What's for Dinner?
If there's one thing I really dislike about being the "mom" it's planning out meals! I don't mind cooking (in fact, I really like cooking) but the whole meal planning thing is just not my thing. Now since my parents have been living with us, my mom (who despises cooking, unless it involves tofu, and a salad) hasn't been much help in this department (although, she helps in so many other ways, doing our laundry, watching our kids etc..). So I did what I do best, I went surfing to find a meal planning site that would take care of it for me. I've tried a few in the past
Dr. Weils recommended by mom of course, because of his health minded and holistic menu, the menu was fine, but when we got to tofu meatloaf, John wasn't all up in that idea and I had to change the menu plan (which kind of defeated the purpose of making it easy and simple). Although the meals were mostly pretty tasty, there were a few that I can say I wouldn't even feed to my dogs. (and we're not picky eaters).
Ediets we tried this one, figuring that it would contribute to 2 things, easy meal planning and weight loss! Although we did lose a little bit of weight, I think it was mostly because we couldn't really eat, the food was awful.
Better Homes and Garden - yes the magazine that offers everything, also has a meal planning site. While we didn't really try this for too long, the food was pretty good but I didn't like it because it didn't give you a grocery list.
There have been many more, I'm not sure how much money I've actually spent on joining these programs ( I don't think I want to know), but I have to say even the one's that weren't that good were totally worth it, because it saved me from pulling out all the cookbooks and spending hours on planning a menu for the week.
I have finally found the perfect one for me! Relish.com. Tonight we had Garlic Roasted Chicken Breasts with steamed broccoli with cheese sauce (the kids actually ate everything off their plates and we didn't even have to threaten them) I absolutely love this site. We have been using it now for about 3 weeks and everything so far has been really tasty. I love that they have a section that they change monthly that does freezer meals, I haven't actually tried them yet, but I went grocery shopping yesterday and got all of the ingredients to make a few. And I especially LOVE that it makes a grocery list from the recipes that you choose. It has made my life so much easier. Oh, how I love the INTERNET!!
Dr. Weils recommended by mom of course, because of his health minded and holistic menu, the menu was fine, but when we got to tofu meatloaf, John wasn't all up in that idea and I had to change the menu plan (which kind of defeated the purpose of making it easy and simple). Although the meals were mostly pretty tasty, there were a few that I can say I wouldn't even feed to my dogs. (and we're not picky eaters).
Ediets we tried this one, figuring that it would contribute to 2 things, easy meal planning and weight loss! Although we did lose a little bit of weight, I think it was mostly because we couldn't really eat, the food was awful.
Better Homes and Garden - yes the magazine that offers everything, also has a meal planning site. While we didn't really try this for too long, the food was pretty good but I didn't like it because it didn't give you a grocery list.
There have been many more, I'm not sure how much money I've actually spent on joining these programs ( I don't think I want to know), but I have to say even the one's that weren't that good were totally worth it, because it saved me from pulling out all the cookbooks and spending hours on planning a menu for the week.
I have finally found the perfect one for me! Relish.com. Tonight we had Garlic Roasted Chicken Breasts with steamed broccoli with cheese sauce (the kids actually ate everything off their plates and we didn't even have to threaten them) I absolutely love this site. We have been using it now for about 3 weeks and everything so far has been really tasty. I love that they have a section that they change monthly that does freezer meals, I haven't actually tried them yet, but I went grocery shopping yesterday and got all of the ingredients to make a few. And I especially LOVE that it makes a grocery list from the recipes that you choose. It has made my life so much easier. Oh, how I love the INTERNET!!
Comments
One of the reasons we were eating together more regularly was because I was making a menu for the week. Though, I never spent hours on it! I'm guessing that's probably because there are only two people in our house.
I do find that I have problems sometimes trying to come up with meals... particularly dinner.
Melissa
And nice blog, btw. I might come and post an excessive amount of comments here. You know why ;-) :D