Monday, August 31, 2009

Meal Planning


So, I have been trying for days now to sit down and blog about this.  My new best friend.  It's called Dine Without Whine.


Dine Without Whine - A Family Friendly Weekly Menu Plan


I. Love. This.


Basically, it's a service that I signed up for a couple of weeks ago.  It cost me all of $17 for three months.  And what do I get for said $17?  Each week, they email me dinner recipes for seven days (including suggestions or recipes for side dishes), and also two desserts and two brunch recipes.  BUT the BEST part about it...they also send the shopping list!
Or is the best part that it has cut down our grocery bill in a BIG way?  Like, probably $50 a week.
Or the fact that I have probably eaten more vegetables and fruit in the last two weeks than I have in the last two months combined?
Or that we're not throwing out produce like we used to?
Or maybe that Trev can start dinner himself, when he gets home an hour before I do?
And that he can take the leftovers in his lunch.
Or that it's NORMAL food, that's good for you, tastes amazing, and is easily adaptable to your own taste?



You see, my problem has always been that I HATE having to think about what we're going to have to dinner by the time I get home from work.  I am sure you're all no stranger to this feeling...and our eating habits (specifically mine) were suffering BADLY.  I really want to foster healthy eating habits in Eric, and so it was time I finally did something about it.
I decided to organize myself while Trevor was gone to camp for a week.  And to make it fun, I even incorporated a fun "scrapbook" project as part of my organization.

Take a look...





Really, this was partly an excuse to use my Cricut...(shoutout to all you scrappers out there.)...to make the "days of the week".

So, as you can see, I have seven cupboards lining the inside of my kitchen.  All I have to do is stick up the dinner we're having that night, and VIOLA!  I can come home a brainless zombie, and still make a delicious, nutritious meal for me and my family.


(Note:  Please ignore the fact that only one day has a "meal" posted.  Tuesday has tomorrows meal, Wed/Thurs I am cooking meals I don't need recipes for, and we're gone to the cottage from Fri. to Mon.)

Just this one small change has created a "ripple" effect:

Trevor actually helped prepare one of the meals last week, and said how much he enjoyed being in the kitchen together.

We no longer have dishes piled up on the counter...somehow we are motivated to put the dishes in the dishwasher right away.  (For those of you that know me, you can now pick your jaw up off the floor.)

We have, without even trying, started to sit down as a family every night to eat dinner.  That was something that has always been important to Trev and I, but without a good, solid meal to draw us to the table, it seemed like a wasted effort.

In a nutshell...for $17 I have given my family: nutrition, savings, cooking skills, tradition and something other than sandwiches for lunch.  Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself.

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