So I’ve been blogging a lot about serious things recently: Adoption, orphans, living out our faith. All very important. Now, let’s get more serious. (Is that even possible?)
Let’s talk about food.
See, between my dietary restrictions and the rest of our lives, eating is complicated. Not fun complicated. Like, eat-the-same-five-meals-because-they’re-safe complicated. This is also known as BORING. And then add in my job (plus two hour daily commute), Evan’s job, Evan’s school schedule, my adjunct teaching schedule, our involvement with our church…trying to do a weekly or monthly menu was getting to be a chore that I would rather not do. And, of course, we’re on such a tight budget right now. So food was my enemy as far as I was concerned. And, let’s add to this how much I loathe grocery shopping. Blerg.
And then an amazing friend showed me E-Mealz.
It’s brilliant. For $5/month you get weekly menus and a grocery shopping list. You can select your local/preferred grocery store (Krogers, Wal-Mart, Publix, ALDI, and Ralphs, or “any store”) and I think the meals are planned around what’s on sale at that store (unless you select the any store option). They even have specialty meal plans (low-fat, gluten-free, vegetarian, low-carb, and portion control). And the food is really AH-MAZING. Seriously. We’ve tried so many different meals and since we started using the service a month ago, we haven’t had the same thing twice. (And I think we’ve only had one meal that we weren’t crazy about.)
The meals really have been delicious, and the time I save in not having to plan all our dinners and a grocery list is well-worth the cost of the monthly subscription. PLUS, it has saved us money with our groceries because I’m less likely to think “Ooh, this would be good for dinner” in the middle of Publix and then end up with a poorly planned menu.
Seeing is believing, so here are a few photos of our meals (I’m sad to say that I haven’t captured more photos of our meals…):
Mandarin Orange Chicken Stir-Fry
Moraccan Chicken (served over brown rice, and sans green olives because I don't like olives) - I really enjoyed this meal (and leftovers!)
Seasoned Sweet Potato Fries - these are my favorite thing that we've made so far
I’ve been more adventurous in my eating, too. It’s been exciting to try new meals and get a taste for different ways of eating lots of different foods. So, if you’ve been bored with your dinners, want to save some money, or just don’t like to be bothered by planning your meals, check them out. It is worth WAY more than the monthly subscription!
Beyond Inspired 