Just wanted to share my new obsession

[anna]

I've never been much of a cook, but I reached my saturation point with processed foods and spending way too much money at fast food joints. So, I decided to bite the bullet and start cooking. The hardest thing, for me, is deciding what to cook and making sure I have everything on hand when I need it. Enter e-mealz.com. It's a service that, for a small fee, will provide you with recipes for each night, based on what's on sale that week (you can choose your grocery store or use a generic menu), and a grocery list to tell you exactly what and how much to buy. The program is endorsed by Dave Ramsey as a great way to save money. There are several of these kinds of services. Savingdinner.com is good too. and has a new Paleo menu. I use the E-mealz Low Carb menu, and it is fabulous. My husband loves it too, and is actually eating things he swore he never would; like squash and sweet potatoes.

Cooking does take a big chunk of time every night, but I'm getting so spoiled to eating fresh food instead of the processed crap I was eating that I really don't care. Right now I'm freaking out a little because we're getting hot and heavy into rehearsals for Cabaret (the musical) and I'm not at home to cook at night. So I'm kind of having to wing it (crock pot meals, begging help from the DH, etc.) and I miss my E-mealz!

I've joined a weight loss challenge at work and am getting serious about going low-carb. I've had about 20 pounds of regain from my lowest weight already and at only three years out that's not good. I know having healthy low-carb food on hand is really going to help me. The recipes make enough for us to have dinner, and leftovers for lunch the next day.

I've been meaning to start a thread to share this with y'all for weeks, but just don't get much internet time. If you're over a year out and need help with menu planning, I highly recommend E-mealz.

[Sandra C.]

This sounds like fun, worth looking into, thanks for the "e-mealz.com "idea!!
Sandra

[dsnuts]

Jan 24, 2012 14:53:38 GMT -5 anna said:

I've had about 20 pounds of regain from my lowest weight already and at only three years out that's not good.

That doesn't sound so crazy.

[anna]

Well, it isn't a disaster and I'm still beyond thrilled with where I am!! But I am starting to experience a little bit of the sciatic pain that I had as a pre-op, and that's not OK. It would probably do me lots of good to get back to a regular yoga practice as well as shedding a few pounds, too.

[Girlrocker]

I think this sounds super cool, thanks for sharing. A 20 lb bounce isn't terrible, but I think you are very wise to nip it in the bud. I'm new here, are you a performer? Because if so, I imagine you'd be getting a whole lot of extra dancing exercise too!

[smscott7]

Thanks for sharing. I'm going to check this out.

[crazyheifer]

I love E-Mealz! I was so excited when they rolled out the new plan his week. I want to do this DS eating right, but I want to cut the processed foods back out like I had done prior to the DS.

[feeder3565]

Hi Anna. So good to hear from you. Sorry about the pain. Looks like you got a good plan going. You know my story, no regain here just trying to hold on to what I got. Someday soon I hope. Cooking for DH is great, Teaching him how to cook pays off for you on those long days. Karen

[YeahItsCase]

I have been using e-mealz for the past year (as a pre-op)!!

[anna]

Jan 24, 2012 19:42:12 GMT -5 Girlrocker said:

I'm new here, are you a performer? Because if so, I imagine you'd be getting a whole lot of extra dancing exercise too!

Hi! I'm a singer and actor, but don't do much dancing. In fact I've totally abandoned all exercise while working on the show! It's so hard to fit everything in to a day since I work full time too!

[Brandilynn]

I cook meats and other things in bulk on the Sunday after grocery day and then just whip out a container O meat from the freezer to thaw and put in things.

I also use ice cube trays for a lot of freezing. Like I sautee up a bag of red onions in butter, smash them into ice cube trays, pop them out and put in a zip top baggie. Or yellow rice with Rotel cubes, or refried bean cubes, or green chile cubes, (etc).

Its nice that in a flash I can make a meal that is from scratch but not have to make it from scratch!

edit to add, I also freeze cubes of things like coconut milk mixed with curry, or green enchalada sauce, things like that, that I can thaw and spice a meal with, or one of my faves is to toss one of those cubes in a cup of broth and nuke it for a flavory broth sort of deal, when I kind of have munchiness and its cold, but I dont really need to eat at the moment.

[Janis]

Anna,

What a good idea; thanks for sharing. I'm definately going to take a look.

Janis

Janis

[bb212]

Jan 24, 2012 14:53:38 GMT -5 anna said:

I've never been much of a cook, but I reached my saturation point with processed foods and spending way too much money at fast food joints. So, I decided to bite the bullet and start cooking. The hardest thing, for me, is deciding what to cook and making sure I have everything on hand when I need it. Enter e-mealz.com. It's a service that, for a small fee, will provide you with recipes for each night, based on what's on sale that week (you can choose your grocery store or use a generic menu), and a grocery list to tell you exactly what and how much to buy. The program is endorsed by Dave Ramsey as a great way to save money. There are several of these kinds of services. Savingdinner.com is good too. and has a new Paleo menu. I use the E-mealz Low Carb menu, and it is fabulous. My husband loves it too, and is actually eating things he swore he never would; like squash and sweet potatoes.

Cooking does take a big chunk of time every night, but I'm getting so spoiled to eating fresh food instead of the processed crap I was eating that I really don't care. Right now I'm freaking out a little because we're getting hot and heavy into rehearsals for Cabaret (the musical) and I'm not at home to cook at night. So I'm kind of having to wing it (crock pot meals, begging help from the DH, etc.) and I miss my E-mealz!

I've joined a weight loss challenge at work and am getting serious about going low-carb. I've had about 20 pounds of regain from my lowest weight already and at only three years out that's not good. I know having healthy low-carb food on hand is really going to help me. The recipes make enough for us to have dinner, and leftovers for lunch the next day.

I've been meaning to start a thread to share this with y'all for weeks, but just don't get much internet time. If you're over a year out and need help with menu planning, I highly recommend E-mealz.

Hi Anna!

I wanted to share something that helped me with preparing meals on the fly, and resolving the problem of having ingredients on hand.

Go to costco and stock up on ziplock freezer bags (quart and gallon). Buy meat in bulk when you have time, then divide the meat up into single portions (or double if you cook for your spouse) and bag em in the ziplock bags.

So if you know you're going to be home to cook dinner, the night before just grab whatever meat you need that you've packaged up- chicken, sausage, ground beef, steak, etc- and move it to the fridge, it should thaw by the next evening and you're all set to cook.

There are some things I always keep in my freezer:

1) Chopped dill freezes REALLY well, I have a ziplock of that in the freezer for soups and sauces.
2) Sofrito also freezes well (onions, garlic, peppers, cilantro, tomato) all blended up until it's pourable) and it's great for making chilli or spanish chicken. I just plop it into the sautee pan and it thaws as I cook it down.
3) Frozen whole ginger. I use a microplane to grate the frozen ginger in case I need it for an asian dish. I never use up an entire ginger root, so it was a waste to buy one only to have it rot in the fridge. Now I keep it in the freezer.
4)Miso paste keeps for a long time in the freezer- great for marinades, salad dressings or miso soup
5) If I buy a whole chicken I remove the backbone to flatten it out, and throw it into a gallon ziplock bag with some marinade or herb mix. When it thaws, the marinade does it's work. You can also do the same thing with individual portions of meat in ziplock baggies.

[anna]

Wow, Brandilynn! That's awesome. My freezer is tiny, so I'd have to throw out all the random non-food stuff I have in there (ice packs, bottles of liquor, etc.) to do anything like that. As it is, if anything ever goes in my freezer, it's like it goes there to die. I'll discover it a year later when it's freezer-burned and indedible. LOL

[Deleted]

Jan 24, 2012 14:53:38 GMT -5 anna said:

I've never been much of a cook, but I reached my saturation point with processed foods and spending way too much money at fast food joints. So, I decided to bite the bullet and start cooking. The hardest thing, for me, is deciding what to cook and making sure I have everything on hand when I need it. Enter e-mealz.com. It's a service that, for a small fee, will provide you with recipes for each night, based on what's on sale that week (you can choose your grocery store or use a generic menu), and a grocery list to tell you exactly what and how much to buy. The program is endorsed by Dave Ramsey as a great way to save money. There are several of these kinds of services. Savingdinner.com is good too. and has a new Paleo menu. I use the E-mealz Low Carb menu, and it is fabulous. My husband loves it too, and is actually eating things he swore he never would; like squash and sweet potatoes.

