Meal planning success!

My first week doing The Fresh 20 was a total success!!! I loved it. I loved not having to think about dinners and not having to go to the grocery store even once (well once for coffee). But seriously, it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders not having to think about what we would have for dinner. The biggest surprise from the week was that my entire family ate vegetarian all week (we signed up for the veg plan) and that the kids ATE ALL THE MEALS!!! It was like an adventure we were all part of. I prepared foods I have never prepared and even eaten and we were all part of this little food adventure team. Eating new foods together was fun. We all discovered that parsnips and portabella mushrooms are delicious and are excited to try more foods. All of the dinners were jam packed with veggies and felt very balanced. I liked it so much we signed up a 3 month subscription. I look forward to more healthy meals in my future without even thinking about it.

The Fresh 20 Night #1

So I heard about this meal planning service from my sister whose friend has been on it for many months now and really loves it. She claims that they have really started saving money on groceries, wasting less, and looking and feeling healthier. I looked it up and immediately became intrigued. It looks quite simply like the answer to my "I'm so sick of figuring out what is for dinner" prayers. And it looks pretty darn healthy and right on track with my wanting to eliminate as many processed foods as possible. Plus now with the addition of our Vitamix, anything seems possible. I know, I know, we are crazy. So before I commit to it fully, I decided to sign up for the free week and do it exactly as they plan it out and make my decision at the end of the week. I picked the vegetarian option as we eat mainly veggie in our household and the classic plan was way too meat heavy for us. Plus, I feel as a vegetarian (mostly) I need to venture out and prepare and eat more foods at home that I would never consider (parsnips). We need to break out of the stir-fry, pasta, pizza rut we are in. And it is 2014, a new year, why not?!?! So I gave it a go. I printed my week off, headed to the store on Sunday and got my week full of dinner ingredients.

Night #1 - Lemon, thyme, potato pancakes with homemade applesauce and plain greek yogurt, with sauteed brussel sprouts. It was easy to prepare, made from scratch and pretty darn good. I'm already ready to sign up for 3 months. I loved not having to think about what was for dinner, and it felt really balanced and healthy. The ingredients and flavors went together perfectly. And it was something I would never ever think about making. Miles ate the brussel sprouts and Tim cleaned his plate and had seconds. We also had some pancakes left over for lunch today.

Fresh 20 Meal #1