Manic: Meal planning that is healthy, economical, organized and tasty all in one during our busy week!
Managed: Meal Garden! I am thrilled to find Meal Garden, a meal planning tool that is online, simple to work with, very organized and enables me to find nutritious recipes with one click. I also receive a shopping list that accounts for what I already have on hand and then easy step-by-step instructions on how to prepare meals that my family enjoys!
And I get a succinct yet complete nutritional breakdown of these recipes provided by Meal Garden so I know what I am putting into our bodies. I especially love this part of the membership.
I tried Meal Garden this week and I am hooked and I recommend this service to my readers. When I logged on the Meal Garden site, I saw this….
I was intrigued! So here is how my first week went trying Meal Garden. Since we are out a lot this week, I didn’t select meals for every day, but the days that I did went well.
Step 1 – I signed up for the 30 day free trial here.
Step 2 – Then I followed the super simple instructions which scheduled my selected meals. I was very impressed with Meal Garden’s extensive recipe book. Lots of great options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and healthy choice snacks, too.
Once I decided on my selections, I placed them in my Meal Garden weekly meal calendar that looks like this…
I took this picture right off of my computer page, so it is a little faded, but I wanted my readers to see it how I see it because it is so awesome and easy to use! So here I chose three meals (two dinners and one breakfast) for this week. I am looking forward to a less busy week so I can choose more home cooked meals!
Scheduling meals is so easy and cool because I could specify which ingredients I desired and how long I wanted the prep time to be. I requested a chicken recipe that would take no longer than 15 minutes prep time. Within seconds, Meal Garden brought up a yummy recipe for Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken. As you can see in my calendar above, I also chose an oatmeal recipe and chicken noodle soup.
Then Meal Garden quickly organized my grocery list. A handy list was provided with a check box option to check off the ingredients that I already have on hand. So here is my final list with the items I already have hidden for a quick and easy shopping trip. Love this! 
Thank you Meal Garden because I get annoyed when I buy food that I already have both for cost and storage reasons.
I love the breakfast recipe that is delish and healthy since it is a homemade delight called Apple Banana Peanut Butter Honey Oatmeal. 
Now this is one way to get my family to eat their oatmeal! Such good fiber and a great way to start the day.
And made from scratch Chicken Noodle Soup is always a good choice. 
And to round out my first week trying Meal Garden, I went back to my Meal Garden site schedule to add a super simple recipe for Chocolate Covered Strawberries. 
My family loves me for that one!
Step 3 – I printed out my grocery list (or it can be read at the store from my tablet or smart phone) and off to the store I went. Meal Garden organizes the list by grocery aisle so shopping was a snap and much quicker since I arrived so organized thanks to Meal Garden. And I didn’t overspend since I had already checked off what I have on hand, again thanks to Meal Garden’s prompts to do so. I stuck to my organized meal plan and didn’t impulse buy which saved me money and unneeded calories…as well as unhealthy temptations, too!
I LOVE this about Meal Garden!
Step 4 – Time to cook! To make the scrumptious Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken I followed the simple recipe directions that were provided by Meal Garden. The sauce looks so good already! Some of the fabulous ingredients include blackberry jam, garlic, soy sauce and more and you can get this recipe at Meal Garden, too! 
It already looks delish in the crock pot and it hasn’t even cooked yet! 
I was so excited to try this and it was ready in only 4 1/2 hours. And I could go about my day while this recipe cooked and that was very helpful since I had a plumber coming and my daughter’s doctor appointment later that day. So how did it turn out?
So yummy! I served it over brown rice and my family loved it. And it makes great leftovers, too!
I am super excited to try more recipes next week!
Meal Garden also has a file that enables me to store my favorite recipes in an online recipe book. So with one quick click, I added my faves to my new recipe book. I will be adding the chicken recipe today since writing this article reminded me to do so. I am able to go back and add to my recipe book at any time. 
Such a great and helpful idea!
Meal Garden has made my job of brainstorming, planning, shopping and preparing healthy and tasty family meals SO much easier.
Definitely give this a try as they have a free 30 day trial right here. Give it a go and you will be more organized which means that you will have more free time, too. Plus feeling organized reduces stress and you will be giving your family and yourself home cooked nutritious meals. I just love this concept and I love Meal Garden!
