This is my favorite giveaway so far!
This is a 2 day giveaway…
On Friday morning, I will be giving away 5-one year subscriptions to E-Mealz !!!!
E-Mealz is a weekly meal plan subscription service. It is $1.25/week and there are 16 plans to choose from. You can choose a meal plan based on your family size (2 or 4-6 people), specialty meals (low-carb, low-fat, weight-watchers, vegetarian) and your favorite store (Publix, Kroger, Walmart, Aldi or any store).
** A big thanks to Chris at Dave Ramsey, who worked with the ladies at E-Mealz to give us this great giveaway!
How To Enter:
- Simply leave a comment below with any meal planning tips and hints that have helped you in your weekly meal planning.
- You can post one entry per day (Wednesday and Thursday).
- Deadline is Thursday, February 19th at midnight. I will post the winner on Friday morning, using RANDOM.org .
If you are viewing this in a reader or via email, click here to leave a comment and enter to win!
Most Thursdays I plan the next weeks meals. I look at the Kroger and Publix ads, see what’s on sale that will go with meats in the freezer. Plus, my husband has started to try and come up with one meal a week so I get a break on the weekend.
We live about 1/4 mile away from the grocery so often my daughter and I will walk to the store and pick up fresh veggies to go with dinner…and of course pick up milk.
I make my grocery list out every week and usually stick to it and go through all of my coupons before I go to the grocery store to see what I have coupons for…I also get all the grocery ad’s out and see who has what on sale and write out seperate list and then pull out coupons for those stores…I have plastic envelopes with all the stores names on them and I put the coupons in the envelopes and take these in when I am going into that particular store it makes it easier to keep up with that way.
At the begining of the month I pick out about 12 meals (usually things I have already stocked up on where I will already have all of the ingredients) and post that on my fridge and I just pick which ones we want for that week or night depending on our schedule. I used to try and do something weekly but it never really worked great for us. I seemed to waste a lot of stuff because plans would change or something would come up. My friend shared that this was how her family did meal planning and it has been wonderful for us.
I look at the schedule for the week to see which days I will have more time for preparing a meal. If it is a busy evening and I don’t have much time, I use a meal from the freezer or I use the crockpot! I also check the weekly sales flyers to see what meats may be on sale that week. I usually always have a freezer full of chicken breasts in case there are no great sales for the week.
Thanks Kelly for doing this!!
I have been an e-Mealz subscriber for about 6 mos & I currently subscribe to the Low-fat Publix plan. It is a LIFESAVER for anybody who needs a little extra creativity in their meal planning. I get the meal plan on Wednesday. Then I compare that to the weekly Publix ad for the BOGO deals. I match my coupons to the weekly deals & also any coupons I might have to coordinate with the meal plan. I then do my grocery shopping on Monday (so I can get the penny item!)
It is my intention to stock up items that are on sale now so I won’t need to subscribe to e-Mealz after that. I have been able to save all the meal ideas so I can use them as a resource.
First I look in my frig/freezer and see if there are any ingredients I have already purchased that need used up- like eggs or sour cream. Then I look at our schedule to see if we are going to all be home every night and whether we want leftovers for lunch. After that I get the Publix and Kroger Ads and my coupons. I use this site and other blogs to do coupon match ups and then I plan my meals accordingly. There are just 4 of us (one just 13 mo old) so usually if I cook 3 big meals we eat for the whole week, but sometimes I have to plan for smaller meals.
I keep two meal lists going. One is a list of meals that I have all the ingredients for, that I plan to make during the upcoming week. The other is a list of meals that I want to make in the near future, but might not have all the ingredients needed. That way, I can keep my eyes open for sales and coupons for these ingredients. This has saved us so much money over the way I used to do it!
We pretty much live off the grill & by eating salads when the weather is nice, but when it is too cold to grill, I struggle with meal planning! One thing that has been helpful this winter is to have shredded chicken measured & bagged in the freezer. It is too convenient to grab a bag & add to yellow rice, enchiladas, tacos or whatever else sounds good for the night!
I am just now beginning to use a meal planner. I am enjoying it. I plan my meal on Saturday morning and then I go grocery shopping. On Saturdays, I cook chicken and then freeze it. My dinner plans usually include chicken three times a week, sometimes its chicken tacos, chicken tostadas, and salad with chicken. By cooking chicken ahead of time, it saves me time in the evening.
I actually need help with meal planning. I just started and still learning along the way!
