Whitney tried the subscription newsletter a few months ago and deemed it unworkable for her situation, so when I said I was giving myself the four-week challenge to get my dinner (and life) back on track with the The Six O’Clock Scramble, she wished me well and got out of my way.
Basically, I fell in love with the Scramble. Let me count the ways… I liked:
- having all my meals planned (without hurting my brain and feeling too neurotic)
- doing a week’s shopping in one go (or sometimes a second mini run to pick up fresh meat)
- putting different foods on the table with such little effort (meatball subs, taco salad, fancy-encrusted fish…)
You can read more about my optimistic first week and my battle-scarred fourth week on our blog. Aside from the author’s apparent affinity for cilantro and pork, it was just all good.
If you’re not ready to commit, I can suggest the newsletter to you. What you get is an emailed PDF that tells you what you’ll be making for five dinners each week. The cost is $4.95 for a month, and the email comes out on Wednesday. Of course, you will save more than $4.95 each month by having more leftovers and less take-out. (I spend $6-$10 at lunch every day at work. Not good.)
The cookbook and the newsletter both use a printable PDF shopping list, organized by area of the grocery store.
The menus are authored by a mother of two and are aimed at families with children who eat normal dinners. I kinda alternated between reducing the quantities of the meals and just making big dinners. Alec and I tend to eat a lot. Now that we’re in “maintenance mode”, we skim the week for stuff we think we’ll like, cross off what we don’t, and sub in our old favorites… oh where have you been all month chicken parm?!
Another option for a similar service is savingdinner.com, recommended by rookie mom, Amy.
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