Whats for dinner?

Ever since James and I got married, I have struggled a bit with what to cook for dinner. I wouldn't say I was a terrible cook before we got married, I just never really had a lot of time to practice. I mean, lets face it, dinner before marriage was a salad or a lean pocket on the couch while watching E News with my roomies. While a big salad would definitely constitute a meal for myself, James on the other hand needs something more substantial to fill up. So the first few weeks of marriage went a little like this: 4:00 strikes at work and I suddenly realize I have absolutely no idea what I am making for dinner--so I spend the next hour looking for menus online---finally decide on one that looks easy enough--stop by the grocery store on my way home--spend $35 on all of the ingredients--we eat the dinner and its good, but the remainder of the carton of whipping cream or bunch of parsley we needed for that specific recipe goes bad and we end up throwing it out. Not super efficient, a waste of money and food.

A few months ago, some of our friends told us about a website called E Mealz, which plans out your meals. They have family meal plans, as well as meal plans "for two". We thought it sounded interesting, so we checked it out. Basically, you pay $15 for three months, which comes out to $1.25 per week, to give you access to their meal menus. The best thing about the E Mealz menus is that they plan the menu around what is on sale for the week and they incorporate the ingredients into a few different meals (ex. This week sweet corn was on sale for $1.19 for 4 ears of corn, so you buy 4, and use it for two meals).

They have grocery lists centered around Publix, Kroger, Aldi, Walmart, and they also have non-grocery-store-specific menus. We found out about E Mealz right around the time our swanky new Publix opened up around the corner in Town Brookhaven. I am seriously obsessed with the new Publix, its huge, so neat and organized, and the people are extremely helpful (but that's a blog post for another day). So, naturally we decided on the Publix For Two meal plan. James was a bit skeptical about shopping at Publix at first. He has always been a Kroger shopper because he thinks Publix is too expensive-- gotta love him, always trying to save a dime :) Each meal plan, which provides dinner for five nights averages out to $35-$45 per week. Thanks to E Mealz I won the Publix vs Kroger debate.

We honestly think the $1.25 per week is a great investment because we have been saving so much money. We generally go to the gorcery store once a week and leave spending under $100 every time, which includes dinners, lunches, breakfast and any snacky foods, cleaning products etc. I went to my happy place today... I mean Publix... and spent $86.50. We are definitely going to keep using E Mealz just because it makes our life so much easier, we may try switching to a low-carb or low-fat meal option next.