This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and eMeals all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #eMealstotheresuce http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.
Tonight for dinner we had Chicken spaghetti. This is something that feels so obvious that I don’t understand how in my 30 years I have never had it. It was delicious! The kids loved it, we loved it.
We have been making spaghetti with squash and zucchini or with beef, never both, and we certainly never thought to add chicken. What a fantastic combination and so kid friendly too.
Ingredients:
30 oz package chicken breasts
16 oz angel hair
23 oz spaghetti sauce
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
1. Cover chicken with water in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Cook for 20 minutes; drain, cool and shred.
3. Cook pasta as directed. In the meantime, heat spaghetti sauce in large saucepan.
4. Slice zucchini and squash length-wise once; cut in slices.
5. Add vegetables to sauce and simmer until vegetables are just tender-crisp.
6. Fold cooked chicken into heated sauce; serve over hot pasta.
7. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.
Then mix it all together and enjoy!
We served ours alongside salad and garlic bread.
So as the title suggests, there are two parts to this post. The Chicken Spaghetti recipe and meal planning. So now–onto the latter.
Being a grown up sucks sometimes. It just does. I was actually standing in the aisle at Target dropping upwards of $70 on paper towel, toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc. complaining to my friend about being a grown up. How exhausting it is to worry about dinner and laundry and everyone being where they need to be and spending money on lame stuff instead of fun stuff. I was saying something about how it makes me miss the days when my parents did the grocery shopping, made the dinners, did the laundry and spent their money on boring stuff like paper towels. I asked her if she thought this feeling would ever go away and the lady shopping in the aisle said, “No! I’m 50 and I still feel the same way”.
Somehow my parents seemed so much better equipped to do what I am doing now. Often I feel like I am drowning and I certainly never saw my parents that way as a kid. I suppose mine probably don’t either.
The stress of being a one income family, trying to stay on a budget, nixing our eating out habit & trying to drop weight, while being a stay-at-home mom to a 7-month-old, 2-year-old and 5-year-old kind of had me wanting to dive face first into a brownie sundae or go on a shopping spree. Neither of which were going to help me.
So when a campaign came around for eMeals* (*affiliate link–simply meaning I get credit if you end up loving them like I do) I knew I had to have it. HAD TO! Someone else was going to plan a budget friendly meal plan that meets my family’s dietary needs. JUST TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO!?
I.will.do.anything
I am so excited about eMeals*. I feel like so much stress has been taken off of my shoulders. A few weeks back we sat down and budgeted and then we went grocery shopping. Then over half our grocery budget was blown and we still had the rest of the month to get through. It was clear that we needed help.
We are just getting started on our eMeals* plan. We signed up right before the holidays, didn’t need to go grocery shopping right away and then we had 3 Thanksgivings. You can choose whatever meal plan suites you. There are thirteen different meal plans to choose from. Everything from crock-pot, to paleo, to vegetarian, to gluten-free, clean eating, low calorie… I think you get the point. We went with the good old classic family plan.
You can do it all on your smart phone.
You can see in the first screen that there are always two weeks listed. The current week as well as the previous week.
Once you pick a week it will give you your menu. If you click on a dinner it will give you the ingredients, recipe, side dish, etc. You can skip meals if they aren’t your cup of tea.
Down in the bottom left corner you will see the shopping list. It is has everything you need for every meal for the week, listed by category. Could this make shopping any easier?!
At the bottom of your shopping list will be pantry staples. You also will notice that they give you an approximate cost for your groceries. No guess work, no blown budgets, no wasted food. I love it!
When we went shopping we started by going through and checking off everything we already had. That way we could save our money by not buying doubles.
The above recipe was an eMeals* recipe. It was delicious! They planned everything from the salad, to the garlic bread to the main course. I’m brand new to this, so I definitely will keep you updated. So far I am in love. It saved me time, money and a giant headache! If you are like me and feel overwhelmed by menu planning and budgeting, I highly recommend at least looking over eMeals
*. Use the code RESCUE to save 35% off a 1 year subscription. Offer expires December 15, 2013
You can learn more by checking out emeals website, and be sure to find them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
So now I have to know–What is your least favorite grown up task? Bills? Laundry? Grocery shopping? Budgeting? Car pool? Do tell!
This is a sponsored post and contains affiliate links. All opinions are 100% mine
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