Makeena App Review: Save Money on Healthy Foods

Written by Jason Michaels Last Updated: May 8, 2024

It’s no secret that I love saving money on groceries. Between budgeting, meal planning, and using cash back shopping apps, grocery shopping is something I no longer dread because I know it’s not going to take a huge chunk out of my budget when I shop wisely.

I’m always up for trying new apps that can help me save money on food for myself and my kids.

Ones that focus on eating healthy are a bonus because I try to use whole foods in my meals as much as possible. I think I may have found the best of both savings and healthy eating with an app called Makeena.

Want to check it out for yourself? Here’s the link:

• Direct link to Makeena

What is Makeena?

Makeena is almost like the Ibotta of healthy foods and eco-friendly products. If you’re familiar with Ibotta, you’ll understand the idea behind Makeena, although its overall focus is different.

Makeena also blends crowdsourcing with its app, making it more than just a cash back or rebate app. In addition to scanning barcodes or receipts and redeeming offers, you can also get cash for discovering new brands and interacting with them.

The app is super helpful in pointing you in the direction of health and environment-conscious brands so that you can add new items to your shopping lists.

Like Ibotta, you can redeem rewards on products you find with the app. You just need to upload your receipt or scan barcodes to redeem offers. You can even get bonuses for buying products you’ve favorited!

How is Makeena Different from Other Shopping Apps?

Makeena certainly sounds like many other cash back shopping apps. In some ways, it is like other leading apps. However, some things make it stand out from the pack, like:

• Its focus on healthy stuff. While Ibotta and other similar apps partner with all types of brands, the Makenna focus is clear: It only partners with brands that have good stuff going on for our bodies and the environment.
• You can redeem offers by purchasing products in any store. Have a local grocery store at which you love to shop? Use Makeena there to earn points on your purchases. Most similar apps only let you shop at specific stores to get cash back.
• You can discover new brands. If you’re like me, you’re open to trying new brands that might offer something different than others. Makeena helps you find brands you could fall in love with while rewarding you to learn more about them.
• Make money by scanning any Most apps will only give you cash if you scan a receipt that used one of its offers. Makeena gives you points just for scanning a receipt, even if you didn’t redeem anything.

How Does Makeena Work?

Makeena gets paid by the brands it partners with to give you shopping deals. When you buy products using Makeena, you’re essentially supporting the brands it partners with, so it passes some of that cash onto you.

Using the app, you can scan product barcodes, upload receipts, and redeem offers in-store to earn points. You can also shop online with some brands and get cash back on your purchases.

Who is Makeena Best For?

Makeena is great for anyone who either:

• Already eats healthy
• Is trying to eat healthily, or
• Feels like they can’t afford to eat healthier

I know that buying organic foods and fresh produce can take up more of your food budget than buying processed junk. The reason for that is that processed junk can be made by a machine, while fresh food takes time to care for and produce.

That time and care is also what makes it so healthy, though, and you can’t put a price on your family’s health.

If you’re someone who worries that buying fresh foods won’t let you buy as much food for your family to fit within your budget, you’ll probably love Makeena. Saving money on groceries is great, but when you can save money on healthy groceries, it’s even better.

Makeena is also perfect for eco-friendly families who love to support environmentally-friendly brands. WeWarriors is an example of one partnered brand on the app that creates reusable feminine products made from eco-friendly materials.

Boody is another, focusing on athletic wear made from environmentally-friendly fabrics.

Whether you’re already living an eco-friendly and healthy lifestyle or want to start, you’ll find it easy to discover new brands to support your mission using Makeena – and save some money while doing it!

Bonus: If you’re an online influencer, either with a blog or a social media channel, you can also earn a lot through Makeena.

When you refer people to the app by sharing information about your favorite partnered brands, you’ll not only earn a referral bonus, but you’ll also get a brand bonus for each new member that joins because of your post!

