e-mealz

I hate grocery shopping. I hate menu planning. The two have to go hand-in-hand for me or else our grocery bill would be even more outrageous than it already is. I'm one of those women who wait until I "HAVE" to shop. If you were to open our refrigerator right now, you'd find lettuce (not the good kind) with brown edges, carrots that have maybe another couple of days left in remaining fresh, and eggs. No milk. No fresh veggies. No...well, if I look at the bright side I do have lots of pickles and salad dressings. Is there anyone else like me out there??

It always seems way past time to buy groceries in the Wilson home. This isn't because there's no money for it. It's because I despise the whole menu planning process. I did a Google search on "menu planning Southern." I put the "Southern" in there because I grow weary of recipes with rhubarb and beets.

That's when I happened upon e-mealz. e-mealz takes into consideration the store you normally purchase your groceries from and plans meals based on the sale items of the week. The website says:

1. A family-friendly, concise 7-day dinner meal plan for 4 to 6 people, or a 5-day dinner plan for 2 people - with concise and easy to follow recipes and directions.
2. A complete, corresponding grocery list - just print and go!

You had me at "hello." Okay - I know - that was maudlin, but for a site to give me a menu of food we'd actually eat PLUS a printable grocery list based on the store of my choice???? There must be some hook here that's just wrong. I couldn't find it. It costs $5 a month, billed on a 3 month basis. I even found a coupon code for a couple of bucks off the first payment (coupon code is "Dave"). So, I'm about to try this baby out. I signed up for the first 3 months and I've printed out the shopping list and the recipes. They really look pretty good. PLUS - the total for purchasing items for 7 dinner meals based on the sales paper for Publix (my preferred store) is $78.05.

Here's the menu for the week:

Meal 1 - Shrimp Creole Watermelon & tomato salad french bread

Meal 2 - Chicken and Mushrooms over Linguine Italian Salad

Meal 3 - Loaded Nachos Black beans and corn Sliced Watermelon

Meal 4 - London Broil Company Potatoes Steamed Broccoli

Meal 5 - Chicken Cordon Belu Creamy Noodles Green Beans

Meal 6 - Rancho Catfish Corn on the Cob Flavored Rice

Meal 7 - Blueberry Pancakes Scrambled Eggs Sausage

There are things I cannot eat (broccoli - highly allergic) and things David will not eat (watermelon/tomato salad), but for the most part, it looks pretty darned good. I'll next week letting you know how it went.