Do you ever have those moments in the morning or middle of the day (or even right before dinner should be served) when you just can’t get yourself to feel inspired in the kitchen? You’re sick of the old stand-by recipes and you just don’t have the time or energy to seek out something new and interesting — so you end up going out to dinner, picking up some fast food or ordering in, which usually costs a small fortune and often isn’t all that healthy for you.

But what if you knew there was a way to feel more inspired about what you’re putting on the table, you’d never have to search for new meals again, dinner could be mad quickly and you could even save money doing it? You could sit down after cooking a great meal and actually be able to concentrate on enjoying the meal with your family and connecting with each other? What if I told you, that could all be a reality for a mere $5 a month?

Today I’d like to introduce a service I not only think is brilliant but that also has some really fantastic recipes in the repertoire!

E-Mealz began in 2003 when a mother of four, Jane DeLaney, began setting out to fill a need in her own life and the lives of others. Her daily schedule was packed and she’d made several attempts at meal planning, but nothing ever really stuck (and anyone who’s tried meal planning knows it’s not all that easy). She really wanted something that not only provided recipes that were healthy and delicious (and which her kids would eat) but that also would not cost a fortune. The ideal service would also take advantage of coupons, local specials at grocery chains and include a complete shopping list for the week. And from that, E-Mealz was born.

Jane and her sister, Jenny, run E-Mealz together and have found that parents fall into two categories:

1. Those who did not grow up with family dinnertime and therefore don’t have a vision for what it can be, or
2. Those who did grow up with family dinnertime, but since current lifestyles are so busy and fragmented, struggle to duplicate their childhood experience and pull it off for their own families.

And although Stefan and I often eat together, I rarely have dinner on the table when he gets home just because it’s not all that convenient. Mackenzie goes to bed at about the time that he walks in the door, so we don’t eat until she’s already in bed. But on the weekends, we do our best to eat as a family for almost all of our meals, just because it’s so much more enjoyable, especially as Mack gets older.

Why Use E-Mealz

One of the things I really like about their program is not only that the recipes are well thought out and easy, or even that they have a complete shopping list broken down to include what section of the store the items are coming from and what staples you probably have on your list. What I love is the number of different sorts of plans they have.

There are gluten free, vegetarian and portion control options…and the one I really love is low carb. When Stefan and I started our low carb diet a couple months ago (which we have been off for a bit but hope to get back on sometime soon since we’d definitely noticing the carb peaks again), I was really struggling to find recipes that were suitable for the meals. The E-Mealz recipes in the low carb meal plan option not only sound great, but they fit into that diet with very little tweaking which I was fairly impressed about.

Now if only they’ve offer some breakfast and lunch options too… not that you can’t have a lot of these for lunch as well. It’s just that when you’re eating every4 hours like we were doing on the 4-Hour Body, you get a bit stumped with what to eat from time to time.

Find out what sort of meal plans they offer that will fit your family’s lifestyle and download a free sample meal plan.

Join the Family Fun

September 25th has been declared National Family Day in the United States — and E-Mealz is celebrating their second Family Celebration Week, from September 26- 30. Whether you are a single parent, a roommate, or a family of five, this week is about celebrating those bonds with your own family, whatever structure or size it may take on.

The theme this year is “Proud to Be a Family”, and E-Mealz has crafted many free activities and clever ways to bring your family closer.  So join in as they travel through creative family dinners and snacks, fun-filled activities and enjoy strengthening the bonds with the ones you love the most.  Building family and community is a priority of the E-Mealz family and they pride themselves on encouraging families all across the country to come together and strengthen bonds while enjoying the one thing we all have in common…food.

Your upcoming chance to win!

I’m proud to have E-Mealz as one of the sponsors of the Refueling Power Moms giveaway, October 6-10. Two lucky winners (one in the US and one in Europe) will get the chance to enjoy a 3-month subscription to E-Mealz for free! Be sure to follow me on Facebook, via the RSS feed, email (use the forms on the right sidebar) or Twitter so you don’t miss out on the great prize packages, worth over $700!!