Dinner Crisis!

By the way, I'm still not sponsored by anyone, I just want to share! 

I don't normally talk a lot about our personal life when it's not involving projects, but I absolutely have to share this one!  I guess it's kind of like a project...

Somehow getting married made us lose the ability to plan and make dinner.  I don't know why or how, it just happened.  Maybe it was the longer commute, the huge list of home projects, or simply the pretty view from the back deck.  Or maybe it's just another symptom of the decision fatigue I've been experiencing since about three months before the wedding.

In any case, we got to the point where we would either eat out, eat pizza, or eat cereal for dinner.  This wasn't good for our health or our wallets!

A friend of mine blogged about losing baby weight, and said she'd been using something called emeals.  I googled them, and sure enough, it's a real thing.

It's like this: I pay about $5 a month.  In return, I get a week of dinner menus, all planned out.  Each one takes less than an hour to prepare (more like 20-45 minutes).  They handle the nutrition and calorie balancing, I just follow the directions.  They also give me a complete shopping list that should cost less than $100. 

So is this actually working for us?  YES!

I now put zero thought into what we're going to make for dinner, what I'm going to shop for, and how much it's all going to cost.  That means more time and money for enjoying married life, and more time and money for projects!!!  And honestly, our back deck beats any restaurant in the area.  I'm also not throwing away all kinds of food at the end of the week because I couldn't figure out how to use it.

One week I spent $80 on groceries.  The following week I used the extra meat I froze, and we were only in town three days, so my groceries were $10.62.  Last week they were about $60.  Compare that to even one night eating out, and we're so far ahead it's crazy!

We're doing the "Clean Eating for Two" program.  All the recipes make exactly two portions, and consist of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, and lean meats.  We're eating some staples, like rice, tomatoes, beef, and chicken, mixed with some items we had eaten only occasionally before like shrimp, jalapenos, and limes.  We're also trying some foods we've never had before, like orzo, kale, and lemongrass, and you know what?  They're yummy!

They also offer programs for singles and families, for people with kids, for vegetarians or other dietary restrictors, and even programs that follow weekly store sales so you save even more money.  I signed up for three months, just to try it, and also found a nice coupon through retailmenot.  {by the way, if you're not searching Retail Me Not for coupons every time you buy online, you're losing out on lots of great deals!}

Here are a few of our recent meals:

Chicken Parmesan with Tomato Argula Salad

Lemongrass and lime shrimp stir-fry

Balsamic Chicken and Greek Orzo

So anyways, that's my new exciting thing I'm up to.  Just wanted to share in case it rescues someone else from the dinner blues!