As most people, Pete and I have been trying to find a way to save money on our monthly food bill, however, each month we fail miserably. No matter what we do, we still seem to go over our allotted amount. This month we tried a whole new concept, prepared food from SIMPLY HOMEMADE.

Over spring break we had a play date with a little girl from school that went a little later than expected. It was a great play date, however, I felt bad that her Mom wasn't going to have enough time to get dinner ready before Dad came home. She assured me it wasn't a problem because her meal was already prepared, all she had to do is cook it! She took a plastic bag out labeled with her meal and explained she goes to a place called Simply Homemade. I was so excited about this and asked if she had a menu or information I could take home for Pete. She explained this meal system works out great for a couple of reasons...1. She always has food prepared for meals & knows what she is serving and 2. She goes to the store less, therefore, she spends less money. I liked both ideas, however, trying to convince Pete was going to be another story. When I got that evening I showed Pete the menu and he thought the food sounded really good and liked the idea of knowing a month at time what would be having. I also explained how my friend goes to the store less, therefore less money spent & easier to keep a budget. He was sold!

My friend and I went last week and what an experience. Not only did I have a good time preparing the food, but, an even better time catching up with my friend. All of the food was fresh and such good quality. Not to mention the store was EXTREMELY clean...this is a huge must for me with food. This is probably one reason why I can't get my grocery bill under control, if it's not clean...I won't shop there! We have a lot of options where I live, however, some places I just cannot get past the messy shelves or dirty floors. Needless to say, my only options are the pricey places. Anyway, the preparation was simple and easy. They had stations with all of your ingredients and directions how to prepare each meal. All you do is follow the directions and add ingredients into supplied Ziploc bags. You can split most meals and some meals are already assembled. Each meal comes with a side and you grab that and toss into the freezer and move onto the next station. It was so easy!

We cooked our first meal last Wed, Baked Potato Soup, and it was yummy. Even the girls tried it and that says a lot. Gabriella tries almost nothing, so for her this was huge. When Pete got home, he loved it! We had tons left, so we tossed it in the freezer for a future meal. Each meal serves 6 people, so our plans are to have Pete take the left overs for lunch. This will save on money he spends on lunch,which runs from $35-$50 a week, not to mention this will be a much healthier option. Yesterday we had the Glazed Pork Medallions for lunch and ate the left overs for dinner. They where so good and so easy to make. We had a delicious, healthy meal for lunch and dinner that only took 20 minutes.

So far so good, today we are having Pretzel Crusted Chicken with baked potatoes. Hopefully, it will be as yummy as the last two. If you want to check out their website, I put the link on the side. Just click their picture.

Yum!