April 12, 2013

Making Mealtimes FUN! {5 Super Fun Family Dinner Ideas}

5 super fun family dinner ideas

By Kelly, Contributing Writer Sometimes we get so busy with the demands of daily life that we can easily forget to have some good ole-fashioned family FUN, especially when it comes to sharing meals together. The remedy? Well, besides the obvious rule of not overbooking our calendars … some purposeful planning may also be in order. Thinking ahead and scheduling a little family fun at mealtimes can reduce the urge to eat-n-run, and instead help to ensure more quality time together! Here are some fun [...]

Filed Under: Children, Family life, In the kitchen, Menu Planning, Mothering, Real Food Tagged With: , , , 17 Comments
April 8, 2013

Food Allergies & Healthy Eating

Food Allergies and Healthy Eating

Guest Post by Jessica Smartt My son Sam has food allergies. Every so often, I meet another mom who manages food allergies. It’s like I’ve found a soul mate. We lock eyes and share a sympathetic smile: “You, too? Wow!” And we sort of fight the urge to hug each other. We know what it’s like. We know how overwhelming it is at first, when you wonder, what in the world will he/she eat? We know the fear and stress that follow you to restaurants, [...]

Filed Under: In the kitchen, Menu Planning, Nutrition, Real Food, Real, whole food, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , 46 Comments
August 31, 2012

10 Easy Meals for when You Forget to Plan

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Written by Mindy, Contributing Writer We all know that the best way to eat healthy meals while staying on top of your food budget is by meal planning.  This is something that Stephanie has talked about often, and she has even written a book about the subject. However, for one reason or another, there are bound to be times that we fail to plan a meal every once in a while. This has actually happened a lot to me lately!  I am 20 weeks pregnant [...]

Filed Under: In the kitchen, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , 20 Comments
June 14, 2012

Summer Giveaway Week: Win 1 of 3 One-Year Subscriptions to Plan to Eat

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A few months ago, I decided to update my paper-and-pen ways and try online planning again, with an old favorite, Plan to Eat. Now, it needs to be said that I'm a lazy Plan to Eat user. I don't make use of all of its MANY features and tools, but I use it in a really simple manner, sticking to the Recipe and Planner components, not the Shopping Lists (which I know many people find extremely useful). Nonetheless, my planning has begun to go a lot faster [...]

Filed Under: Giveaways, Menu Planning Tagged With: , , , , 201 Comments
March 12, 2012

Spring Giveaway Week: Win 1 of 3 One-Year Subscriptions to Plan to Eat

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I have a confession to make. I may run a website. I may have self-published ebooks. I may own a laptop and an iPhone. BUT. I am not a technical, computer-loving person. No sir. My husband actually finds it funny (or irritating, it may depend on the day) how incredibly inept I am when it comes to using most electronic devices. DVD players and universal remote controls? I'm useless. Using my iPhone for more than making a basic phone call? My 7 year old is [...]

Filed Under: Giveaways, Menu Planning, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , 167 Comments
January 12, 2012

My New eBook- Plan It, Don’t Panic: Everything You Need to Successfully Create and Use a Meal Plan

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Announcing my newest eBook... Plan It, Don't Panic: How to Successfully Create and Use a Meal Plan! What if you could learn to meal plan in a way that helped you to eat better, while saving you money, time and stress? After the huge success of the Plan It, Don't Panic Meal Planning Challenge that I ran on my blog this past fall, I realized that there was a definite desire for women to learn how to meal plan more effectively and to start doing [...]

Filed Under: Books, Frugality, Getting organized, Homemaking, Menu Planning Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 18 Comments
January 3, 2012

5 Frugal Real Food Meal Ideas

Creamy Roasted Garlic Soup

  Written by Mindy, Contributing Writer Without proper planning, a whole foods diet can be more draining on your wallet than you might expect!  However, by menu planning and incorporating meals with lower cost ingredients into my meal plans, I actually spend the same amount on groceries now as I did before we made the switch to whole foods. Here are five of my favorite meal ideas for keeping our grocery budget under control.  We usually have at least two of these meals every week, [...]

Filed Under: Frugality, In the kitchen, Real, whole food, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 37 Comments
September 15, 2011

Resources and Recipes to Make Your Meal Planning Successful

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With the Plan It- Don't Panic meal planning challenge beginning this Monday morning, now seemed like the perfect time to share some really helpful resources to help you succeed with your menus. Learn more about how to make meal planning work (and some different methods for doing it), find tons of my favorite online recipes and cookbooks, and score some great resources for planning and tracking all of your meal planning efforts. The How-To of Meal Planning: Healthy and frugal meal planning help Part 1 [...]

Filed Under: Books, Getting organized, In the kitchen, Menu Planning, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , , 31 Comments