the young woman spent a good 20 minutes going around with me (said her supervisor told her not to refund me anything for the apples). She even went back into my record to show me that I’d ordered one apple the second week so I must like them some. She told me they keep sending apples because they’re cheaper and they keep running out of the more expensive fruits. It was a frustrating conversation, especially since I joined this pricy program because I thought I’d be pampering myself with high quality, fresh foods while improving my eating habits, not spending time each week on the phone with customer service reps.
That week I also had a hard boiled egg that didn’t taste right, and the carrots’ expiration date was 9/10 so I just threw them and the dry wheat rolls out. I e-mailed customer service about my dissatisfaction but they didn’t reply to my e-mail, so a few days later I sent another note asking who the CEO of their company is (couldn’t find that info listed anywhere on the internet, by the way). No answer to that e-mail, either. Waited 3-4 more days, then sent an e-mail directly to Julie Hanes (the only actual person with an e-mail listed on the PFFS website) with copies of the two other e-mails. You guessed it, she didn’t bother to answer my e-mail either.
Week 4: 9/18-9/25. I did receive pears and oranges this time, but the wheat rolls were dry and stale again, and the carrots had expired on 9/10!!! Again!!! Is there no quality control in this organization at all?? So I called this morning and cancelled my final week and asked them to close my account. They didn’t offer me any refunds on any of the expired items from previous weeks, by the way.
It’s a real leap of faith to order food all the way from some place in Iowa I’ve never heard of, and with the repeated challenges I’ve had with freshness of the food I have lost my trust in the PFFS company. How do I know that they are actually using fresh ingredients in the recipes they prepare when they don’t even bother to look at expiration dates on the other fresh products they send out? I didn’t get sick from any of the meals they prepared so maybe that part of the operation is separate, but for $189 a week it’s ridiculous to keep tossing out many of the extras they send. Btw, anyone have a good applesauce recipe so I can do something with all the apples I still have in my fridge? Hope others have a lot better experience with this program than I did. I certainly can’t recommend PFFS at this time.
September 22, 2008 at 4:46 pm |
A quick followup to my post this morning:
A very high level person at PFFS just called me and we spoke at length about my challenges with customer service this past month. He was very responsive to the issues I brought up, and I’m now convinced that the problems I had were extras shipping/customer service related, not meal-related. Sounds like the meal preparation end of the business IS very quality-control oriented which is why the meals taste so good and fresh. The quality of the actual meals was top notch (they also had excellent steak and their tomato basil soup was fantastic), but I’ve still discontinued the service for now because of the need to improve their shipping/packing practices. The person I spoke with said they’re a new division and are still working out the kinks.I feel better now that my concerns were heard and I hope they can get those issues worked out soon at PFFS.