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The Best $5 I Spend Each Month

 

 Are you looking for an easy way to:  catalog recipes online, create a meal plan, generate a shopping list, share recipes with friends, and be more efficient?  Plan to Eat might just be the tool for you.

A word, however, before I continue: 

Do you get a bit irritated when you read a blog and you know they are pushing a product or service just because they have received the product for free -- or because there may be some kind of affiliate payout?  

 

How much trust can you REALLY put in a blog that is there solely for money making purposes?   

In seeking advertisers for my blog I have ALWAYS used the product well before they were brought on as advertisers.  I believe in every single sponsor, and wouldn't recommend the product to you if I didn't.  (This is also why I have just a few sponsors - I am picky.) 

Such is the case with Plan To Eat...  I have been a dedicated Plan to Eat user for the past six months.   Each week I would add recipes to my online calendar, print an automatically generated shopping list, and away to the store I would go.  I would share my recipes, tweet and Facebook about how great it was, and I even encouraged a few friends to join with me.   I signed up for a year subscription and use it faithfully EVERY.SINGLE.WEEK.  

So you see -- I didn't receive this product for free - I'm just a happy customer that has formed a relationship with a company, that then turned into a bit more:  


I'm so pleased to not only share Plan To Eat as a tool for organizing your recipes and grocery shopping, but also to introduce them to you as my latest sponsor!  

Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

If you get to know the story behind this company, you will love them even more.   Long story short - a homeschooling family with a dream to make people's lives easier.

It has lightened my load IMMENSELY.  Are you looking for an easy way to:  catalog recipes online, create a meal plan, generate a shopping list, share recipes with friends, and be more efficient?  Plan to Eat might just be the tool for you.

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Let me walk you through how I use Plan To Eat to give you a better idea of how it works:

 

  • When I am browsing recipes online, I save them to my Plan To Eat Account (see screenshot below).   I have easily installed a bookmarklet in my web browser where I can  add recipes to PTE.   (works nearly the same way Pinterest does!)  I can also manually add recipes that are in my own personal collection.

  • Once a week I make a menu for the week.  (I don't plan every single meal, nor do I plan the nights we will be having leftovers or something out of the freezer.)  I can easily drag recipes from my recipes onto the planner.   I can also see my friends' recipes and share those.

  • Once my meals are planned, my shopping list is AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED!  This is my favorite part!!   Plan to Eat detects the ingredients I will need and adds them to my list.  I can modify and add to this list, too.   Items are grouped into categories, so it's easy to check them off as I shop.   Another great feature is my "pantry" -- I have yet to list everything in my pantry on Plan to Eat, but if I did, it wouldn't duplicate items on my shopping list that I already had at home.  

 

 My shopping list:  I always put it
on a clipboard and my seven year old 
checks off the items as we go!

 

 

 

 

  • I can share recipes with other friends on Plan To Eat.  I currently have three friends that use Plan To Eat.  I can see their recipe books and know what they are feeding their families - this helps when I'm just not feeling that creative with menu planning!  
  • I have the ability to sort recipes by ingredients, courses, etc...  - this is nice when searching for something in particular.   

 

 One of the best things about Plan to Eat is that you can have a free thirty day trial... you don't have to offer any credit card information - just simply try it and see if you aren't impressed as I was.   If you sign up after that time, it is $4.99/month or $39/year.

If you decide to give Plan to Eat a try, please let me know and we can be friends and share recipes!   

Just to give you a little teaser - I've linked you to some of my favorite recipes in my Plan to Eat account: