You’ve joined a community of family cooks who have reclaimed their time and brain space to focus on the more important things in life.
Every Wednesday, you'll receive a meal plan for the following week. This will give you plenty of time to align meals to your upcoming schedule, get groceries, and even prep the coming week's meals over the weekend, if you like.
We have a few suggestions as you get started:
Rearrange meal ideas to best fit your week's schedule. Most of our recipe guides take 30 minutes or less. Occasionally, recipes take an hour+ (think Manicotti), and those are always scheduled for the weekend. But we don't know your plans, so move things to make the quickest meals on your busiest days.
Unless you feel especially motivated to try a new recipe, use your own. These are versions your family already enjoys, and making a familiar recipe will likely save you time. In case you don't have a tried and true recipe for a meal on the list, we provide recipe guides for every meal we suggest. That way, you never have to search for one.
Preparing a new recipe always take a little extra time. Plan for that. We'll work through a rotation of recipes and some are variations on a master recipe, so you'll quickly become familiar with the recipes in the plan.
Consider your family's ages and appetites. Most of our recipes are designed to make 4 typical servings. But if you have a toddler, you may have leftovers for lunch. If you have a teenager or an athlete, you may need to double the recipe or add additional sides. You know your family best.
Are two sides too many? Pick the one you like the best.
Involve your family. As you sit to eat a new dish, ask, "How could I make this better?" and note their feedback. Ultimately, you want to prepare food that is tailored to your family's own, individual tastes. Invite them to be part of the process!
When you do tweak a recipe, we'd love for you to share your variation with the rest of the community! Please add your changes to the cooking notes on our website.
Finally, don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions or suggestions. We'd love to hear from you!
So that's it. We've done the thinking so you can prepare a wide variety of family-friendly home-cooked meals any time you want--without the brain drain that comes with menu planning.
Now--go do something fun!