A Great Help for Dinnertime

[FarmerHal]

DH discovered a website that has helped us a TON with dinnertime!

We have quite a time coming up with "what's for dinner!?" and we've wasted a lot of money going out to eat, ordering unhealthy pizza, etc.

I asked Reinhard if it would be ok to share, and got the nod... www.e-mealz.com.

I have no affiliation, nothing to gain, but it has worked so well after just one week for our family, I thought someone else might be helped as much as we have been.

Basically they prepare a week's worth of dinners (as a menu). They provide a shopping list as well, with a check-off area for items you've put in your cart.

I spent just over $80.00 for a weeks worth of food (My usual hit and miss expenditure is more than $200, so a huge savings for us!)

Now dinner time is usually done in 30 minutes, because all I have to do is glance at a recipe, grab the ingredients I know I have on hand and make a yummy meal! I have not been disappointed in a meal yet.

There are sample menus that you could take for a test 'drive' with the recipe and sample shopping list, to see if it would help your family.

There is a cost ($1.25/week) but for us, is tiny compared to what I was wasting with just hit and miss shopping.

Anyway, that was long, it's really a neat service and I have to say I LOVE it!

[wosnes]

It reminds me some of savingdinner.com.

I've always shopped with a list of things I want to make and what I need to make them. What I find interesting about this is the low weekly cost. What I find very concerning is the high (for me, anyway) use of processed foods.

But that low cost is really appealing, especially given the current economic situation.

[FarmerHal]

I have actually subbed a few healthier things for the more processed stuff on the shopping list. I"m picky about lunch meat, for instance.

[wosnes]

Are you using a specific store or "any store"?

[kccc]

I used a similar service for a while, and liked it. Eventually, I quit - had enough of a repertoire that I didn't need to use it.

But it was a good idea when I started. I think mine was called "the Six-O'Clock Scramble" or something of that sort. I still use some of the recipes.

I had tried the savingdinner one, and didn't care for it as much. Just not a good match for our tastes.

Menus like this are really helpful for people who just don't have time to figure it out, but you may have to try a couple to find a good fit.

Thanks for recommending.

[thomer]

Thanks for the link! I have used saving dinner before but it was way too expensive and too much food for our 2 person family.

I really like that it has a budget list for each store - I will keep this in mind for my most busy weeks when we're most tempted to eat out - like next week right before Christmas - it will come in handy.

[Blithe Morning]

Well done, Tiffani. What's that old adage... if you fail to plan, then plan to fail? It's something of a sweeping generalization as are most adages, but I find it more true than not in my life.

The other thing I do which helps me not dash off for take out or eating out is to keep some ingredients and some better quality frozen pizzas on hand for the super fast dinners when I don't feel like cooking. Maybe something came up, maybe I'm not feeling well, maybe I just had a bad day... whatever the reason sometimes my menu just doesn't work that night. It's nice to have a Plan B.

[wosnes]

I decided to give this a try even though I had reservations. I should have paid attention to my gut feeling While the things I've tried have been okay -- nothing absolutely terrible, but nothing good enough to warrant a repeat, either -- there's entirely too much use of processed and refined products. I'm not going to renew the subscription when the time comes. I also didn't find it to be as cost-effective as they said it would be.

But it has helped me to identify a problem I have and I'm certain many others do, too. Blithe Morning said it: We don't plan to fail; we fail to plan. There's another part to that, too: Plan your work and work your plan.

From reading the comments at various food-related blogs, I see that I'm not the only one who does this. A blogger posts a recipe and we run out to get the ingredients to make whatever recipe they've posted. Now, either we haven't planned anything at all, or we ditch those plans to make the new recipe. We're not planning and/or we're not following our plan.

I'm planning 5 weeknight meals. I'm likely to eat out one night weekly and also likely have leftovers for another meal. If I don't do one and/or the other -- I can always make one of the depression-era meals with pasta or potatoes because those things are always on-hand. If I find some new recipe I want to try, I write it down and plan it for NEXT week. And then I have to stick to my plan.

[bizzybee]

I'm a sixoclock scramble user. http://www.thescramble.com

I started using it a few months ago while taking steps to be more efficient with my time.

I highly recc it. The menus are family friendly but not dumbed down or boring. I am saving money and we are still eating healthy food. Leftovers seem to get inhaled and we have less food waste. It tends to be low glycemic index, high protein etc. The calorie count is always under 500. I'm not counting calories but it is nice to know that no matter what I make (and you can mix and match menus together from the website if you don't like the official menu she sends you) no matter what I make I'm being moderate in my eating. We have had very few things we have not really enjoyed and we are pretty picky foodie types. The prep time is also pretty fast, I am learning to use some shortcuts make allowances for some packaged food, take a deep breath and not stress.

Every Sunday I check out the coming week, print out the grocery list, go through my cabinets and fridge and head to the store. Easy Peasy.