If You Don’t Plan to Eat, You Plan to Fail {GIVEAWAY-NOW CLOSED}

You just plan to get hungry.

Or plan to go out.

What???

You’d never plan to be hungry at dinnertime?

If you don’t plan a meal, you might as well be. Real food takes real planning and preparation.

Like Tiffany said so bluntly on Monday when she challenged all of you to renew your commitment to meal planning, "I firmly believe that without meal planning, a person could easily temporarily lose their sanity."

You know why?

‘Cause they’d be hungry – or worse, malnourished from eating food that is handed to a person through a car window (I think Michael Pollan included that in his Food Rules – Real food does not come through car windows).

If you’re like me, at least half of your recipes (getting on toward 80-90% lately, I think!) are on the computer – in your email from a friend, in a Word document, or in an eBook – and/or online. Harness that availability and flexibility and do your meal planning online, too.

I’ve also talked many times about Plan to Eat and the great meal planning software/system they offer. Here are the greatest perks, in my opinion:

Easily organize your own recipes Can tag recipes so you can quickly see your own “fast meals” “chicken main dishes” “meatless meals” “family favorites” or whatever. The system is what you make it! Recipe sharing with other friends Adding a recipe to your meal plan automatically adds it to the shopping list, which cross-references your pantry supplies. Seriously! Many people say they save money because they don’t waste as much food, plus save time in the grocery store because their list is so organized! QUICK drag and drop system to move meals from day to day as your meal plan shifts to accommodate real life You can save and reuse meal plans quickly – great for the crazy busy times when you can hardly think “Eat from pantry” button ensures that you can find one of your own recipes that won’t force a trip to the store if you can’t get there for a few days And the BEST part now is the (relatively) new KS group on PTE – simply by clicking on that link, you’re in, with access to over 16,000 32,000 recipes (holy cow!), all from KS readers. That means when you need a new recipe to use up your spinach, or celeriac, or just a new way to prepare beef, you don’t have to sift through the whole Internet. You can find real food recipes from people who prioritize eating well, just like you do. I was just browsing "breakfast" to get the top photo for this post, and I got a little distracted around the "bacon" section and then realized I was already in the 300s and only at "baked oatmeal." It’s awesome! Refreshing to see words like sourdough, Paleo, soaked, etc. on the recipes. Also something cool – I haven’t shared this little tidbit yet, but next week when Better Than a Box launches, there will be a invitation included to view all the recipes, already uploaded into PTE. I love it!

But don’t take my word for it – check out Plan to Eat and read the testimonials from others, and better yet, try it for yourself! PTE offers a free 30-day trial membership, so play around with the system, test its power and capabilities, and see if it will work for you. Use the code KitchenSteward for 30% off through March 31st when you’re ready to start your subscription. The hardest part is getting recipes in there, but with the KS group, you don’t have to worry!

Even better yet than the better yet: You can win one of two one-year subscriptions to Plan To Eat here today! ($39 value)

 

Giveaways at Kitchen Stewardship are run via rafflecopter, which means comments on this post do not count (and will be deleted). In the long run, this is quicker for you if you go for extra entries.

There are 8 possible entries! Here’s what you can do to win:

*Mandatory entry: What’s your biggest motivation to actually stay on top of meal planning? How could an online menu planner like Plan to Eat help you? (remember to answer in the survey) Subscribe in a reader or via email to Kitchen Stewardship (or tell me if you already do). Subscribe to Plan To Eat’s blog. Tell me if you “Like” Kitchen Stewardship on Facebook. Tell me if you "Like" Plan to Eat on Facebook. Follow @kitchenstew on Twitter. Follow @plantoeat on Twitter. Tweet this: With @plantoeat I choose my own recipes, but meal planning will be a snap (hope I win a year from @kitchenstew)!
[ENTER URL HERE]

Remember, comments here DO NOT COUNT. You must use the survey form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I will use Rafflecopter’s integer generator to choose the winner, who will be announced on the blog and will receive an email.  The giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere!  Entries will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday, January 21 and I’ll post the winners later that week.

If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

Disclosure:  I received products for my review at no charge, which of course did not affect my opinion in the least. Giveaways are paid advertising and a great thing for my readers, so I’m happy to include it separately from the review. See my full advertising disclosure here.

Official rules and small print stuff: 1) No purchase necessary to win 2) must be 13 or older to enter and have a mailing address within the sponsor’s boundaries (see above) 3) only one survey entry per person 4) odds of winning depend on number of entries 5) employees of Kitchen Stewardship, LLC or sponsoring company not eligible for participation 6) contest sponsored by Plan to Eat 7) prizes must be accepted as is and are not redeemable for cash 8 ) Kitchen Stewardship, LLC and sponsoring company are not liable for any injury or damage to persons and/or things as a result of the acceptance of the prize offered. 9) This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

View the original article here