Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Life as a Wife

Now that I've been married for all of 6 weeks, I feel like I've got a decent handle on being someone's wife.....well, at least better than I did at the beginning.

Adam and I are going through Financial Peace University right now and we're really trying hard to pinch every penny that comes our way. We're making sacrifices and using coupons and searching for sale prices like we never did when we were single. And I kind of like it. I feel triumphant when I get a good deal on something we really needed.

One of the most frustrating domestic duties for me is grocery shopping. I hate it.

If I don't plan out my meals ahead of time and go to the store with a list, I end up spending way more money than I should and then I always end up missing ingredients when I go to plan a meal.

But meal planning is almost worse! I spend hours sifting through cookbooks trying to figure out which meals we want, how we can use the same ingredients in most of our meals for the week, and then trying to create a list that doesn't make me run in circles around the grocery store like a crazy person.

Sort of one of those things that's just a hassle either way.

At least that's what I thought.

I've been an off and on Dave Ramsey listener for years now, and one of his main advertisers is a company called Mealtime Makeover and their product e-Mealz. I had actually forgotten about e-Mealz until Adam sent me a link to their website several months ago.

E-MEALZ EASY AND DELICIOUS DINNER RECIPES

e-Mealz is a website that looks at current grocery store sales, then formulates a weekly menu AND grocery list for you. It takes out all of the stress and time-consuming chores of meal planning, and takes advantage of all of the special promotions and sales in the stores.

You can select from a variety of grocery stores (Kroger, Publix, Wal-Mart, Aldi, etc.), or you can select special diet menu plans. They have a Weight Watchers Points plan, Low-Carb, or a vegetarian plan. And you can also select a meal plan that feeds up to 5 people, or one that feeds only 2.

Each week you go to the website and download the new menu plan. The first page of the menu plan contains your actual meals, with a recipe giving you specific instructions on how to prepare it. Page two is your detailed grocery list categorized by where you can find everything in the store. The grocery list also lists the prices of everything on the list and gives a total at the bottom of the page.

The plan is incredible. We have been following e-Mealz for over 2 weeks now and we haven't had a meal that we didn't like. The food is simple, easy to prepare, and tastes good.

Before we joined e-Mealz, Adam and I went to the grocery store to buy groceries for what we hoped would be 2 weeks. We spent $150 at Wal-Mart for just the two of us, and the food didn't last us as long as we hoped....except for our produce, some of which spoiled before we got the chance to eat it.

So we decided to try to save some money and start shopping at Aldi. We signed up for the "Aldi for 2" e-Mealz plan. Our grocery bill for 2 weeks this time was $99! AND it actually lasted us longer than 2 weeks because we went out of town in the middle of it.

Our e-Mealz weekly groceries typically cost $30-40 per week. Granted, that's just for dinners and you'll have to purchase additional breakfast, lunch and snack foods. However, we usually have one small portion left over after each meal, which provides lunch for someone.

E-Mealz only costs $5 a month and they do all the leg work for you!..And you get a special discount off your first 3 months if you're a Dave Ramsey listener.

I just wanted to share that with everyone and let you all know how much e-Mealz has helped me. I now look forward to going to the grocery store and finding the items on my list, then getting out of there in 30 minutes or so!

Click on this banner to learn more about e-Mealz and check out sample menus.

E-MEALZ EASY AND DELICIOUS DINNER RECIPES

1 comment:

  1. My dad would be proud of you. He was an Aldi shopper! I like going there, too - I feel like I'm really getting a good deal. Sometimes I opt out for convenience and end up going to just one store - Walmart. I'm glad you're back!!

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