Meal Planning

I just can't seem to get it down. Those two words, "meal planning," seem like such a staple in a good wife's vocabulary. I don't know why, but I have just never been really consistent with having a meal plan each week. Before Wilson came, I felt like every night was kind of up in the air. Friends might invite us over for dinner, we might be out with students doing ministry, we might not get a chance to eat dinner until 9:00 pm. After Wilson, well.... those of you who've had children know that planning, shopping, prepping, cooking is boiled down to a frozen pizza and bag salad on most nights.

On Sunday night I said "Enough is enough." I'm tired of running to the grocery store every other day and coming up with meals on the fly. I decided to give {E-mealz} a try once more. (I tried them before during the never-at-home-for-dinner era.)

For $15 every 3 months (12.50 if you use code:DAVE), you will get a five day meal plan complete with a grocery list. I really didn't like the idea of someone else telling me what I am going to eat every night, but let me tell you what I've found that I do like about this.

• You can customize the meals. I've chosen the "Lowfat for 2: Anystore" plan. It is just enough for me, Andrew and Wilson plus a little bit of leftovers for lunch the next day. They have big family plans, plans to match sales with certain stores (Ahem, Kroger and Publix...of course), and low-carb plans. 
• The meals are good. So far I've only made three meals, but we really, really enjoyed all of them and (although not picky) we are kind of snobby foodies sometimes.
• They include sides! This has always been a road block for me during meal times for some reason. I am not really creative about what sides to put with meals... but this does the thinking for you.
• All the recipes are simple. I don't have a lot of free time to spend in the kitchen prepping (I usually use W's second nap to do meal prep), so I really appreciate that all the recipes so far have only required 1 hour or less of prep time/cooking time. 
• The recipes re-use ingredients. All five of the recipes you get each week share ingredients so that you are using ALL of that onion or that whole bunch of celery and not feeling wasteful about what you buy. This is a huge bonus for me.... I always feel like I throw so much away out of our fridge as it spoils. 
• They give you a complete grocery list. HELLO, SIMPLICITY! 

Because we enjoy a little bit of freedom, I'm only choosing three out of the five recipes a week to make. That leaves some room to go out, eat leftovers, or try a different recipe. I'm printing out and saving all of the weeks (and making notes/ratings on the recipes I try) so that after three months I may just go back over  these past recipes and try new ones or repeat old ones we enjoyed.

Anyway, I hope this helps any of you who are like me at 4:00 pm hoping the "dinner fairy" will magically come and bring your family a well balanced yummy meal. This is the closest thing I've found to that fairy.

SIDE NOTE: You might be wondering how the list coincides with my couponing. It doesn't. There really aren't any grocery stores here that coupon well. For now, I am sticking with couponing for home items and a once a month trip to Kroger (30 minutes away) for staples. But, if you have a Publix, {E-Mealz} has a plan that matches up with their sales each week. Lucky, lucky you.