I’ve posted recently about food intolerances with my youngest daughter, specifically gluten. When I was navigating the transition into a gluten (and at the time dairy) free diet, I wandered into paleo. It was the easiest solution to being gluten and dairy-free. What wasn’t so easy? Navigating the endless pins and online recipes to find food that was easy, enjoyable, and delicious. I felt like I spent hours wandering websites and rifling through cookbook pages trying to see something I wanted to cook. As someone raised on a very conventional American diet, it was definitely an education on healthier eating! Most of what I had prepared in the past relied on cans and boxes and pre-packaged foods. I know one of our favorite dinner staples was canned chicken mixed with cream of mushroom soup placed inside a crescent roll with shredded cheese and baked, then topped with some bottled ranch dressing. My cooking range has come so far since then!
And how? Well, friends of mine had mentioned this new meal-planning service called Cooksmarts. A meal plan of four dinners is released each week, and you have the option of choosing between four settings: original, gluten-free, vegetarian, and paleo. It was like the heavens parted and I found that worry-free, easy solution I had been hoping for!
Sample meals with free trial include: mano dijon panko crusted salmon, turkey meatball lettuce cups, adobo honey chicken kebabs, stir fried udon noodles
With a single click, every new recipe was set to paleo. I didn’t have to sift through ingredients anymore. Every week I discovered some new dish to cook, and I was endlessly impressed with how good everything tasted! I learned about shakshuka, how to make my own spring rolls and peanut sauce (CRAZY easy!), every cuisine from Chinese to Ethiopian to Thai. It was so much fun! Plus I could browse through the archives and add extra meals to prepare for lunch, and there were even some great breakfast options on there.
Soon enough I was cooking nearly every dinner at home, and I found myself taking the kids out to eat less and less. I even started upping the serving sizes so I could cook in larger amounts to freeze in single portions for times I was too tired to cook and too lazy to go anywhere. And with the service costing only $6-8 each month (depending on how long you sign up for, a whole year is a bit cheaper per month than a month-to-month subscription, for example) it was extremely affordable and offered me more meal options. One of the other benefits is that the service is designed with meal “dependencies” that use ingredients from one dish to make another, so that you don’t end up with food waste in the end. As someone who strives to live waste-free, that’s a huge bonus!
Now that we’re no longer gluten-free, I’ve switched the default over to vegetarian. In my early days of pregnancy I had a pretty extreme meat aversion, and it’s continued on into my second trimester. I’m finding out that it’s saving me considerable money to go meat-free, and I’m feeling full and energized, so I figured I would just keep going with it. It was so easy for me to make the switch just by changing my default food option and learning about all the delicious ways to cook with a plant based diet.
It’s been a very fun adventure, and my ob is totally on board with it. It’s a bit strange to think that not long ago I was raising my own chickens for meat, and now I can’t even stand to look at them! I gave all the processed birds away to friends and neighbors because every time I opened my freezer I would get sick to my stomach. Now I’m enjoying lentils and split peas and more hummus than I ever thought possible. And with all the amazingly delicious recipes I have at my fingertips, I’m eating just as satisfyingly as I did while paleo! If you’d like to test it out, they offer a 3 day meal plan free trial. So hop on over if you’re interested in learning more!
Have you found a cooking subscription or service that you really love?
*this isn’t a sponsored post, I just really love this service and love to tell people about it!*
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
This sounds awesome, I’m totally going to try it out, thanks!
hostess / cantaloupe / 6486 posts
I’ve been using prep dish this month and really really love it! I had a code so I’ve been using the entire month for free. It comes with a shopping list for 4 dinners, breakfast, a salad and dessert. She includes a shopping list and instructions for meal prep (2 hours or less). She only has gluten free and paleo options though. Ive really been enjoying it and nearly all meals are a hit which is rare in my household.
pear / 1998 posts
I really love this type of service. For me, meal planning is so time consuming and I’m always drawn to the more unhealthy recipes (think pasta, cheese, heavy cream, etc) when I choose them myself. We’ve used The Fresh 20 for the past several years and my cooking skills have come such a long way and, like you mentioned, we’ve widened my palate so much!
apricot / 256 posts
This makes me SOOOO happy! I have been a cooksmarts subscriber and enthusiast for over 3 years!! Our home has never felt more organized and productive. It helps me get great, healthy meals on the table in minimal time, while staying on budget and reducing our waste!
apricot / 298 posts
We use the Fresh 20 for meal planning, and love it – it sounds very similar to what you have here!
grapefruit / 4089 posts
This is awesome! I am not at all creative in the kitchen, and it can be a struggle to come up with new vegetarian dishes that my meat-eating husband will enjoy. Definitely going to try this service!
eggplant / 11408 posts
Wow, I love that they have all of those options! I’m doing Whole30 now, but I do intend to do some Paleo when we finish. I’m going to have to check this out!