Pros and Cons of Makeena

Makeena has a lot going for it, and it seems like its pros definitely outweigh its few cons:

Pros of Makeena

• Points can add up quickly
• Supports both PayPal and Venmo cashouts
• Several ways to earn cash from shopping trips
• Supports healthy and eco-friendly brands and lifestyles
• Works at any retail store at which you can find partnered brands
• You can earn cash from in-store and online shopping trips
• Fast payouts (most are within 24 hours)
• Discover and connect with new brands that support your lifestyle

Cons of Makeena

• Uses a point system instead of cash
• $20 cash out minimum
• Some offers don’t scan properly
• Can be a bit glitchy on some devices

How to Sign Up for Makeena

If you’re ready to sign up and start using Makeena, you’ll need to first download the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Once it’s installed, you can sign up using your Facebook account or with your email address. Enter some basic information about yourself, like your zip code, gender, and who you typically shop for, and then Makeena will let you get started saving.

As soon as you’re signed up, you can begin to browse brands, add offers to your account, and even refer your friends on Twitter, Facebook, or other social networks using your unique code. You can find your referral code by going to your account in the app.

Making Money with Makeena

When I first started using Makeena, I thought the only ways to make money were through referrals and redeeming offers. Those are two excellent ways to earn points, but there are so many more that I discovered after spending some time looking around.

Check Out a Brand and Complete Brand Tasks

This is one of my favorite ways to earn points because I love learning about new brands that could turn out to be a favorite. I mentioned that Makeena is somewhat of a crowdsourcing platform where consumers can discover and interact with brands.

That’s because you can “unlock” new brands to learn about them, complete their tasks, and earn more points.

On the bottom of the app, you’ll see a Brands section. Click there and browse through the available brands. These are all Makeena partners that offer tasks and rebates for points.

Click on one that looks interesting to you, and you’ll have the option to unlock it. Doing so gives you an automatic 200 points! Scroll down to ‘Actions.’ These are all the tasks you can complete for more points. You’ll see the amount listed under each task.

For example, one action for Keen One Quinoa offers 100 points for watching an advertisement. Another task involves taking a quick poll for 100 points. I can even get an extra 250 points when I share about the brand on social media and have a friend join Makeena because of my post.

This is when it helps to have a solid social media following, especially when your audience is interested in healthy and eco-conscious brands.

Scan Groceries

Makeena also pays you points to buy specific products, like organic product and items that come from partnered brands. You can find all the products that will pay you by clicking on Rebates at the bottom of the app.

Organic produce doesn’t require you to unlock any brands. Instead, you can scan their barcodes as you shop or upload your receipt once you’ve finished shopping.

For any brand-specific items, you can click on the product and then click ‘Get Access.’ This brings you to the brand page, where you can unlock the brand and get access to its offers. You’ll also see where you can buy the brand’s products in-store and online, which can save you time hunting for them.

Once you scan a barcode or your receipt, your earned points will show up in your account within 24 hours, pending approval.

Upload Receipts

If you didn’t find anything at the store that coincided with Makeena’s offers, then you can still get some money out of your shopping trip. Click ‘Redeem’ and then scroll down until you see ‘Any Receipt Bonus.’ Click ‘Add,’ scan your receipt, making sure the full receipt fits in the screen, and earn a 50-point bonus just for going shopping.

It’s equivalent to $0.50, which isn’t much, but you can earn that bonus every time you shop. I go shopping, on average, four times a month, which is an easy $2 in my account without adding any extra offers (which I always do!).

Shop Online

Makeena recently added the option to earn money by shopping online, thanks to the popular demand by members. Not only can you redeem offers with your in-store purchases, but you can click through from the Makeena app to its partnered brands’ websites to purchase products and earn points.

On a chosen brand page, click the Offers tab. If the option is available for that brand, you’ll see a Buy Online icon. Click that to go to the website and make a purchase to earn cash back. To get your rewards, you’ll need to remember to scan the barcode of the product once you receive it.

Bonuses

Makeena has a couple of ways to earn bonuses for interacting with the app.

One bonus comes from favoriting products. You can do this by finding a product you love and hitting the heart icon by its photo. When you purchase your favorite products, you’ll earn even more points than the base offer gives you!

Like Ibotta, you’ll also find bonuses for completing specific tasks or redeeming a certain dollar amount. These offers vary from time to time, so be sure to check back with the app frequently to see what’s available.

