I don’t know if any of you have heard of Emeals (apparently it’s been featured on Oprah, so I’m probably the only one who hasn’t heard of it). This wonderful website will actually plan out your entire week’s worth of menus, and if you shop at a Walmart, Kroger, Publix, Aldi, or Whole Foods; you can get a grocery list with prices all figured out for you also. No more wondering how much a trip to the store will cost you, it’s all there in black and white. You can choose a program with no grocery store attached to it, but then you won’t get a ballpark estimate of your spending. And the meals look pretty good too! Things like Smoked Chicken White Chili, Salsa Steak Salad, and BBQ Quesadillas are just a few items. There are even low-fat, low-carb, vegetarian, and portion control meal plans available!
You may be wondering why a dietitan would need a meal planning program. “Isn’t meal planning park of your gig?”, you may ask. Well, I’m human, I work 40+ hours a week, and I still want to have a planned out meal for my family whenever I can. (Also, I found a groupon for it, so why not!)
Of course, I’ll probably end up tweaking some things, like adding an extra vegetable here or there, or cutting out ingredients I don’t particularly care for (I really dislike bouillon cubes so I’ll probably substitue a no salt added broth for the receipe that calls for that), but overall I think this will help me keep my grocery budget in check. I have a tendency to go wild when it comes to food shopping…I just love food too much.
I’m also hoping this will make it easier for the hubby when I need him to do the shopping. The shopping list has brand names and amounts figured out based on a weeks worth of recipes. Less work for me!
I’ll let you know what I think of the program overall after I’ve used it a couple of weeks.
Today’s meal is a non – emeal recipe. I’m marinating some chicken quarters in olive oil, cilantro, garlic, onions, cumin, chili powder and lime juice – then grilling them low and slow. This will be coupled with some rice and pico. We were gonna have quacamole too, but the avocados weren’t ready yet. Oh well, should still be YUM!