Product Review: Menu-Mailer, Frugal Edition

What are some of the most dreaded words around 5:00 p.m.? "Mom, what's for dinner?" If your response is to say or think "I have no idea!", then Menu-Mailer might be for you.

Menu-Mailer is an online meal-planning subscription program created by Certified Nutritional Consultant Leanne Ely to help busy folks plan dinners, eat well, and even save money. Leanne works closely with home organization and time management guru Marla Cilley (the Fly Lady).

Leanne produces 12 different editions of her Menu-Mailers, each of which contains 5-6 complete dinner ideas, with recipes and a shopping list for the week. The editions include a regular plan as well as low carb, frugal, crock pot, vegetarian, heart healthy and Body Clutter plans.

Free sample editions are available on her website (http://www.savingdinner.com). I printed out the Frugal Menu-Mailer sample to try with my family. It includes 6 dinner recipes (one night is reserved for leftovers). Recipes included Asian Roll-Ups, Lentil Stew, Mexican Burgers, Pork with Pears, Broccoli Ham Rotini, and Poulet Bonne Femme.

The dishes were all tasty, and for the most part, the whole family enjoyed them. Mexican Burgers turned out too spicy for some! Broccoli Ham Rotini was so good that we actually saved the recipe and have fixed it again (it's basically a homemade macaroni and cheese, but with the rotini instead of macaroni).

The recipes were also easy enough to fix on a normal weeknight. However, we only have normal weeknights about half the time -- so I actually used these recipes over a two week period, filling in with pizza from Papa Murphys, scrambled eggs, and bean burritos on other nights. Ely's crock pot menu might be good for busy nights, but that would require me to get the meal into the crock pot in the morning, which doesn't really work for me either.

As far as being frugal, I spent just over $100 on the groceries for the week (including items for breakfast, lunch and snacks, which aren't part of the menu-mailer). This is pretty good for a family of 5, but I actually do better normally -- $80 for the week. I tend to shop super-frugally, and stock the pantry with the same items week to week.

Altogether, it was a good menu, but it didn't inspire me to subscribe to the weekly Menu-Mailer, which costs $9.95 for 3 months, 17.95 for 6 months, or 29.95 for 12 months.

If you're busy, need help, and normally spend more than $100 per week on groceries, this might be helpful to you, and the menus are definitely good to eat.