Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Meal Planning: the Easy Way

(When I wrote this post last week, by the way, I had NO IDEA Kristen at We Are THAT Family was going to choose the same topic! Crazy, huh?)

I don't like meal planning. Actually, I think I hate it. It's so hard for me to figure out what I want to eat for dinner not just for tonight, but for the next 5, 6, 7 nights. I guess I base too much of the decision on what I FEEL like eating, and how can I know what I'll FEEL like eating tomorrow night? I can't. So I don't. And then dinner time rolls around and I have no idea what to make and next thing I know, everyone's cranky (including me) 'cause they're getting hungry. What I need is someone to plan the meals for me. If someone would just say, "This is what you're eating" - that'd be perfect.

And then I found just that: an online service that plans a whole week's worth of meals and all I have to do is buy the groceries and cook the meals (and they're easy, tasty meals too). This particular service is even budget conscious! Their meal plans are designed to correspond to the current week's sale at the grocery store and include an aisle-by-aisle grocery list. And, get this, the total cost of a week's worth of groceries for 4 to 6 people averages only $75! Seventy-five bucks to feed your whole family for an entire week. That's pretty hard to beat!

Your question: How much does it cost? It's $1.25/week. They have you buy 3 months at a time, so that's $15 every three months. Not bad for what you're getting: free meal plans, recipes, and grocery list, and a lot of savings in time, money, and frustration!
SAVE TIME AND MONEY WITH E-MEALZ MEAL PLANS
Click on the banner for more information (yes, I do get credit if you sign up, thanks!) You can look at sample meal plans for free and read all about the service before signing up. And if you want to ask me anything about it, leave a comment with your question and I'll be more than happy to answer it. We've been using the service since October (so that's, what, 4 months?) and love it. I'll never go back to meal planning on my own ever again.

I tell ya, it's the best $15 I spend!! And not having to rack my brain for yummy, easy meals for my family certainly works for me!

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm also a reluctant meal planner. I've done it for two weeks and only made it til Tuesday. It makes perfect sense that you save money and time! Congrats.

Rebecca said...

Hi, Houston Mom -
I'm browsing around the whole Works-For-Me thing at We Are That Family. My friend Tara linked to today's WFMW with an idea on my blog, linking to it. So I was introduced to the "Carnival" idea in blogging. Wow! My goodness, I'm amazed at all the bloggers out there!

Anyway, I liked your exhortation to leave a comment...I tried it once and it didn't seem to work. Since it was there on the right side of your page, I decided to say, "hello...I dropped by."

Keep up with the meal planning. So much healthier and economical and it really does save time because going OUT takes TIME!

Rebecca said...

oops. I addressed you as Houston Mom, but that was the previous commenter. Silly me.

Jennifer said...

lol Rebecca! I was reading your comment in my email and had to look at the subject line "wait, which blog is this on...?" Glad you dropped by!

Yeah, going out takes time, but it's really the saving money part that I like, at least at this point.

Blog carnivals are pretty cool. It's a great way to meet other bloggers (and pick up nifty tricks along the way!)