Updates..

Well, I have now done two or three weeks of actually using E-Mealz. I do love it! Our little plan is working for us. Good meals, easy to make, quick to make, and my family enjoys them!

It definitely makes grocery shopping easier. I have yet to challenge Jose to go shopping, but pretty soon he will have to tackle this if he wants to eat.

I would also say that when I shop this way, I definitely save money at the grocery! I can walk out with feeding my family for $100 a week (if that) including lunches, dinners, snacks, and breakfast. Not to bad of a deal! And typically I go a week and a half before I feel like I need to go shopping again for anything.

As far as prego goes, I'm done. Not really, but I wish I was. I'm just counting down the days. We're at 5 weeks now, but I'm planning for no more than 4. The heat finally has to kick in as I'm miserable enough with out it. I was telling someone that I feel like I have a 1 yr old playing around in my belly, wanting to come out. And my mom sends me a text this week saying " I just saw on the news a 16 lb baby was born recently. 24 inches long with a chest size of 17 inches. So stop complaining! :) "

But are you kidding me? I would have shot my Dr if that was the case. Ok, not really but I probably would have punched them for sure. I'm all for waiting for the baby to come natural, but man you had to have been way off on that one! 16 pounds! Thats the size of a 3 month old! Makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it! Can you imagine the 6 week check up of that child? That child sounds like the next Andre the Giant. Anyway, I can appreciate my mom for helping me put things into perspective. I"m not going to have a 16 lb baby, maybe 8 or 9 lbs, which I'm sure I can handle.

Anyway, I'm hanging in there, big belly and all. I do feel better when people tell me that from behind I don't even look pregnant. It makes getting through the day easier. So if you see me, please feel free to indulge me a little with that comment. I don't care if it is true or not at this point.

Almost One Week In

Alright, well I've only made two meals out of my E-Mealz plan but that is because we spent the weekend at my parents. So right now I'm batting 50/50.

The first meal was a BBQ Chicken packet. BBQ chicken with corn on the cobb and broccoli. Yum! Jose even said "I like this, this is good. Just like the good old days". Those were the days prior to our less than a closet size kitchen in Myers Hall.

The second meal, some Meatballs and sauce over egg noodles. I could do with out this one. Definitely not the worst meal I've had, but probably one that if it came on the rotation I would substitute one of my own for. The nice thing is that half of the meatballs I made were frozen to be used for another meal this week. Cooking ahead is great!

On for tonight is BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Greek Salad. The great thing is it is all done in the crockpot (minus the salad of course).

The other meals took less than an hour for me to cook. It may seem a while, but I also have Eleana to wrangle and keep entertained as dad was out while I was cooking.

So my next list will come out tomorrow. I won't do my shopping until this weekend though because we have plans on a few nights this week. I thought that only having 5 meals planned would not be enough. First week down and I've still go meals left to cook. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

If you want to check out the meal options they have the website is www.e-mealz.com . Someone asked if you can customize for various things. You have to pick one meal plan and you can change it with in your 3 month subscription once. They have them listed as 2 Person meals (which I did and we've had leftovers both times), or Family meals (4-6 pl). They break them down by store or there is an any store. They also have a vegetarian option, a low fat option, gluten free, and there is one other one I think. You can view a sample plan though to see what you might be getting.

If you choose to subscribe, please let them know you heard it from me!

New Plans

Well, I have a plan. A "new" one. Its not all that new, but as always I'm trying to start fresh and head in a direction I've been wanting to for a while. Cutting costs! Saving Money! Not stressing about my finances (this may take a miracle, but I'm trying)!

I paid for a subscription to E-Mealz. Just $15 for 3 months worth of weekly meal plans mapped out by a grocery list. I should be able to feed our family of 2.5 dinner 5 days a week for under $50. All other groceries would be on top of that.

So, here is my week 1 attempt. I spent a total of $108.63 on groceries last night. That should cover us for B/L/D for this week.

This means using what is in my house in order to feed my family rather than going out to eat at every moment. We have a small budget for eating out each month and will mostly cook in. This will be a feat in itself due to the size of my closet kitchen, but we're going to make it happen. I have to.

So I'll keep a weekly tally on how much I spend for groceries, how much we spend on eating out, and how it works out.

I felt I needed to make it "public" through my blog to help me stick to it. More motivation I suppose.

And if anyone has any tips on how to make my husband help out with cooking a meal or three a week, I'm open to anything. :)