Wednesday, May 4

a review and reccomendation.

I do my best to stay organized both mentally and in the physical world of "stuff" but sometimes (a lot of times) it ends in miserable failure. You see, I have an attention span similar to a goldfish's. I'm sure you've had the experience of getting up to go do something, but by the time you get there you have no idea what it was you were trying to accomplish. This happens to me daily, so you can imagine what it's like to watch me browse the internet - I am all over the place! This makes things particularly difficult when trying to plan weekly dinner menus. I start off reading through a recipe and 20 minutes later I'm reading a mommy blogger's life story. It used to be a long, frustrating process involving too much information and indecision.

For a while, Marius put up with this floundering on Saturday mornings before grocery shopping, but soon started insisting that I plan and make my list the day before. I would often forgo the list and attempt to plan meals while perusing the aisles of the market for two hours, which frankly made my husband want to kill me. (Yes, he grocery shops with me - we do everything together!) He has come to despise the produce section, as I used to spend the most time there, inspecting lemons and bags of lettuce, wondering what I would do with them.

I'd say I'm a decent cook, some people say wonderful but I think they exaggerate. However, with this cycle of planning (or lack thereof) I ended up making a lot of the same 'style' of food, a lot of repeats and overall was rather mundane. Then around five months ago, I discovered Relish!

Relish! is a meal planning service that takes the stress out of choosing dinners and composing a grocery list. You get an email every Thursday afternoon with a list of 15 different dinners and sides to choose from. There is a wide variety of recipes which all contain fresh ingredients, simple directions and no more than a 30 minute prep-time. Other options are also offered if you don't like the chosen 15, or if you want something specific like easy gourmet, desert or vegetarian. The best part is choosing the number of servings you need, and then clicking 'create shopping list'. A PDF is created, grouping all ingredients by genre - print and you're done! It's been a lifesaver, mostly for my poor husband but now that we have little Iris, it makes my life so much easier too. They even offer a monthly list of freezer meals so you can cook ahead of time! It has refreshed my style of cooking and has made us all much happier!

Although I love Relish!, my continuous state of grammar editing Nazism has left me disgruntled by minor errors in a few of the recipes. I contacted them and voiced my concern over this, not necessarily just for my own satisfaction but to let the owners know what was going on. They responded by thanking me and requesting that I inform them if it occurs again. A few days later, they asked for my mailing address and promised to send me something. On Monday, a package arrived from Relish!. Inside was the cutest pair of apple green silicone kitchen tongs! Up until now I had been managing with over sized forks or chopsticks as a sad substitute for tongs, so I was pretty excited about this! I've already used them twice while preparing their recipes!

The hint of dissatisfaction I felt has been swept away by their excellent customer service and dedication to satisfying their customers. I would recommended them to anyone, and often do! If you're having the trouble I did with planning meals or you simply want something new and exciting, head over to Relish!, it's only $7 a month and I promise it's worth it! Thanks Relish!!

1 comment:

  1. Omg this is fantastic. I was wondering how I was going to manage doing that sort of thing later on. x_x

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