I have realized I need to work into my meal plan one “leftover” night a week, so we don’t end up throwing away a bunch of food. Also this allows a buffer in case of a free meal- like last night when my hubby brought home free tortilla soup leftover from a big luncheon at work! I loved it!!
I would LOVE to win this! I’m in desperate need of some meal makeovers!
I plan 1-2 weeks of meals at a time. I have a calender the my husband can look at if we haven’t discussed dinner and I am working late. I really try to have something made for the nights I know I won’t be home for dinner (I work 12 hour shifts). Then all my hasband has to do is put the baked spagetti in the oven and heat the garlic bread. It really helps us save money from eating out – who wants drive-thru every night! I would love to win this for more meal ideas!
i have no meal planning skills and every night dinnertime comes around and i am running around wondering what to feed the family!
I have always struggled with meal planning, but in the two months that I have been couponing, and reading all of the great blogs out there, I have seen improvement. I used to throw away tons of food, and we were constantly going out to eat. The inspiration that I have gotten to start meal planning, try a baking day, and make a few freezer meals have all greatly improved my meals. I think you have to start small with the things that you can do now. When I try too many changes or too big a change at one time, I rarely follow through. I was going to bake a batch of brownies for dessert, I decided to bake three in muffin tins and freeze the leftovers – no additional time or effort. The next time I cooked chicken, I made double marinade and froze that. Just starting with those little changes has helped. We no longer throw away food, we are eating more healthy meals, my husband hasn’t bought lunch in over a month, and eating out is now a special occasion.
As a new(3 1/2 years) wife, I’ve been struggling with this, and only recently heard about trying to plan meals. Right now I try to have one night with no meat, and less sugar. Like last night we had spagetti with noodles, cresaunt rolls and a small salad. Also I try to get a veggie or fruit in everymeal, and try to have left overs at least once so my hubby has something to eat the next day.
I have finally come to the point of only planning 2 or 3 meals a week. It seemed like we were throwing food away so often. That way we use our leftovers and become more creative with food on hand if I need to throw together an additional meal.
I’ve been pretty consistent with meal planning for a couple of years now. I try to only grocery shop twice a month. (That plan doesn’t always work out, but I try.) I try to buy ground beef in bulk and separate it into 1 pound increments on my own and have plenty for freezing. I always buy whole chickens and roast them, freezing leftovers for future meals. A couple of “rules” in my house: one meal each week is meat-free, usually a pasta dish of some sort and one night has to include fish. Since I also have picky eaters in my house, I puree various vegetables (keep them in snack-size ziploc bags in the freezer) and toss them into various dishes throughout the month. They never notice and I feel better knowing they’re getting a little extra punch of nutrition. Lasagna is perfect for ‘hiding’ veggies.
I would love to win this. My tip is to go through store flyers and your coupons and make a list before you go to the store.
This sounds like an amazing way to make meals. I am still trying to come up with my own system.
I usually do our meal planning (for the upcoming week)on Wednesdays, after I get the grocery inserts. I plan around what produce I can get at the Farmer’s market since usually 5-6 if not all of our meals our vegetarian. I also do a weekly sweep through the cupboards, our stockpile, and freezers to see what needs to be used up.
Thanks for the chance at this great prize!
Wow, tips to meal planning… my tip is just do it! It may be hard to plan but doing it will save you so much money. One way it saves us money is we have a LOT less waste. I find that I am buying only what I need and using it all up in the time allotted. I HATE throwing away things that have gone bad and now we do it a lot less.
I am new to this and so far just looking at our family calendars for the week and thinking about who will be home for dinner which nights has been helpful in knowing how many meals to plan to cook, then I’m just using frozen/leftovers for the other nights. And would really love to try the e-mealz for free!
What has worked for us…reviewing the grocery ads and coupons every Sunday and then planning the meals and the shopping list for one main shopping trip per week.
I plan weekly meals and make sue I have every thing in the house so when it’s meal time I just make it and don’t have to think aobut it.
I don’t plan a meal for a specific day but make a list of all “available” dinners whose ingredients are in the house and go from there.
I check what’s on sale at Publix, and review other blogs for inspiration for meal planning. Then I plan out my week, including one night for leftovers. Thanks!
I look at the grocery ads to see what’s on sale and plan my weekly meals around that. When you just write your weekly meal plan on a piece of paper, you don’t have to think about what you’re going to have for dinner. Before I started meal planning,4 o’clock would come around and I’d think, “I wonder what we should have for dinner?”
