Perfect Pocket Meal Planning System

It’s Monday morning and I’m walking the kids home from school when they utter those dreaded words: Mom, what’s for dinner?

pocketMealPlan-review The question is pretty harmless; the problem of course is I don’t have an answer. Menu planning has never been my strong point; sometimes it just seems easier to wing it. However, I have found winging it tends to lead to a lot of repetitive meals (yup, pasta again) or take-out.

In the hopes of changing this I gave Pocket Full of Posies’ Perfect Pocket Meal Planning System a try. Created by busy moms Emily and Cammie, the meal planning system was designed as a way to keep grocery shopping on budget while eliminating the headache of meal planning.

Their Monthly Pocket Package arrived in the mail and consisted of a magnetic monthly recipe holder (4 pockets), recipe package 1 & 2 consisting of 40 recipes in total, 8 ingredient lists and quick instructions on how to get started.

I actually went through their tutorial video that does a great job explaining how the system works. It really is easy:

So to get started I picked out my 4 weeks of meals. Each recipe is already organized within a week behind an ingredient card that sits in front. I slotted each week into it’s own pocket. You don’t have to choose your recipes by their ingredient grouping; you can choose your week’s menu solely on the recipes. This just means you won’t have a weekly ingredient list.

The advantage of having the already printed ingredient list (when you organize your recipes by ingredient list versus individual recipes), is that it makes grocery list building a breeze; all the items you need for the 5 meals that week are printed on the ingredient card. All you need to do is add your other staples (or leave out things you may already have in your cupboards). I love the idea of the ingredient list however it didn’t indicate quantities for some items: do I need 1 cup of chicken broth or 2 cups? Is that a 48 oz or 26 oz can of tomato soup? I found I had to refer back to the original recipe to put my list together.

The recipes are varied though I found them very chicken heavy, which wasn’t too bad since my kids love chicken. The recipes were easy to follow which is great for someone like me who isn’t the greatest cook and more importantly the family, including kids, loved everything I’ve made so far.

I now know Monday morning what the meals for the week are and can quickly put a list together. If my kids want to know what’s for dinner I can answer them no problem or better yet, they can check the menu planner themselves. I must admit I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy a system it is to follow and how less chaotic dinner time has become. I never realized what a difference menu planning could make.

Beyond the 4 weeks of recipes that came with my initial package, you can order individual weekly recipe packages too. They also have diet recipe packs and a freezer/crock pot dinner pack. They do offer custom weekly and monthly packs based on formatting your own recipes to work with their pocket system.

* Product was provided for the purpose of this review

GIVEAWAY!

The lovely ladies at Pocket full of Posies have offered one (1) EverythingMom member their own monthly pocket package system, just like the one we reviewed. To enter visit their site and let us know which monthly pocket package you would like to try (package 1 with recipes pack 1 & 2 or package 2 with recipe pack 3 & 4)

This contest is only open to EverythingMom members. Not a member? It’s quick and easy to join. Contest is open to Canadian and US residents and ends April 29, 2010. One (1) EverythingMom member will be randomly chosen after that.

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About the Author

Managing Partner and Editor-in-Chief at one of the best social networking and lifestyle sites for moms, EverythingMom.com. Trying to balance life at home with my 3 kids (all under 8), while building my business, working at EverythingMom.com and developing my writing. Oh and throw a load of laundry in and a dinner that isn't burnt. Wasn't working from home suppose to be easier?

Posted by Carrie Anne in household product reviews on April 15, 2010

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Comments

0 # 52scrap 2010-04-15 15:16

This is so cool! I think package two looks good for us! Thanks for the chance to win!!

Perfect Pocket Meal Planning System