E-mealz, my new experiment

Ok so I am always trying to find new ways to help myself out, save money and do good things for my family.

I was looking at new blogs on the web and I found one that I just LOVE.  It is Zenhabits.  Now that led me to reading back stories which led me to e-mealz.com.  Now I have looked at another blog I love $5 dinners.  But lets be honest.  She couldn't feed my family on $5.00 a meal.  I have two teenagers and two tweens and my husband and myself.  While I love the concept I just knew it wouldn't work for us.  But she does do a meal plan that she posts each week with a grocery list and it is FREE!  I love her ideas so please go check it out.  

So back to e-mealz.......  It is a pay service for a very reasonable price.  It is only 15.00 for three months for each meal plan that is only $1.25 a week for each plan but I am not sure this is going to work either.....

I signed up the other night and I signed up for the Kroger and the Publix 4-6 editions.  Now we have six people in our family, and I have a Kroger that is very close but I do like to go to Publix.  They have been sending me $5.00 off coupons each week for two months and I just love the fresh sushi and their egg salad.  So as a treat I like to go there at least once a month.

So these ladies at E-mealz are going to feed my family dinner for an entire week for under $100.00.....well lets see.

Since I started in the middle of the week I decided to pick one meal to feed my family of four tonight (two of them are with my ex).  I picked one meal and decided to see just how that would pan out at the store.

I picked Orange Ginger Chicken.  Now I will not give you the recipe but I will tell you what is in it.

They suggested 1.5 lbs of boneless chicken breasts they are on sale at Kroger this week for 1.99 a pound.  They were 4.34 and 4.94 a package.  One package of chicken will feed my family of four (that is three breasts) so I can't just use 3.00 worth of chicken.  Last week they were not on sale so I always get extra when they are one sale to keep.

Next item was minced fresh ginger one small piece, they said it should have cost me .50, the smallest piece they had was .85.

It listed 1 tub prepared mashed potatoes as a side, first off my Kroger didn't have the brand they suggested but they did have the Kroger one on sale but not for the same price.  Now generally I buy the powdered Idaho potatoes or make it from scratch but this time I thought, I will just play along.  No dice, the tub is so small, even though it says five servings, it will not do here, so I had to buy two.  Lastly they said green beans, which were on sale as well.

Ok so here is the tricky part......staples, this meal plan does not include the price of staples........

Staples for this meal:

Orange Juice (which is NOT a staple in my house, I never buy it)

Garlic (which is a staple but at 4.00 every time you buy it.....it should count)

Rice Vinegar and Sesame Oil(which I happen to have because my mother visited last month and told me to buy it)

Soy Sauce (Ok I buy that in bulk)

So here is your break down:

Item                         E-mealz price                         My price

Chicken                        3.00                                        4.34

Ginger                            .50                                        .85

Mashed Potatoes            1.49                                       5.00 (two tubs 2.50 each)

Beans                            1.20                                       1.20

Orange Juice                      0                                       1.99

Garlic                                 0                                       3.99

                                   ----------------------------------------------

                                     $6.19                                   $17.37

Hmmmm, this is not looking so good for me.  But I am going to try it for a whole week.  Now understand my family situation is different, we have different kids on different nights, but there are so many blended families out there that it should be a norm at this point.  

I love their concept, I like their menus (my family will never eat the fish but hey...), so I am going to challenge myself to stick to their menu next week (I will do 50% at Kroger and 50% at Publix) and we will see how it turns out.  I am excited to try it. :)

Mammadar

Is it Thursday already? Ok Since I didn't post it yesterday, now it is FRIDAY!

Well, I wanted to get back to blogging, but the week has escaped me again. This week has been filled with work, a yearly mammogram the 3rd delivery of a refrigerator in two weeks, the air going out and generally a normal week.

Down south we used to say that it was so hot, but now it seems that heat has swept across the country. Our heat indexes have been over 100, and yes we know we should expect heat, but it has been brutal over the past few weeks.

So the weather is giving us a break today, a high of 83.  So I am going to try and have a productive day in the office without AC.  We will see.

An update on my goals from the other day.......Thanks to Life As Mom for reminding me I can start a new year anytime.
1.  I have not kept a good food diary.  I have tried on my phone, I have tried on paper, just can't seem to get that down.  Either I do not have the phone with me or the paper with me when I am eating, or I just can't commit.  Can't really figure that one out yet.

2.  I have not exercised.  Terrible I know, but I have vacuumed the entire house.  Vacuuming here is not easy.  We have two dogs who shed and several birds (one that is very messy).  I am guessing I haven't felt that great due to the heat, but I also think I probably had a touch of something this week.

3.  I did make the music mix.  I love my android.  My music sits on my hip.  I get tons of work down around the house, but just haven't made it on the bike. :(*

4.  Taking time for me- I have done pretty good on that front.  Here I am at 6:29 taking time out.  I played my favorite little ipad game (pocket frogs) and I feel pretty relaxed.  I carry alot of stress with me, some self imposed........

So 2 out of 4, I guess that is not so bad.  I think I will still have the same goals (minus the music) for next week.  I will add one more......getting my Household notebook finished.

1.  Food Diary
2.  Exercise 15 minutes a day (changing this to M-W-F-SU) Four times a week should start me out on my goal :)
3.  Finish up Household notebook (I am still deciding HOW to set this up, either digitally or in my notebook.) And I know that a Household Notebook is an ever changing thing.  I just need to decide HOW I am going to do it :)

So there you go.  This weekend I am looking at new meal planning services.  While I love my Plantoeat.com subscription I still like to look at other options out there.

Have a great Friday!
Mammadar

Sunday Plan

Well I usually take Sunday's to plan out my week.  Get a little cleaning done around the house and generally just relax.  So I have been really enjoying myself today.  I went out to a wonderful brunch and tomorrow I start on my road to wellness.

Simple goals:
You have to start with simple goals.  Before I know what I have to change about my diet, I need to know what I am eating.  I know I have a menu plan, but I am a grazer.  And then there is portion control (or lack of it).  So right now I am as heavy as I have ever been in my life.  (well beside when I was pregnant) so it is time to shape up.  I have the tools now I just need to use them.  I try to use Sparkpeople.com.  I mean how silly is this...... I have access on my android phone, my ipad and my computer, yet I can't even enter in how much water I drink per day or how much I weigh.  Simple goal number 1:  write down how much water I drink and what I eat for five days.

Next, I do NOT exercise.  There were some sites that used to count housework as exercise.  Maybe there is a reason that spark people does not.  It is inconsistent and varied.  So next simple goal.  15 minutes of exercise a day.  I have a wii (with an exercise program) and I have pay per view that has free exercise videos.  I also have a stationery bike and a treadmill.  Certainly I can start small.  So scheduling that 15 mintues is a must.

Small goal number 3.  Make a playlist of music that is 15 minutes long that will get me moving.  I will do two different ones so I don't listen to the same thing everyday.

Finally smalll goal number 4.  Really take 15 more minutes a day just for me. Seems simple enough, but I never afford myself that luxury.  Not that it is not given in my house, just that I do not take it.


After I follow these small goals for a week I need to decide on my next action plan.  I have a few resources that I will be looking at this week so I can start following something.

Flylady - Body Clutter (I have the book and the companion journal), I am trying to find some others to do this with......they also have a daily sheet to make it easier....

 OR
I also have Ellie Krieger's Small Changes Big Results book, I joined her website before but is was expensive in my opinion.

OR
Spark people

Oh decisions decisions!
Goals:
1.  Log my foods and water for one week
2.  Exercise for 15 mintues a day
3.  Make a playlist for exercise time
4.  Take 15 minutes for me.

Menu Plan Monday - been nearly a month!

Well I am well behind on menu planning.  Summer is a crazy time.  Kids are here, not here, all kinds of crazy stuff going on.  I am going back to my regular way of posting.  It is not Monday but I am going to go ahead and post for the week.


Saturday:
Dinner - Beef Brisket (adapted from Paula Dean's Receipe) We added additional Garlic Powder and Cavendars seasoning.


Sunday:
Beer Can Chicken


Monday:
Tacos / Taco Salad

Tuesday -

Classic BLT Sandwich

Pasta Salad

Wednesday - Chicken Marsala

Thursday -

Creamy Parmesan

Brussels Sprouts

Parmesan-Crusted

Pork Chops

Friday - Pizza Night

Saturday -

Paprika Chicken with

Sour Cream Sauce

Green Bean Casserole

Sunday -

Twice Baked Potatoes

BBQ Ribs

Mac n cheese

Friday - Taking care of Myself

This blog has suffered from my lack attention. I have been focused on other issues in my life recently and have been overwhelmed with trying to keep up with it all.
So I have been taking care of myself. I cleaned my house more than I had been able o in the past. I hung pictures, I have lived here for five years and although we have hung some things together I never took initiative to just do it on my own.

So I am hoping to settle back into a regular routine. With school getting out and part of the family being gone and the other part being on vacation. I am finding some sort of peace. And I intend to keep it.

Thursday - Site of the Week

We have been working on the relief effort in Joplin.  So I am going to share this website.  If you would like to help this is the place to go.
http://www.rebuildjoplin.org/

There will be need for months.  I have been to this city many times and it is a lovely place.  I spent a week there for vacation last year.  We just walked around town, ate at cool diners and just took a break from the hectic life we have.

Joplin will rebuild!

Tuesday - Gratitude / Random Acts of Kindness

Well today is a bit of a rant. I sat and worked really hard to gather coupons to go the the store and get all of the greatly reduced items so I could send them to the Tornado victims, but they were gone.  I have been watching extreme couponing and I get so mad when they clear the shelf.  I mean you will never be able to use 115 boxes of pain reliever.  And to buy things you don't need because they make you money seems selfish to me.  I wanted to score a big deal.  I blood monitor so I could send it to someone who really needed it, and they were all gone.  I can't afford to do a ton of stuff but I would have liked to have gotten more for my money so I could have sent it to the tornado victims.  I ended up with very little.  I would have done better by just going to Dollar Tree.  I did get two things free, but I only bought one of each of the items.  I didn't have multiple coupons or split my order up twelve different times.  I know that they are trying to save money for their family and basically spend nothing for groceries,but they have to buy newspapers, so this "free" stuff can't possibly be true.  Where do these stacks and stacks of coupons come from? 
Why can't they just leave some things for the rest of us to buy?  Why clean the shelves when you can't possibly use them.....