Monday, April 5, 2010

Relish! Weekly meal planning made so much easier!

I am currently creating my list of weekly meals and at the same time, am generating my grocery list for the week...if you haven't heard about Relish! yet, you are missing out on one website that has made my life so much easier.

The webiste's home page describes:
Relish! offers the plan to get out of the dinner rut for good. No more mundane meals or last minute stops at the grocery store. Each week you choose the dinners you would like to make and you print out the grocery list and recipes. We even offer comprehensive freezer meals.



When you subscribe to the site (about $7 a month), you can log on anytime for a recipe.  Weekly meal recipes change every Thursday and include options such as: kid-friendly, quick, simple-gourmet and vegetarian.  The site has "extras" including lunches, dinner & movie themed dinners, desserts, and cocktail recipes.

For me, the true genius of this site is its ability to create my grocery list as I choose meals.  I simply log on, pull up the weekly meal options and start adding them to my weekly menu.  I can click on any meal and see what the recipe is and what the nutrition facts are before I add it to my list. I can also access any recipe I have saved as a "favorite" or search Relish's extensive "library" of recipes to add to my weekly menu. Once I've added my meals, I say how many servings I want to make and one quick click on "create shopping list" generates my weekly grocery list all categorized by grocery store section!

As someone who doesn't really LOVE to cook, this site has been so wonderful!  My family and I have loved most of the recipes (which are all tested before Relish! adds them to their site) and it saves me so much time in guessing how much I need of each ingredient as I pour through cookbooks.  Plus, I have added  much more variety to my family's repetoire of dinners, since I don't have much time in my day to search for new things and then try them out.  For those who do enjoy that though, you can also add your own recipes to your Relish! page and then choose them as you would any Relish! recipe for your weekly options.

Relish! claims that 5 meals (an entree and included side) costs about $90 a week, which I feel is pretty accurate.  Portion sizes are right on--when I ask for four servings, the meals create just enough for all of us to eat a filling portion without much left-over.  If you like left-overs, then I would suggest inputing one or two additional servings before making the shopping list.

This site has really been one of those "making my life simpler" necessities!

No comments:

Post a Comment