Making the Food Planning Easier

I spend most of my time in the kitchen,or thinking about what I need to be doing next in the kitchen.  We also have some pretty intense dietary restrictions and allergies (no gluten, soy, potato, starchy tubers, no fish or shellfish, no cactus family, no eating grains and fruit together, etc. and more), so I basically have to make everything from scratch, even our condiments and basic ingredients.  For a family of six the needs meals and snacks and for them to be well rotated and nutritionally wealthy this is no small task. In fact, it's an amazingly large task. We eat a Weston Price, primal/paleo style diet that is altered and tailored to our needs.


When I heard about the idea of someone else doing the meal planning, including the grocery list, I was sceptically excited. Could this possibly work for us? Could I alter it to meet our tastes and needs? Oh, yes! (conclusion at bottom)

I had to find out, so I tried three different ones:

 

Cooking Traditional Foods Menu Mailer 


















Grain Free Meal Plans 












Paleo Plan










I can honestly say I recommend them all, but for different reasons.
--The one from Cooking Traditional Foods is just awesome! and has a smart gal who runs it and is happy to help you out and help you figure out substitutions if you need them.  I learned a lot about cooking methods and techniques from that one that I use everyday like soaking grains, making bone broth, and good substitutions to use. 
--The Grain Free one had lots of yummy foods in it, but it didn't quite work with my family's preferences and eating style. Ah well, had to try another.
--The Paleo Plan is really working for us! Our food allergies are easy to avoid in this one, the shopping list is laid out with indications for which meal each item is for so it's easy to go through and know exactly what I am and am not getting, and it's laid out super easy to follow.  Of course, I still incorporate many things not in it like raw dairy, organ meats, and bone broths to keep up on our dietary needs.  The portions are generous, and buy buying 1.5 times the recommended amount in the shopping lists, I end up with plenty for everyone.  


Here's the awesome part:  I save a ridiculous amount of time and money doing this. I expect I have at least six more hours in my week, a lot less brain power and worrying about what is today's meal/s and what I need to do to prep for it, and now we spend almost $50 less on groceries, and what we do get is efficiently used up. That means it isn't taking up shelf or refrigerator space, and I'm not throwing out unused rotten stuff later.  Getting a menu mailer planner has really made my job as a homemaker easier.  A lot easier.  Sanity seems a less distant now.