I love to be organized and efficient with everything I do. But I had never gotten the hang of meal planning, grocery shopping, then actually cooking the meals I planned. It took too much energy and too much time.
Until I discovered e-mealz! {No one from the company has asked me to write a blog post, I just love it that much. I'm pretty confident you will at least want to TRY it after reading what I have to say.}
The program is simple. You can sign up for a 3 month, 6 month, or 12 month subscription. (of course, you save the most with the 12 month). Then, you choose the plan that works for you:
Regular
Low Fat
Low Carb
Portion Control
Vegetarian
Gluten Free
or Natural & Organic
There is a plan for everyone. After paying {which is on the cheap... between $5 - $7 per month}, you can download your menu sheet and shopping list every Sunday.
Here is a sample of the menu sheet:
And the shopping lsit:
I went shopping with my list for the first time last week and it was so easy to follow. Everything is sorted by section in the store AND since you choose the store you shop at most, E-mealz will plan your menu based on the sales that week!! This is like couponing on steroids {but without the side effects and absolutely no cutting, clipping, or printing}.
And can I just tell you about the meals? I've cooked three so far. And each time my husband has literally praised me for how delicious they taste. Every meal has taken me less than 45 minutes to prep and prepare including the suggested side dishes to go with each one. We've had a delicious peach salsa chicken, creamy chicken pasta, and white chicken chili... all to die for. With the exception of the chili, we always had leftovers for lunch the next day. And, the site claims they do not rotate recipes frequently, so this gives a lot of variety to my weekly menu.
My only qualm is that I can't pick the meals I want to eat each week, but there is something nice about not having to think. And if a meal doesn't look good {which hasn't happened yet}, my plan is to just swap it with a previous meal we've had and LOVED. The shopping list items are numbered to correspond with each meal, so deleting or changing one is easy.
When it comes time to prepare the meals, I have everything I need to make it happen. No clunky cookbook and no open laptop with the latest Pinterest meal recipe - just one sheet of paper hanging on my fridge with simple instructions.
The best part? My family is eating healthy AND AROUND THE SAME TABLE. I don't have to scrounge around to find something to cook. I know exactly what is for dinner each night {with absolutely no work outside of pushing print to get a menu together} and my life feels so much more in control. Know what I mean?
Dave Ramsey endorses the program, for heaven's sake! So you know it has to be good for your budget, too. Plus, I found a coupon code (NEWYOU) that got me 20% off my subscription.
What are you waiting for? Make your evenings enjoyable and delicious. Go sign up! I'm hooked after one week and will never be going back to another system again.