Cooking does take a big chunk of time every night, but I'm getting so spoiled to eating fresh food instead of the processed crap I was eating that I really don't care. Right now I'm freaking out a little because we're getting hot and heavy into rehearsals for Cabaret (the musical) and I'm not at home to cook at night. So I'm kind of having to wing it (crock pot meals, begging help from the DH, etc.) and I miss my E-mealz!

I've joined a weight loss challenge at work and am getting serious about going low-carb. I've had about 20 pounds of regain from my lowest weight already and at only three years out that's not good. I know having healthy low-carb food on hand is really going to help me. The recipes make enough for us to have dinner, and leftovers for lunch the next day.

I've been meaning to start a thread to share this with y'all for weeks, but just don't get much internet time. If you're over a year out and need help with menu planning, I highly recommend E-mealz.

Thanks for sharing this Anna. I like to cook just get bored with choices or planning. I checked out E-mealz and might consider doing this to make things easier.

[Fade2Pink]

Great info, Anna (and good to see you posting!!). I'm going to check out that site. I have gotten lazy about what I cook/prepare and need a kick to do better.

[Brandilynn]

NOOOO!! NEVER TOSS THE BOOZEE!!! :}

[anna]

LOLZ! Don't worry. Life without American Honey would just be sad.

[bearmom]

that's a cool idea. I hate thinking of what to cook, as I've recently started trying to make more of our meals from scratch as well.

One bad thing - the homemade stuff is so incredibly good compared to stuff we get at even our favorite restaurants, I have trouble getting out of cooking even if I want to now.

I've learned the pineapple curry chicken, chicken tikka masala, beef stroganoff, and polo ala crema are all so incredible made at home with real and full fat ingredients, I'm ruined for restaurants.

As much as I hate deciding what to make, I'm trying e-mealz.com.

[terilynne]

My problem is I like to cook but can never decide on what to make.. So then I run out of time and grab the processed or fast food. Very cool site. I may have to try it. I find it VERY inexpensive too. wow.

[anna]

Hey, y'all! It looks like there's a current coupon code, NEWYOU, that will get you 20% off at E-mealz!

[Michelle J]

Thanks! I've been trying to do more home cooking for the boyfriend and myself. And I am cooking more, but I run out of ideas and am really bad about pre-planning. I love the idea of figuring out whats on sale at the local grocery and plannign my menu around that.

[prettypixels]

I have the low-carb "Saving Dinner" book, and there are some super yummy recipes in there! Thanks for sharing about e-mealz, I will definitely check it out

[calendargirl]

Bargain Alert: Groupon for E-Mealz Today, Sunday, January 29, 2012 (1 year for $29)

weightlosssurgery.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1633&page=1#23470

[nextchapter]

Love the concept!! I am defiantly going to check this out.

[lifesaver]

Is the price (that it gives for the week) pretty accurate with what you actually pay at the store? This seems like a great idea. With me in grad school, working, and taking care of a family, this could be a life saver!

[lifesaver]

Also, can you switch back and forth between the subjects (specialty meals), or do you choose one and then are stuck with it?

Can you switch out meals for others if you do not like a particular meal?

[lifesaver]

"Q. What if I want to change to another E-Mealz menu plan?

A. You may do so on your membership account page under the section "Your Active Subscriptions". Click on the link that says "Click here for info on how to change this plan." We allow one courtesy menu plan change every subscription term."

I don't like that. I think you should be able to change as many times as suits your needs.

Allrecipes allows you to browse all their recipes, make your own weekly plan and gives you a shopping list. I think it only costs about $20 a year.

[calendargirl]

I would like to look at other meal plans too, although I would subscribe to low carb.

[anna]

Yes, that's what I loved about Saving Dinner...they have an interface which let you switch out any meal you don't like with any other. But the software was so buggy I couldn't get it to work! I will definitely check out that Allrecipes deal though! That sounds great! Although it would involve actually making decisions. LOL I kind of like not having a choice sometimes. Not only does it appeal to my sense of laziness, it also forces me to try new things and not get in a rut.