Category Archive

meal planning

Blue Apron review

A Blue Apron review from someone who already cooks a ton

Yep, you may have already seen a previous Blue Apron review on this site before, by our illustrious developer, Kellbot. Her review wasn’t glowing (irritating, things took forever to make, etc.), but my pals sent me over some of those freebie vouchers and I was like, ehhhh why not, it’s free food. I’ll give it a go, knowing that it may be a bust. I already spend a good chunk of time cooking from scratch, so taking some of the meal planning away seems like it might actually save me some time. Here’s how it went…

English Peas from Blue Apron

I tried Blue Apron… and hated it

Last week I tried out CookSmarts meal planning. This week I tried Blue Apron, a meal-kit service that provides ready-to-cook recipes and ingredients. I knew Blue Apron would come out more expensive, since most of what they’re selling is convenience, but really thought the meals would taste better. Here was my experience…

A week’s worth of Megan-simple chicken and rice dishes with different flavors to satisfy picky eaters

I am a picky person… I don’t like to eat the same meal more than once a week. I need meals for only one person. I don’t like to cook unless I can be eating in 20 minutes or less (preferably much less). But there is hope! I have made a huge (well, to my non-chef-self anyway) list of recipes that help satisfy all of these things. As an added benefit, most of these can be considered at least somewhat healthy and very Megan-simple

Living with and loving a picky eater

I really value being able to plan meals and cook at home with and for each other. It saves money, it’s healthier, and I feel like it strengthens our connection. However, it can be frustrating trying to figure out dinner each week with a picky eater. So, here are some tips and tricks I’ve learned on living with and loving a picky eater. (Note, this is primarily for adult picky eaters. I’ve never had to feed a child picky eater… yet!)

4 go-to meals for healthy eating on a shoestring budget

Sometimes it can be really hard to eat healthy, tasty food when money is a bit tight. So I thought I might share some of my four favourite cheap and healthy meals that can be made in advance. Anyone else got any great ideas for cheap meals?

The 8 restaurant-inspired secrets to making meals without making leftovers

In all honesty, there is no way to make four nights of chili seem like anything other than four nights of chili. I get the appeal in making a big batch of food and having it there for you for the rest of the week, but if you aren’t consuming it, that’s money down the drain. If you aren’t enjoying it, then what’s the point? Homemade fridge/freezer meals are a great alternative to frozen pizza, don’t get me wrong, but after years of working in restaurants, and watching empty plates turn into meals in 15 minutes or so, cooking a meal for yourself really doesn’t seem so hard. All you need to do is take the time you have been spending making one big meal, and spend it being your own prep cook! Here’s how…

How do you make leftovers feel less leftover-y?

While I’m totally fine with eating the same thing every night, my partner kind of turns up his nose at leftovers. He says he’s bored by the same meal the next day. I want to stop buying so much takeout food and frozen food a la Megan’s frozen pizzas. Got any tricks for mixing your leftovers up MORE without making tons more work?

Baskets! The final missing piece in my quest for a simple home-cooked meal plan

I had a “baskets!” moment about … baskets. A while ago I mapped out a basic cooking roster for my partner and myself, based on our schedules. Then I got thinking about how I’m going to make sure we actually use all these ingredients so I don’t have to scrape them out of the vege drawer in a month’s time. Also how to make this easy for us both…