I love to cook ~ but sometimes I hate the planning of meals and then making a shopping list. I found a product that gives me a menu plan and a shopping list! It is called Meals by the Week. There are a number of great features that Meals by the Week has ~ first you can pick your meal type. I always try to do a low calorie menu - so the Paleo, Vegetarian or 400 Calorie Dinner menus are prefect choices for me.
Meals by the Week also publish menus for certain grocery stores throughout the country - like for Trader Joes, Walmart and a number of others. You can also scale the menu to your family size. There are 3 at my house and I normally try to make a meal for 4-6 people as Joey is a teenage boy and I like to have left over for either my lunch or Rex’s.
We had a great week of meals last week that included Rosemary Beef Stew and Roast Pork Lion. Tonight I have a quick fix option Key West Chicken- Avocado Sandwich. The nice thing about the main meal recipes also include an idea for a side dish - tonight the side is potato salad.
What I like to do is take a look at the menu and decide which meals I am going to make and if it is something I don’t want that week I just mark skip this meal. Then when I print out the shopping list only the meals I am making appear on the list. Then I add what ever else I need to the list.
This really has helped me save money and time. It is so nice having the help in deciding what to make and having a list printed out. If you would like to subscribe to this service they have different options but you can get a year of great menus for $55. As a bonus, everyone who subscribes to our email list (link submitted after approval), will receive a 4-week school lunch menu! You can sign up HERE.
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.