Bored with Dinners and Would like to Give Try Menu Planning

Taste of home is a great place to start. You can get it at the newsstand, get a subscription (or call and ask for a copy and they will send you a first copy, free) or.... and I love this, get on their weekly e-mail menu planning. They will send you weekly e-mails with wonderful recipes in it.

I used to get Taste of Home for years and got away from it. I still have my past issues and peruse them when holiday cooking or making desserts and cookies. They also have a sister magazine with healthier recipes in it (forget the name - I always stuck with Taste of Home).
Recipes are uncomplicated too - not those hard-to-find ingredients.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/

Buon Appeitite magazine is a beautiful magazine too. Haven't made many items from it but, my neighbor used to pass along past copies.

http://www.bonappetit.com/

Enjoy!

I have started this too. I love myrecipes.com and www.monthlymenuplanner.com My recipes has great recipes, but not a monthly menu planner, but it does generate a shopping list which is very easy to add to & modify, the best I have found so far. The monthly menu planner is everything I want, but not a lot of recipes are on it or rated. I have been trying to upload my own, but it is time consuming. Allrecipes.com is good too. If you are just looking for recipes try www.epicurious.com. I also go to the Dinner club (where they prep all the food and you just assemble) maybe four times a year. So far we haven't had a bad meal and I have been able to remember the recipes. It's nice to just have something to throw into the oven with very little effort once a week.

You might want to give Dinner By Design a try. No, I do not work for them and I am not trying to sell you anything! I don't get any sort of referral for it, so you know I'm not trying to profit off of you by suggesting it.

I have been doing Dinner By Design since March, 2008. What I love about it is that I make every meal in one day, put it in the freezer, pull it out of the freezer when I need to thaw it, and cooking it is so easy. Because I am only cooking for my husband and I, I half-size my portions and cook 6 nights a week then have pizza night on Saturday night. Before going to make my meals, I sit down and write out my calendar of what nights I will make which meal. I alternate between chicken, fish, beef/meat, pasta, etc. and also write down what sides I want to make with them (so I can easily and quickly make my grocery list).

Dinner By Design uses natural, fresh ingredients and to my knowledge does not use any processed foods (they might once in a blue moon). As a result, you know that what you are putting into your body is healthy. The website lists the menus and you can also look up the nutrition information to learn more about fat/sodium/fiber content and potential allergy issues as well.

I joke with my husband that we went on the Dinner By Design diet. Ever since I started doing my meal planning with DbD, I have lost over 50 pounds (I also do cardio and weight training on top of this). I'm not really on a diet; I am on a healthy eating plan that includes real food and no gimmicky garbage.

It's not for everyone, but you might want to give it a shot. Go to www.dinnerbydesignkitchen.com to learn more.

Hi!

Go to kraftfoods.com,they will send you a free seasonal Magazine. 4 xs a year. It is filled with excellant receipes, that are easy & looks like you spent all day, fun for kids, also includes info on herbs, new snacks to try, etc. I cannot say enough about this magazine. I have been receiving it for 7 years now, and I love it!

Also, reynolds (tin foil) has a website that is easy, healthy and delicious!

Bon Appetit!

I'm a huge fan of Kraft.com -- very easy, fast and tasty meals. Some give you the option of preparing them with less fat/calories than what is in the main recipe.

As for a quick and easy crowd pleaser, this is my fav:

Beef Macaroni:

1# elbow noodles, cooked
1 can cream of mushroom (if you don't like mushroom, use cream of celery) soup
1 can of cream of tomato soup
1 medium onion, chopped
1# ground beef

Brown and drain beef, add onion. Cook to soften onion. Add both soups and heat. Stir over cooked pasta.

A couple of good ideas: www.chocolatecakeclub.com (which is a local company) is having a 30% off their organization sale and one of the items is a family menu planner with a space for what groceries you will need to purchase. Second, the container store is having a wonderful sale until Feb. 9 on home organization stuff. Living in a small city condo, I have maximized my kitchen cabinets by using these cheap baskets with handles that I put all of my dried fruits, small items that just lay there taking up wasted space, when I need them, I pull the basket out and there is everything and it looks nice too. My rule of thumb when cooking is that frozen spinach goes in everything...casseroles, meatloaf, eggs, it is cheap, easy and about 1/4c of it is one serving, and it is tasteless when mixed with other foods. :)

Email me if you need more ideas, I am sending out my idea list for snacks and meal ideas later this week.

