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Cheryl
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| Posted: May 20 2006 at 6:19am | IP Logged
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Have any of you tried these? Did they work for you for an extended period of time? Did you end up making your own meal plans in the end? If you've tried both of them, which one was easier and which one had tastier meals?
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Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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kathleenmom
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| Posted: May 20 2006 at 7:49am | IP Logged
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Hi Cheryl,
We have used Saving Dinner a la Menu Mailer. There is a thread here where lots of ladies talk about their Saving Dinner adventures. When we started it, I was an ardent devotee. I loooved the organization....the premade shopping list to take to the store. It was a good fit for a while. However, after a while, it became clear my family wasn't all that keen on a good deal of the recipes even though they are not "fussy" and have fairly well developed palates. I don't know exactly how to describe the lack of fit....because the kiddos and Dad alike eat a wide variety of foods with relish..... the recipes sort of lacked sophistication I think  . That sort of sounds snobbish, but I am a food snob, really. The recipes are nutritionally sound and aren't overly "casserolish" and don't use things like Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup which my family doesn't care for. We used it for two 3 month cycles and then I saved all of the recipes we did like and I am now making my own menus again. Can't someone write a menu mailer full of recipes just like I like  ?
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Natalia
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| Posted: May 20 2006 at 8:15am | IP Logged
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Cheryl,
I have used, and still use both. Menus4mom are even less "sophisticated" than Saving Dinner. When I started using it, I did pretty faithfully. The recipes are easy to make and they don't call for complicated or expensive ingredients. Menus4moms also gives you pointers to save time. For example they will have you cook extra chicken Monday and then use it on another dish Thursday. They also help you to stock up your freezer with cooked ground beef, softened black beans, chopped onions and bell pepper etc. Then you will use those assetts in the coming weeks. After a while the recipes become repetitive which is good if your family doesn't care. My family is not used to eating the same thing often because I like to experiment with food and have "trained" them that way (this sometimes backfires on me  ) Some of the recipes have been treasures though. For example some bake fish, grilled chicken, spag. pie,refried beans and other.
Saving Dinner has also been a good fit for our family. I started it in Winter and worked my way through most of the winter menus and some of the spring ones. Most of everything we tried we liked. The recipes are uncomplicated and easy to make. They call for nutrionally sound ingredients. We have experimented with some food that I have never used before like brown rice, butternut squash, acorn squash. She has some awasome bean dishes and Mexican food. Her fish recipes are also very tasty. The thing I don't like is to add oats to the ground beef. She does that almost everytime. I tried once and hated it so I simply skip the oats and the recipe is just fine.
I tend to alternate between these two. If a recipe doesn't appeal to me or I know that my family won't eat it I substitute one of our family recipes. I have enjoyed the convinience of printing the grocery lists and going to the store. It has also save me money because then I don't stock up on a lot of things that I am not going to use.
The Menus4mom website has a printable sheet with spaces to post your breakfast, lunch and dinner plans. I try each week to print one of those, fill it out with our choices for that week and post it on the refrigetator. It simplifies life so much when I do that! I even include snacks on that list so the kids know what is available and can serve themselves.
HTH,
Natalia
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Natalia
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| Posted: May 20 2006 at 9:24am | IP Logged
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I forgot to say that the recipes in Menus4mom are feed 4 so if you have a large family you will have to double them. Also, they use canned vegetables for side dishes sometimes. I con't care for canned so I substitute frozen or fresh.
Saving Dinner meals are designed to serve 6 and they are usaully enough to feed my family of 5.
Natalia
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Cheryl
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| Posted: May 20 2006 at 10:14am | IP Logged
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kathleenmom wrote:
Can't someone write a menu mailer full of recipes just like I like ?
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Wouldn't that be great? I don't think you're a food snob. You're probably just more creative in the kitchen. I have to admit that anything would be more sophisticated than what we eat here.
Thank you both for your posts. I am interested in starting to cook more interesting foods this summer. We are moving in 11 days and here's the menu for this week. My dh is buying the groceries right now with 2 dc.
Macaroni & Hamburg
Cheeseburgers
Breakfast Buffet
Teriyaki Chicken
Hot Dogs
Leftovers
I am very fortunate that my family doesn't complain much, especially my dh. He never complains about the meals I repeat over and over. I have one ds who probably won't like to try many new recipes, but the others will.
I guess I'll just pick one plan and try it. I do like the idea of cooking for 6, because we usually have a leftover night. I suppose if I use Menus4Moms I could practice math by enlarging the recipes.
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Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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Topic: Menus4Moms and Saving Dinner
