PSA - 5 Dinners in One Hour

itsmevkb

There is a web site called 5dinners1hour which provides recipes that can be assembled in one hour on the weekend and then stashed in the frig for dinners during the week.  I haven't actully tried any of the recipes yet but have read over some of them and they seem easy, even though I'm assuming the one hour thing may not completely hold up (by the time I get everything out, assemble the meals and clean up.)

Just thought I'd share this as a resource for people looking for quick, easy meals that can be partially made ahead of time.

groovygrl

Very interesting...just an fyi to others, it costs $, $15 every 3 months which is probably a steal but for me, to not have any idea what I'm getting for that $ is a turnoff although she has a sample menu you can get emailed I guess...

kmm2150

I just had the free ones emailed to me (one regular and one all freezer meals) - they are pretty simple, but sound yummy and it lays everything out for you - all the groceries and all the utensils an supplies you need, so you get everything out and ready to go and do all your prep at once and then each night you just have to throw something in the oven or crock pot, and prep a side dish (salad, or zap some veggies, or whatever). I think we might use something like this, we've used emeals.com and that's also good - gives you a shopping list and menu for the week with fairly simple meals. It's also really good about using up ingredients in multiple recipes, like things that you buy for one recipe but don't use the whole package.

I love to cook, but am not good at planning out a menu and shopping list for the week, so I find things like this helpful. I have visions of one day cooking delcious, creative and interesting meals but for now freezer-friendly black bean enchiladas and pulled pork in the crock pot is about all I can handle.

groovygrl

I will have to check out the free ones !I love the concept also (and the grocery lists, I hate meal plannign also), I just have found that whenever I start delving into sites like, only like 20% of the meals appeal to me b/c they seem to be a lot of slow cooker recipes or heavy on the fats/processed foods (like cream of whatever soups in everything, etc, which I can do on occasion but not weekly) which then seems to defeat the purpose...

If anyone has used it, would love to hear what kind of food/recipes it typically includes?

itsmevkb

groovygrl:

Very interesting...just an fyi to others, it costs $, $15 every 3 months which is probably a steal but for me, to not have any idea what I'm getting for that $ is a turnoff although she has a sample menu you can get emailed I guess...

Sorry, I forgot that it costs money as I believe I used a groupon or something like that to get it pretty cheap for a while.

I have a few of the plans saved if anyone wants to see more than just the one free one they will send you.

As for the processed food thing, yea, it uses those but I have seen another service which I think is called the Fresh 20 which gives you weekly meal plans with recipes that don't use any processed or frozen ingredients and you can get gluten free and vegetarian plans as well. 

kmm2150

So, haven't used it yet but I got two free menus sent - one is all freezer-friendly meals and one is just regular. On the freezer meals one, two recipes are for the crock pot, and on the regular only one is for the crock pot. I only saw one recipe that called for use of a can of soup, everything else looks pretty fresh, or using salad dressing for a marinade, easy things like that.

Of course, the 'sample' menus tend to usually be the best of the best!  Then once you subscribe, they end up all being gross.

shouldbworkin

There's also a link to one with lunches.  Cute ideas.  I prep my kids snacks a week an advance like she does lunches, but I try to use washable containers.  I may buy more containers now!

shouldbworkin

FYI - she has a clean eating menu plan for $7.50.