J. W. MPH
Wellness Educator/Lifestyle and Wellness Coach

You can try Simply Homemade, between Crystal Lake & Lake in the Hills. Go to www.simply-homemade.com to view the menu and reserve a time. The owners are two sisters that work very hard to provide an excellent experience. Good luck!

What kind of food do you like?

My first tip is to think through meals you like and list them (even if you like the restaurant version). This time of year, think of your favorite soups.

For your kitchen, empty your cooking utensils and put them in a box on the counter (or a chair). After you have used a utensil, put it back in the drawer. At the end of a month-see how many utensils you don't use and get rid of them (use your judgment).

Good luck! Here are a few favorite recipes...

Chicken-Spinach Quesadillas
10 oz box frozen spinach 8 flour tortillas
½ c prepared pesto sauce 1 c shredded Monterey jack cheese (or other)
1 c leftover diced cooked chicken
Sqeeze excess liquid from spinach. Place 4 tortillas, spread 2 T pesto on each tortilla then top with ¼ of spinach. Sprinkle each tortilla with ¼ c chicken and cheese. Top with remaining tortilla. Cook in oven or skillet, cut in quarters and serve.

Szechwan Noodles
16 oz cooked noodles 2/3 c hot water 2/3 c creamy peanut butter
4 t soy sauce 4 t red/white wine vinegar 4-6 scallions (optional)
4 garlic cloves 2 t sugar ½ t red pepper flakes
Mix all except noodles until liquid. Stir sauce into noodles. Serve. (I add vegetables and/or meat sometimes)

Hi!

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Please let me know if you are interested. We have awesome Host specials going on right now.

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First up, I have no affiliation with these people except that I've used their product for approx. 7 months and I LOVE it!!! www.dinnerplanner.com Even though I'm paying for this service, I've saved tons of money on my grocery bill by buying for just those meals that I'm making, plus staples. I did spend a little more than I expected the first week because I needed some spices, but I've been amazed at my grocery bill since then.

Here are the details. $15 for 3 months for new subscription, then $10 for 3 months each time I renew. They do not repeat a meal for 1 year and they provide balanced menus for each night of the week. I typically only make 3-4 of the meals/week and then eat leftovers the other days. They provide a color coded menu and grocery list. In the last 7 months there were only 3 meals that we considered a bust (and those might have been my fault). My husband loves the variety and I can honestly say I probably halved my grocery bill by meal planning. I'm sure there are other services out there too, this one just meshed well with my family. They have a free 5 day sample menu on their website. It can't hurt to check it out. Best Wishes!

Hi,

I plan by the meals. I find recipe books and some one bought me Rachael Rays mag. last year. I like that. I am a working mom with two kids and a tight budget. I also am back for a second masters so, need easy. I could give you say these books are great but what works for me may not work for you. What I do though is go throgh magazines, and easy cook to make type cook books including slow cooker (great for Sunday planning ahead). I one piece of paper for the meals listed by day and one for the grocery list. I keep clip on the refrigerater for magazine clippings so I don't lose them and I use post-its to mark the cook books. I hope this helps. The library has lots of books if you don't want to spend a lot of money. I have bought a few at my school book fairs, and it also helps that my bubby works part time at Border (33%:). There are great ways to get your family to eat better with out changing all the ingrediants like using turkey meat in a meat loaf and whole grain bread...(use the same flavors).

Learn how to keep EASY Meals on hand to fit every type of schedule!

I offer easy meal solutions to busy people. We have an interesting concept called smoosh meals - easy, inexpensive, healthy and there is a nice variety of different flavors. They can be prepared in a crock pot, baked or grilled. Average cost per meal for 4 can be around $5.

Our 4 meals in 4 minutes™ Collections provide you with the tools you need to make meal planning and grocery shopping simple. Statistics show that when families have a meal plan for gathering around the dinner table, they eat fresher, more healthful meals and while spending more time together... spend LESS money on groceries!

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C. Bass

Here is a link to Family Fun'd month of meals - it can help with some ideas!

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/meal-planner/

I also came across this meal planning service (heard it on Dave Ramsey's radio show)
http://www.e-mealz.com/

I have not tried it yet but it is on my list of things to do. BTW - this one is the cheapest I found.