On Meal Planning

I find that meal planning helps our household run smoothly.  I plan our meals on a weekly basis and make a weekly trip to the grocery store to get the necessary food.  Before I go on, though, there are some things you should know about me:

1.) I shop at Aldi and the only items I do not get there are the things they don't carry.  Usually I go to Kroger or Meijer for the last 5-7 items on my list.

2.) I subscribe to the Aldi grocery plan from eMeals.  It is $5 a month and there are several plans to choose from, all of which provide 7 meals a week with a grocery list already written out.  Genious. 

3.) Even though I subscribe to eMeals I do not use their weekly plan every week.  Sometimes I use 5 of the 7 recipes, sometimes I use 2 of the recipes and throw in some meals I just feel like making.

And, now what I really want to blog about... I was recently introduced to Five Dinners in One Hour by a good friend.  This is also a subscription based meal planning service that costs $5 a month.  My friend is letting me check out the clean eating plan she subscribed to and I am on my second week.  The site provides 5 clean eating meals with directions to prep all of the meals in one hour at the beginning of the week, leaving week night prep at a minimum. 

So, while hubby and Little R were at judo at couple nights ago, Miss J and I prepped 5 meals AND made some egg muffin-y things (more on these soon) AND washed and cut lettuce for my salads at work.

The part of the evening that Miss J is most proud of.... she cut a whole container of strawberries by herself (using a plastic knife with a slightly serated edge, don't worry).

She was in the kitchen with me the entire time.  Doesn't she look adorable with her ballet skirt still on from ballet class earlier??  Serious concentration here.... and she had to have a towel on her shoulder like mommy.

 

Look at her cute little hands.  Yes, she's a lefty.

 

 

The jury is still out for me on whether or not I will subscribe to the 5-in-1 plan.  I LOVE spending an hour prepping for 5 meals because that essentially means during the time I would typically be prepping supper on week nights I can get on the elliptical and exercise.  It also means more time with my family because clean up each night is much more simple.

 

What I do know is that if I have a helper every night like I did the other night, it would make that hour in the kitchen even more bearable.

 

PS - I've been trying to schedule some posts to occur automatically.  So, when I have time I sit down and write a few posts and then schedule them to post on the blog a few days apart.  BUT, the day/time I schedule comes and goes and the post doesn't publish.  What am I doing wrong, blogger friends?