Friday, May 2, 2008

Grab Bag Friday: The Six O'Clock Scramble

I've always said that if I won the lottery, the one thing I might splurge on would be a private chef. I can't stand to plan meals. I'm not a great cook (though I can *bake* like nobody's business!) and Kevin and I only have a few standard meals:
Coming up with a unique meal plan for the week and figuring out what ingredients we would need is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

So recently, we've been trying out The Six O'Clock Scramble. It's an online program that plans out your meals for the week and spits out a grocery list to match. We tested a couple similar programs first, but settled on The Scramble because the meals were both tastier and healthier.

Here's the deal:

You pay $1 a week. You have to pay upfront for a year, but if you don't like it within 30 days you can get your money back.

You can choose how many meals you need for a week, and this takes a little experimenting. We've found that for 2 of us, taking leftovers into account, 3 or 4 meals gets us through a whole week.

You can swap out meals you don't like. Kevin hates fish, so anytime there's a seafood meal, we choose "Custom Menu" and search through the database to pick something else.

So far so good. I love not having to think about what I'm going to make for dinner tonight. The grocery list isn't perfect (it may list things twice if you need it in 2 recipies, so you just have to be vigilant), but it still saves a ton of time. We've had a couple meals we weren't crazy about, but overwhelmingly, they've been delicious. And they've added a *huge* amount of variety to our diet.

Here are just a few of the hits we've had in the last month:
  • Southwestern Cobb Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing
  • Barbeque Meatloaf
  • Polenta Mozzarella Melt with Roasted Red Peppers
  • Peanut Beef Skewers
  • Fried Rice with Tofu and Snap Peas
  • Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad with Salami)
I can't believe I actually made these things. And seriously. They were easy.

So I'd say The Scramble is worth a shot. I'm certainly enjoying dinnertime a whole lot more. :)

3 comments:

Kate said...

This is a great idea! It's refreshing to realize that you too prefer popcorn for dinner over actually planning, shopping and cooking.

rmj said...

What time is Din-din?

Papa Bob

Josephine Cameron said...

:) It's true. Popcorn and smoothies is one of my favorite dinners.

And Bob...wish you could just pop by for dinner. We'll save a really good one to make for you next time we're in sunny CA!