This is the single hardest thing. I don’t like to cook, but I know it saves us money when I do. I want to meal plan, but I can’t get it. I am open to any help. Maybe Emealz is the way to go.
I make a pot of soup each weekend then take it with me when I go to work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It freezes well and my kids love to eat soup with a good bread from Publix.
I realized yet again today that I don’t like making a meal plan, but I love having a meal plan!
My best meal tip is make 2! This way you can eat one and save the other for a quick meal night.
I am just starting out trying to plan meals better and pay less for groceries. I really enjoy all the web sites I have found. Everyone has such wonderful ideas.
I keep a binder with all my favorite recipes and try to freeze leftovers whenever I can.
I would love to win this; I’ve been wanting to try a service like this for awhile!
We try to use what we have on hand so we don’t waste produce. For example we might add vegetables to store bought spaghetti sauce if they are going to go bad.
I just wanted to say that I found “Faithful Provisions!” This is my entry for the magazine. It has been the most wonderful website. I thought I had couponing at its best…I was only 3/4 of the way there. “Faithful Provisions” has opened my eyes to new, fun and interesting ideas.
To stay within our $60/week (for a family of 4) grocery budget, you can’t beat makin’ it homemade! Fried rice, Chinese noodles, pizza, pancakes. I can almost always make these 4 things plus a few others because (even the day before shopping day) I normally have the ingredients in-house.
Another thought…go with more meatless meals. Produce and meat are the things I spend the most money on. Better to spend $$ on fruits and veggies rather than unnecessary meat.
I use a weekly food calandar and make sure every thing on the calandar is in the house so we just look to see what were eating and make it
I like to see what I can do ahead of time when I have a day that I’m home. For instance, we were haing pork tenderloin the other night, but I knew that we would have baked spaghetti the following night. So, I made the spaghetti sauce a day before because I was home without many errands to run that day. The baked spaghetti only took minutes to put together the next day, which was going to be much busier.
I keep a running list of new meals I would like to try- my hubby likes to try new things (I do not) and this way I have a list to draw from when I’m doing my meal plan. I get a lot of my recipe ideas from Kelly’s blog!!
I like the feature at allrecipes.com where you can enter in ingredients you have, and it will give you all the recipies containing those ingredients. It’s helping me be more creative with cooking.
I am just getting the hang of meal planning, but I find that if I don’t sit down and plan on Sunday for the following week, it just doesn’t get done. Also, I try to include some meals that I know will take less time to prepare and have learned to be flexible. For instance, if I have a dinner planned that will take an hour to cook (including prep time), but I end up having to work late, I will try to prepare a meal I have planned that week that will take less time to prepare.In a pinch, I will pull out a pound of ground beef that I have cooked beforehand and frozen and add it to spaghetti sauce or Hamburger Helper.
I sit down once a week and look to see what is on sale and what I have left in the pantry, refrig, freezer to see what meals I can make the cheapest for the week. I try to do one soup or veggie meal, 1 seafood, and then rest with chicken or beef. Thanks for the great giveaway! ~ 🙂
I am really just starting meal planning. I decided it would help us eat healthier and also save money. I try to plan our week’s meals using only items we have in the house. This way, I know I won’t need to do a mid week run to the convenience store. Thanks for the great giveaway!
I like to spend one day a month, in the cooler months, making soups. I will make 3-4 soups in just a couple of hours. This month I made chicken noodle, black bean chicken chilli, and lentil. I made the chicken stock from the .59 chicken leg quarter from publix. All 3 soups cost less then $10 to make. We ate soup three times that week and froze the rest. We had soup for meals 2 tmes a week for the rest of the month and kept it interesting by changing the sides.
Thanks for the giveaway! I’m just now getting into serious menu planning so this would be great!
Thanks again for the opportunity to win this. I would love to have someone help plan my meals especially because everytime I ask my DH what he wants its either not on sale or he says he doesn’t care.
Please add me to the drawing. Thanks.
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post, Thank you!
As a Newbie, I am always searchin online for articles that can help me. Thank you
when my children were small to save time a money I did once a month cooking. I spent and evening shopping, chopping, and cooking what I could in a crock-pot. The next day I cooked and froze enough meals for the entire month. I then put a list on the freezer of what was inside. When I pulled something out (the night before) I crossed that off the list.