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eMeals: Gluten-Free Meal Planning Made Easy

Disclosure: I am a member of the eMeals Blogger Network which includes a one year subscription to eMeals. This post also includes affiliate links. As always, all opinions are 100% my own and always strive to share brands and products that I believe can greatly benefit this community! 

Cooking has never been my forte but when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease in 2010, a lot of my best recipes had to go out the window. My lack of kitchen creativity paired with the overwhelming health challenges of the last six months meant my kitchen has pretty much been out of order save an occasional slow cooker dinner every now and then.

I know that meal planning is not only healthier for my family but is better for our budget which of course is a major concern when dealing with disability. When you plan out your meals for the week and make one trip to the grocery store for meal items, you can plan your shopping around sales and cut down on all the “extras” that somehow appear in your cart every time you make your way to the check out. When I attempted gluten-free meal planning on my own, I felt like I was using the same handful of recipes every week and that was if we even cooked at all. I definitely needed to find something new for the sake of our health (and our wallets).

When I visited Type A Conference in September, I was introduced to eMeals!

eMeals is an awesome service that allows you to create meals plans based on your eating style (such as gluten-free, vegetarian, or even slow cooker!), family size, and even your favorite place to shop for groceries! After signing up, you will receive an email with your seven day meal plan filled with simple yet creative recipes that include a main dish and sides. Not only does the email include all seven recipes but it also includes a shopping list with everything that you need customized for store you selected! To make it even better, the meal plan is coordinated with weekly sales at select stores!

Could it be any easier?!


Gluten-Free-Meal-Planning

 

Now that I am beginning to get my life back and I am excited to dust off my kitchen and put it to good use specially for the holidays right around the corner! I will definitely be sharing about my favorites along the way! The only thing I have noticed so far that I would tweak about the meal plans is the ability to select foods your family does not eat or other food allergies outside of the main meal plan categories. With having Celiac, I choose the gluten-free meal plans but I do not have the option to state that we don’t eat seafood or mushrooms or that I am allergic to nuts. In the grand scheme of things, I consider this a minor problem and within a couple weeks of receiving meal plans, I have many recipes in my arsenal that I am able to swap out for recipes included in the weekly meal plan that may not suit my family’s taste buds!

If you struggle in the kitchen like me (please tell me I’m not the only uncreative cook out there!) or want to start meal planning to keep your family (and budget) healthy, I definitely recommend checking out eMeals! Dinner plans start at $10 per month for 3 months or $58 for the whole year which brings the monthly cost down to $5!!! You can also get a jump on Black Friday/Cyber Monday and save 30% using promo code CYBER which makes eMeals deals even sweeter!


Meal-Planning-Cyber-Sale

If you plan on spending more time in the kitchen this holiday season, where will you be finding your recipes? Family hand-me-downs, your favorite cookbooks, or trying something new (and finally putting your Pinterest boards to use) after finding a recipe online?

 

Disclosure: I am a member of the eMeals Blogger Network which includes a one year subscription to eMeals. This post also includes affiliate links. As always, all opinions are 100% my own and always strive to share brands and products that I believe can greatly benefit this community! 

family

Gluten-Free Recipe Round up for Super Bowl!

Who else is hosting or attending a Super Bowl party? We always have a big party for our youth and this is the first year I’ll be attending as a celiac so I’m looking for gluten-free AND yummy options to take so here are some goodies that I have come across:

GF Sausage Cheese BallsSausage Cheese Balls

GF Mexican DipFive-Layer Mexican Dip

Ultimate GF Chicken TendersUltimate Chicken Tenders

Easy Monster Cookies

Easy Monster Cookies

All of these recipes (and images) can be found at Live Gluten Freely which is not only a great resource for recipes but also for products and coupons!

What is on your Super Bowl menu?

just for fun

My Favorite Things: January Edition

This month I thought I would focus on my favorite gluten-free foods! Since being diagnosed with Celiac last May, it has really been a game of trial and error to find out which foods/brands work best for me! Right after I was diagnosed, I saw a GF dietitian at the urging of my GI doc and I am so glad I did as she really helped me discover brands of gluten-free products as well as merchants that I probably would have never found before!  So here is a rundown of my favs:

Sandwich Bread: Udi’s White Sandwich Bread
Cereal: Cinnamon Chex. Coco Pebbles when I’m wanting a kids cereal
Other Breakfast Food: Kinnickinick Donuts
Meal Bar: Zone Bar in Peanut Caramel Cluster (not all Zone Bars are gluten-free)
Pasta: DeBole’s Rice Pasta
Pizza crust: Ceba All-Purpose Mix
Dessert mixes: King Arthur mixes -the cookie mix is good but the chocolate cake mix is to die for!
Restuarant: Outback has a great GF menu! Fatz Cafe is a close 2nd!
Online retailer: Kinnickinick.com
Website for GF recipes: LiveGlutenFreely.com
Website for GF info: Celiac.org
GF Blog: The Baking Beauties