Brands may also have bonuses for purchasing products and earning points with them. Usually, if you complete all tasks for one brand, you can earn an easy bonus of $0.50 or more!

Referrals

Makeena occasionally changes its referral bonus, but right now it’s set at $1 for every member you get to join using your code. I have seen times when it’ll boost it to $2 or more (even up to $5 at one point!), so keep an eye on any changes throughout the year.

You can find your unique referral code in your account on the Makeena app. When you share about Makeena, the app will automatically place your code in your post, so you won’t have to worry about remembering it or copying it.

There are automatic invites for Facebook, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, and email, so if you want to use any other social networks or your website to share your code, you’ll need to type it yourself.

All referrals will need to have their first receipt approved for you to become eligible for the bonus, so make sure you follow up with them and remind them to stay active!

How Much Money Can I Expect to Make with Makeena

I’m fairly new to Makeena myself, so I’m basing this example on things I could realistically do in about two weeks to earn points based on the current brands and offers that are available to me:

• Completing all tasks for the Keen One Quinoa brand: 1,000 points ($1)
• Completing all tasks for Brewla: 1,100 points ($1.10), plus one valid referral with a 1,000-point brand bonus ($2)
• 1,100 points for completing all Supereats brand tasks ($1.10)
• Redeeming organic produce: 2,000 points ($2)
• Various product offer redemptions: 10,500 points ($10.50)
• Two valid referrals: 2,000 points ($2)

My final earnings for the first two weeks using this example would be: $20.70

In those two weeks alone, I would have earned enough for my first payout. I believe the above formula is something just about anyone can do in two weeks using Makeena, so it’s safe to say that you can, realistically, expect at least $20-$40 every month if you remember to keep referring members and redeeming offers.

Getting Paid

Makeena pays for everything you do in the app with points. That’s not normally something I love, but when the points system is easy to understand, it’s at least doable.

For every 1,000 points you earn with the app, you make $1.00. Fortunately, everything you do is in increments of 25, 50, or 100, so it’s not difficult to figure out the equivalent in dollars. The only odd thing is that you’ll see dollar amounts for rebates and points for brand tasks, instead of having everything the same.

You’ll need 20,000 points, or $20, to receive a payment. Choose between Venmo or PayPal. Most payments arrive within 24 hours but may sometimes take up to 72 hours to show up in your account. Despite the minimum payout being somewhat high, you’ll probably be surprised by how fast you can earn it when you use the app consistently.

Using Makeena as an All-In-One Shopping App

Makeena is an incredibly versatile app that has several great features rolled into it to make it a helpful app for almost anyone to use while shopping.

Store Locator

The store locator feature is available when you go to any brand page. This feature helps you find brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers that carry the brand’s products. The locator will usually send you to the brand’s website where you can find their locations without having to dig around Google.

Combining Coupons and Makeena

One of the best things about Makeena is that you can still use your other coupons and store rewards in conjunction with the app. It never takes the place of all the other money-saving tactics you use to keep more in your pocket when you buy groceries.

You can even combine it with Ibotta if you find the same products there!

Managing Receipts

Store your receipts in the Makeena app for easy access to them later. I like this feature because you don’t have to scan your receipt again if one of your offers doesn’t go through due to an error. Just look up the receipt on the app and send it through again.

Is Makeena Legit? Can I Really Make Money Buying Healthy and Eco-Friendly Products?

Yes, Makeena is a legit app that can help you save money on groceries by buying specific products and redeeming rebates. From my time using the app, I’ve seen how easy it is to make money when you buy healthy and eco-friendly items, and I have yet to find anything online about people not getting paid for their time.

Final Thoughts

I love Makeena so far. It’s just one more incentive to buy healthy stuff at the store and make organic and health-conscious food even more affordable. I suggest downloading it and trying it out for yourself for a couple of weeks.

The only problem I can see so far is that, if you don’t live in a city with several health-conscious stores, you might not be able to find a lot of the products in-store and will have to purchase them online instead.

If you don’t mind doing that, the app will offer you plenty of ways to save money on groceries and keep your food budget intact each month.