Yes, I use a Menu Service

I’m not a chef. I’m not a cook. I’m not even a person who wants to be in the kitchen. If I had to choose between a personal chef or a housekeeper, I’d go with a chef any day. I can’t stand cooking. First world problems right?

One of the best ways you can cut your monthly budget expenses is at the grocery store and I’m crazy diligent in making sure I don’t waste my money there. One of those ways, especially since I became a stay-at-home-mom, is by doing major grocery trips either once a week or once every two weeks (just depends.) And until May, it was the most overwhelming experience ever.

I was so stressed out with having 2 kids & doing all the shopping plus all the cooking. Besides that, I really lack in sort of creativity in the food department. In May, I was reading a blog & saw a banner in the sidebar advertising a menu service and that’s when I discovered the best thing ever, 5 Dinners in 1 Hour. Michelle, the blog owner, really did work a miracle for my family & me!

I introduce you to:

How it works: 

Every month 4 weeks worth of menus AND grocery lists are delivered to my inbox.

I do my shopping.

Come home. I lay out the tools/utensils needed (listed on the menu page.)

I do all the prep for each dinner meal for the week.

I stick it in the fridge.

On the allotted day, I pull out the ingredients that I prepared a few days before, & cook.

Yes, it really is THAT simple. And YES, it really does work!

It costs $15 every THREE months. That’s it. I’ve even overheard Todd comment to people that the way our family eats has completely been revolutionized because of this menu service. He was so tired of eating pork loin, turkey spaghetti, & pot roast every week (I have zero imagination in the kitchen.)

On Monday of this week, I loaded up both kids, grabbed my menu binder, & headed to the store. It took me 45 minutes to buy a week’s worth of food (that’s incredible!) and then I came home, prepared it, & it’s just waiting in the fridge waiting to be cooked.

When I first started there was only one option of menus, but now there are 3:

1. The Classic Menu (this is what I use)

2. The Gluten Free Menu

3. The Clean Eating Menu

We have some recipes that we have recycled over & over again because we’ve loved them so much. Our favorites (so far) are the Baked Mexican Chicken Penne, Grilled Salmon (my absolute fav–I bet I made it 2 or 3 times a month over the summer), Slow Cooked Meatball Subs, and Bacon Broccoli Ranch Quiche.

If you are skeptical about whether or not it would work for you, then my recommendation is to try out the sample menu that can be found on the 5 Dinners in 1 Hour blog. That is what I did because I honestly didn’t believe that supper could be this easy. Once I had worked through the sample menu I was sold & I’ve never looked back.

I emailed Michelle this week to ask her if I could include some pictures of her recipes & she said I could AND she said that I could give y’all a recipe too, so here’s the Grilled Salmon:

Ingredients:

• 4-6 wild caught salmon filets
• 2 T Dijon mustard
• 1 ½ T soy sauce
• 3 T olive oil
• ½ t crushed garlic (I leave this out, but that’s only because I’m not a garlic fan.)
• Assembly:
• Slice salmon into 5 pieces and place in large storage container.
• Mix next 4 ingredients in small container and use 4 T of marinade mixture to spread over salmon pieces.  Cover with lid.
• Cover remaining marinade mixture with lid and reserve for serving.
• Cooking directions:
• Grill salmon on indoor or outdoor grill until desired doneness.
• Drizzle with reserved marinade/sauce.
• Serve with steamed brown rice & broccoli

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