Monday, March 14, 2016

Meal plans, real plans!


My life revolves around food. Sowing and growing it, keeping it weeded and watered, harvesting it, preparing it, cooking, preserving, fermenting, canning, freezing it, eating it. You name it. I do it.

I love cooking and providing healthy food for my family.

But there are too many days to count, where half an hour before dinner time, I bleakly stand in my kitchen, not knowing what to cook or not being inspired to stand over a hot stove after a long day of homesteading and homeschooling. 


On days like these, my kids and husband trot into the kitchen, expectantly sniffing the air, and then realizing that Mama didn't cook yet. Faces fall, moods drop, whining ensues.

Make yourselves a sandwich, will ya?

So here's the thing: although I love making, eating and serving great food, I am often too tired and overwhelmed to figure out what to cook.


There. I said it. Many of you idolize my wholesome way of living and the way I dedicate a large part of my life to food, but you didn't know this about me, did you? I occasionally burn out on cooking, and yes, I even resent the crap out of it sometimes.

That's why my life changed when I found out about Real Plans. (Insert angelic or triumphant music here). This is a game changer for us busy people who are stuck in a rut, need inspiration and more organization. I love it!



It costs only $6 a month, and here's what they do: 

They create a custom plan to suit your family's size, busy schedule (ha!) and ever changing needs.

It's super easy and all computerized.  You tell them what you like to eat (traditional, dairy or gluten free, paleo, vegetarian, and more), and they send you the recipes (they have a huge selection of recipes that I actually love and use). You get to determine if there are ingredients you don't like and check the boxes that eliminate them.

They will automatically adjust the recipes based on how many people you are cooking for.

And they give you a timeline of what to do and when to do it (defrosting stuff etc), so you can be totally prepared.

Real Plans sends you a shopping list for the week, all based on the recipes you chose. In fact, you can go shopping with your smart phone, because it's all there! (I tell ya, technology!) It's all very organized and helps people like me who don't really plan and are scatter-brained multi-tasking all the time. This way, our family eats even healthier than we already do - and it makes meal planning, shopping and being inspired so much easier for me.



I really love the peace of mind I have now about what's for dinner (or breakfast or lunch). It's freeing up lots of energy, to, you know, grow more food.


Check out this video that explains it more.


Head on over to Real Plans and let me know what you think. We can compare recipes! Let's get cookin'!


10 comments:

  1. I get tired of figuring out meals too.
    I have felt this way alot lately...lol and it just the 2 of us.Thank you for Sharing another great Idea!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, right? We are not alone! So many of us feel this way!

      Delete
  2. I could have used this back when my kids were still young and I was working full time outside the home and my then husband didn't lift a finger to help. But now it's just me and my Marty. Here's our meal plan: he eats white and brown foods and yellow for accent color (cheddar cheese) and I eat colorful! I bet this Real Plans is simplification of the first order just like the way we do it in our home. Hey it's food. It's not entertainment. For food entertainment we go out to eat once in a blue moon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! As usual, you have me cracking up over here!

      Delete
    2. At first it was a real source of consternation for me. It really bugged me that when I ate a beet, for example, he would go "eeeeuuuuww!" Finally I trained him to shut up. Then I gained peace after I realized I was not going to train him to eat colorful and that he had been eating this way all his life and he was probably adapted to it. I have figured out how to sneak veggies into spaghetti sauce and stuff like that. Peace prevails now!

      Delete
  3. That is one of the reasons we have started experimenting with canning ready meals. (what's the english equivalent of eintopfgericht?)
    So far we did a chickenstew, beanstews, gulash, pastasauce, soups and broths. On the to-do-list are moosestew with red wine, beefstew, cookies (yes. you read that right). We have to figure out how mushrooms react to this treatment too.
    Just open a jar or 2, warm them up, add some potatoes, rice or veggies and done. Ideal too if you have forgotten to defrost meat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eintopfgericht! Dude! How do you know this weird German word???
      The only problem I see with canning ready meals is that canning destroys a lot of the good stuff in food since it's heated so much. Don't get me wrong: I think it's still a great idea so you can be prepared, and to make things easy!

      Delete
    2. Not meaning to brag, but my German is at least as good as my English. Although it is getting a bit rusty. Not enough opportunities to use it.
      Canning for us is an extra. A long term way of preserving mainly leftovers or abundance of certain foods. And as said you always have at least something in case of.....

      Delete
  4. Real Plans is $14 a month now :(

    ReplyDelete

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