I have to say that with a busy family that is running off to an activity almost every night our biggest stress… or I should say my biggest stress is around grocery shopping, meal planning and getting healthy nutritious food on the table every night. That may seem like a big commitment but I have a plan, sometimes we hit it and sometimes we don’t… however, if you fail to plan you plan to fail.

When the 3 Muskateers were younger this whole part of my life was easier, we weren’t on the go so much and the kids were actually home at mealtime. Now with a teen and pre-teen and one who thinks he is 30 something I have my work cut out for me.

As someone who loves routine and structure  I am always looking for tools to help me save time, money and reduce stress. Here is my latest find… a new Meal Planning Tool… oh and the story of how I found it… I love telling stories.

This Tuesday while on twitter and participating in gno (girls night out) I had the pleasure of meeting Dawn from @mealplanningmom. She DM’d me and said ” Treat yourself to a free week of recipes @menufortheweek.com”.  I quickly made my way to her website http://www.menufortheweek.com/ to find a solution to the meal issues in my home. I have always worked from a menu so this concept is not new for us but really… I am so bored with our menu’s. Variety is the spice of life and I am looking for variety. Dawn is also sharing time saving money saving secrets. She boasts that the meal plan for a family of 4 will cost on average $12 per meal… I am excited about that alone!

Family Meal Time

My plan for next week is to follow the free meal plan provided and see how that works with our budget, dietary needs (we have a peanut allergy and a dairy allergy.

I hope you all find this site useful and I would love for you to report back on your findings.