Cooking at Home

This post is sponsored by Gathered Table, but all content and opinions are all my own and my honest thoughts.  FYI, Gathered table is no longer in business — but there are plenty of similar meal plan services out there!

Do you ever not have enough money?  Do you not have enough time to meal plan?  Do you get tired of eating the same things night after night?  Is it easy to plan a main dish, but are the side dishes more than you can muster?

I have had each of these problems.  I often feel like the month is much longer than the checkbook.  Meal planning, while not difficult, just takes time.  Things to think of — and then I look at all these recipes we’ve had time and time again.  I often plan main dishes, and then I hap-hazardly go about the side dishes (think lettuce and bottled dressing).

Gathered Table is a great new meal planning site.  I was prepared to have some bulky programming and recipe that  I had seen before.

I’m happy to say that it’s fresh & easy and that goes for the website AND the food.

The first night I tried Slow Cooker Beef Shwarma.  Seriously, is there anything better than seeing slow cooker when you pick a recipe?  I just dump the roast, a few spices, oil and lemon juice and turn it on.  Slow Cooker for the win!

The second night I made a Croque Monsieur with roasted veggies on the side.  My kids thought the sandwich was OK but the veggies were gone in a matter of minutes (and it is likely I wouldn’t have tried roasted veggies on my own)

{these are real meals, cooked by me as I helped with homework and yelled at kids to stop wrestling, they are do-able!}

Each week they give you a new menu based on your requests.  I don’t have them give me a menu on Thursdays or Satrudays because I work on Thursdays (Drew usually makes friend rice for the kids) and on Saturdays we often have leftovers or go out.  Here’s our first week after I made a few edits (I worked the Monday of this week as well — and it is super easy to drag and drop the recipes around or even add your OWN family favorites into the week).

You can even pick if you’re living Paleo, gluten free, vegetarian or other dietary restrictions, and you can browse their database and add them to your own library!

The part that I liked the most really surprised me!  They created a grocery list, then I could just mark off the stuff that we already have and then I EMAILED IT TO MY HUSBAND and he grabbed the stuff!

Seriously, I was looking at a week that was likely to ruin me, and that lightened my load by like 500% — I was amazed at what the app took off my mind.  The grocery list was so specific about what he needed he got just what we needed (people, this is a dream come true for me).

The recipes aren’t difficult, but they do tell you exactly how much time it will take (and I found those to be pretty accurate — not like Rachel Ray who can cook a meal that would take me 90 minutes, in 30), how much money it is likely to cost (just a basic, $, $$ or $$$) and even what season it’s great for!

They even re-write the directions to make them super simple and easy for the home chef.  It was great to do it with my kids because they are learning to follow recipes (and sometimes the recipes are so hard to figure out because they are written oddly).

Anyway, the app makes it really easy to share grocery lists as well as go through recipes together and find things everyone enjoys!  This YouTube video describes it even more!

Gathered Table is challenging the home chef to cook at home for 14 days straight (#homemade14).  I think we all know that eating at home saves time (as much as we’d like to fool ourselves that a restaurant is faster, it likely is not), money and it’s healthier!  (Customers participating in the #homemade14 campaign are encouraged to share a picture of their meal everyday on social media. Posts will be entered to win a free year of Gathered Table!)

Gathered Table donates 1% of profits to Edible Schoolyards Project – www.edibleschoolyard.org and they are offering 40% off a year’s subscription when you purchase through my link.  BUT, it’s free to try, not even a credit card needed.  SO, you have nothing to lose, just click on through and see what catches your fancy.  I’m sure you’ll love their clean design and flexibility, I know I did!

Thanks to Find Your Influence and Gathered Table for sponsoring this post.