GIVEAWAY: 6-months of Say Mmm Plus
My husband is that engineer-type that will drive a creative-type like myself crazy with all his "planning" and "organization" and "effectiveness." Ugh, his ability to get a job done is so annoying. A perfect example: about 4 years ago in the bliss of newlywed-dom, he suggested that we make a list of all the meals we like to eat in a little notebook and then every week plan meals for each day and shop for what we need. I started to sweat, how could I commit to tacos for Friday night a week in advance? What if Friday came and I wanted lasagna? But I took a leap of faith and guess what? He was right. He usually (annoyingly) is. Meal planning will change your life. It will save you money. And if you want lasagna, or something that you've planned for another day, guess what, you have all of the ingredients because you've already shopped for them. Amazing. Have you tried meal planning in your house? Want to?
Brian Hutchins from Say Mmm has taken the concept of meal planning to the next level.
He says: After seeing my wife stress one too many times over planning dinner, I left Google to make a set of tools that would help all parents. Say Mmm helps parents save time and money with a set of simple online tools for planning meals, creating grocery lists, and organizing recipes and ideas from anywhere in one place. It also has some free tools for bloggers to use on their sites.
I'm not kidding, meal planning is life changing. And taking my little notebook to the next level by adding tools like shopping lists & recipe organization and making it all available on my iphone, which I already (sometimes) have with me? Genius. So who's in?
You can go ahead and sign up for the free version here, which gives you meal planning, shopping list and recipe organization features.
Or take a look at the premium service, Say Mmm Plus, for added features like price tracking, calorie counting, and unlimited recipe organization.
This video shows how it all works:
And now for the awesome part! Say Mmm is giving away 4 - 6-month Premium Memberships to Prudent Baby readers. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here by Tuesday, May 10th @ midnight. Tell is if you've ever tried meal planning, Did it work for you? Not sure you are up for it? Why not?
Score extra entries by:
1. Liking Say Mmm on facebook (it looks like an awesome cooking/recipe community)
2. Signing up for the free membership of Say Mmm
3. Sharing this giveaway on facebook, twitter, and stumble-upon.
Leave a new comment for each. That's 6 ways to enter. Come back and enter every day! Open worldwide!
Labels: Giveaways
posted by Jacinda @ 1:00 AM
164 Comments:
Oh good grief this might be the life-changing moment that computers were invented for. I have my fingers tightly crossed that I win this one!
I'm a haphazard meal planner - I usually plan a few a week and the rest are last-minute throw-together-whatever-is-in-the-fridge meals. This looks amazing!
I like Say Mmm on FB!
I signed up for the free membership of Say Mmmm!
I do some meal planning now, but just with notes jotted in my Outlook calendar. Also tried Yummy Soup, but it was more about assigning recipes to specific days and didn't allow write-ins like "Order Pizza".
I've tried meal planning, I'm not so good at it, I always get distracted by what I want to eat and end up at the grocery store spending on that stuff :) I would love to try again though I think this site would help a lot
mommypants13@gmail.com
Hmm....I'm supposed to cook??? : )
My son would thank you if I won this giveaway! We've had sandwiches more times than he'd like!
I'd love to try anything that would make supper and shopping less stressful! Please pick me.....no more sandwiches for supper!
I signed up for the free membership.
I'm all for organization in any way shape or form. