Has anyone ordered menus/recipes from "Saving Dinner"? x-posted in MP

[1babysmom]

Just wondering if anyone has ordered the freezer meal menu/recipes from SavingDinner.com? I have some PP money that I was considering using on a recipe pack. I'm just burnt out with meal planning and grocery budgeting lately and so I figured since my PP money has really nothing to do with my bank account (all from stuff I've sold), I wouldn't feel like I was "spending" by purchasing it. But anyway, I have some questions for anyone who's ordered from them....

Do you find that they save you money, overall? Also, are the variations (she says they include them) enough that you can make the same thing a few times and not feel like you're really repeating a meal?

[tamagotchi]

It isn't exactly the same as Saving Dinner, but we subscribe to the Cooking TF menu mailer (by MDC mama krankedyann) and we like it a lot.
http://www.cookingtf.com/mailer.html

[jennlyn]

I would recommend that you first look at the free recipes she has on the site and you can check Saving Dinner out of the library to see if these are the kinds of recipes your family will like. As for freezer meals, the easiest thing to do is make double of something you like and freeze the extra portions. I have yet to see any kind of menu made up by someone else that suits my needs exactly. An easy way to menu plan is make a master list of the dishes your family eats, by category. Fish, beef, chicken, pasta, casseroles, meatless- etc. Write down every recipe you make in these categories that is a winner. Print out a calendar from incompetech.com. Pick out which category you want to eat from each day of the week, chicken on Mon. and Thurs. fish on Friday, pasta on Sat. Write that on top of your days of the week. Go through the category lists you've made and pick a recipe for each day. Do it for a week, month or however often you shop. I do this monthly and it is such a relief to not worry about what to make and I save money on groceries by buying what I need to make the meals. When I plan, I first check what is in the freezer and pantry that needs to be used. I stock up on items that I use regularly when they go on sale. I don't think I personally would save money by trying to use someone else's meal plans.

[RetroGeekGirl]

I got a year's subscription to the Body Clutter menu mailer, and found it to be a waste of $30. It took a lot of changes and substitutions to make the menu and shopping list into things we would actually eat, and for the amount of work that took, I could have just started a menu from scratch.

[1babysmom]

Originally Posted by jennlyn

I would recommend that you first look at the free recipes she has on the site and you can check Saving Dinner out of the library to see if these are the kinds of recipes your family will like. As for freezer meals, the easiest thing to do is make double of something you like and freeze the extra portions. I have yet to see any kind of menu made up by someone else that suits my needs exactly. An easy way to menu plan is make a master list of the dishes your family eats, by category. Fish, beef, chicken, pasta, casseroles, meatless- etc. Write down every recipe you make in these categories that is a winner. Print out a calendar from incompetech.com. Pick out which category you want to eat from each day of the week, chicken on Mon. and Thurs. fish on Friday, pasta on Sat. Write that on top of your days of the week. Go through the category lists you've made and pick a recipe for each day. Do it for a week, month or however often you shop. I do this monthly and it is such a relief to not worry about what to make and I save money on groceries by buying what I need to make the meals. When I plan, I first check what is in the freezer and pantry that needs to be used. I stock up on items that I use regularly when they go on sale. I don't think I personally would save money by trying to use someone else's meal plans.

I've done meal planning like that off and on a lot but it never really works for us with DH's schedule, and that's why it's just wearing me out anymore, trying to always make adjustments.

The reason I liked the look of her freezer meals is just how she preassembles them and that kind of thing. Simpler than I would ever do it on my own, even if I tried (sometimes I just prefer to do what someone else has started, since I'm a perfectionist and it's a relief to not have to make something perfect on my own, KWIM?).

[annethcz]

I subscribed several years ago (long before they had freezer menus available as an option). I used the lists religiously for a month, and I found that I spent more money because the recipes were fancier and required more ingredients than the meals I usually cooked. We really liked about half of the meals, the other half were so-so, not something that I would make again.

I subscribed for 6 months I think, and in the end I ended up just printing out all of the recipes to use how and when I wanted to. I didn't find the meal planning to be helpful enough to continue the service. Doing my own meal planning is easier- I can choose meals that we like, that are easy to prepare and that use ingredients that we have easily available.

Have you tried the sample menus on the website? Using a couple of different samples for a few weeks should give you an idea about whether you would actually use and like a paid subscription.

[1babysmom]

Originally Posted by annethcz

Have you tried the sample menus on the website? Using a couple of different samples for a few weeks should give you an idea about whether you would actually use and like a paid subscription.

She only offers one sample freezer menu, but I really like the sound of some of the other meals.

[polyhymnia]

I relaly want something like this, not for freezer meals necessarily but just to plan my menus and make the shopping list. I hate doing this. I worry about being balanced and varied, and having the right things on hand, and trying to "use up" ingredients, etc.

But I don't eat seafood, DP doesn't eat pork, and we try to eat naturally too. I have never found one that works for me

[1babysmom]

Originally Posted by crayolaab

I hate doing this. I worry about being balanced and varied, and having the right things on hand, and trying to "use up" ingredients, etc.

Exactly! That just tops off my frustration!

[carfreemama]

I did the frugal menu mailer last year. I did not like the meals. I like to cook too much, I think, and I found the whole thing too rigid. Also, too much pasta and plain meat. I switched to the regular one, and the meals were okay; but I just missed my own food too much. I'd like to try the one mentioned by an MDC mom, though; I'll bet her food tastes are closer to my own. I WANTED to like it, and as long as we were willing to eat the food, I think it did save us money. There was not enough variation, in my experience. That was one of the worst aspects.

[miss_sonja]

I really like the menu-mailer. The kids like most of the meals, as do DH and I. I get the Regular menu mailer, which seems to have one beef, one fish, one chicken, one pork and one veg meal per week. I usually avoid the pork chop recipes because I can't cook them right no matter how I try.

I like it because it makes the week easy. I have tried menu planning myself and I just don't do it well--it's frustrating and takes a lot of time. The Menu-mailer has gotten us to try new dishes, and it's just so easy.

For those who felt it was too expensive, well, I don't follow it exactly. For example, if she calls for flank steak and flank steak is $10 a pound, I just substitute another cut of meat that's more reasonably priced. Once you have basic veg (onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes) on hand, and if you watch the sales for meats/chicken/fish to keep in the freezer, it gets really quite inexpensive. We spend LESS because I do less impulse and last minute shopping when we use menu-mailer.

She has sample menus of all the different ones up on the site. Try them out, and see what you think.

As for the Freezer menus, they're great! The $3 I spent for a Five frmo the Freezer menu was well worth it. Everyone liked all the meals, the directions were easy to follow, and it really did only take about an hour to do the prep for all five meals. Cheap too. I would buy more of those next time there's some extra in the budget.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by tamagotchi

It isn't exactly the same as Saving Dinner, but we subscribe to the Cooking TF menu mailer (by MDC mama krankedyann) and we like it a lot.
http://www.cookingtf.com/mailer.html

This looks good, but we don't have any of those stores nearby. Maybe if I can find alternative sites I can stock up. I'm going to try a week. Hope dh won't mind me experimenting on him again.:

[1babysmom]

Originally Posted by Emmeline II

This looks good, but we don't have any of those stores nearby. Maybe if I can find alternative sites I can stock up. I'm going to try a week. Hope dh won't mind me experimenting on him again.:

May I ask where you found the stores at? That might be something I need to look at before I consider going with that site.

[rebeccalizzie]

I bought one of the freezer mega mailers and I loved it. I ended up buying all three of them. Some of the recipes were things I wasn't too sure of, but of those almost all were yummy! We aren't super picky though--the only things we won't eat are green peppers so I just left those out. You can sub chicken breasts for the turkey or pork meals if you don't like one of those. I loved that there wasn't "cream of crap" soup or any processed stuff at all in the recipes, they were all reasonably healthy and very tasty. And I spent around $150 for a month of dinners, which I thought perfectly reasonable. I went to two grocery stores and found almost all the meats I needed on sale at one or the other of them. It isn't THE most frugal thing since she uses fish and non-cheap meats for some of the recipes, but I didn't think it was expensive at all.

Honestly, I'm a good cook and a good planner, and putting all that together was just beyond me. I didn't know where to start. Now I pretty much do the same thing using Recipezaar's recipes, menu, and shopping list feature, but I really liked having it all laid out for me, and it was fun trying a bunch of new recipes.

I say go for it. They aren't expensive and IMO they are worth it.

[knittinkittin]

I love that book!

Yay! I love the Saving Dinner book! I credit it with helping me "get it together" as far as meal planning etc. I agree with other people that not all the meals are the best and definatly not our favorites...but, the concept is wonderful. I'm not a person that can just figure that out on my own (I know it's a simple concept but I can be kind of dense when it comes to organization etc.. Anyway, I've never ordered dinners from the website or anything though. Good luck!

[Mom2Joseph]

This works for us

While couponing was a waste of time and money for us, the Low Carb freezer MM works for us. I can find most of the meats on sale and had almost everything else in my pantry. It is gluten free (a few recipes call for a Tbs. of flour, I just substitute GF flour) and I add my own veggies and sides.

My DH and DD love it as it means there is meat or fish every night. I love it because it is so cheap for us.

I can't tell you how much money this has saved us. The freezer MM lasted us almost 2 months as we have dinner with my folks and then MIL once a week.

I absolutely love it!!!

[kdabbler]

I hear you about being burnt out. BTDT.

I have both her Saving Dinner book and I also subscribed. I did save money because I was buying without a plan or any idea as to what I was cooking for the week - I overbought and would throw food away. The book was awesome in helping me develop a habit of creating a menu and then develop a shopping list from it.

The recipes online can be had for 4 servings and ??? servings. Her book is for 6. My family consists of 2 adults and 2 toddlers. Using the book, I would only make maybe 4 of the meals in her book for the week as there was more than enough for lunch time left overs and a night or two of raid the refrigerator dinners.

I subscribed to the Low-carb mailer for dh (trying to do his Atkins again. I personally didn't care for her low-carb recipes that much but did find them to be rather creative.

Keep in mind that by subscribing, you're still printing out menus, shopping lists and recipes onto paper. If you're trying to be frugal or green, you'll still be "spending" paper. So unless your computer is in your kitchen, you'll be running back and forth for the recipes and such.

For my lifestyle, the book worked great. It might also be a better savings on your PP too instead of subscribing electronically.

Another online menu mailer to look at: http://6oclockscramble.com/ I've heard good things about it and will give it a try next time I'm in a cooking rut.

[polyhymnia]

What is this Menu Mailer that people like? Where do I find it?

[tamagotchi]

crayolaab: this is the one I like, by MDC mama krankedyann
http://www.cookingtf.com/mailer.html
(I know I posted this before but maybe you missed it )

[Jecca]

I found it cost me more becuas ei didnt have many of the ingredients in my cupboards already but it did creat good habis.
I used the book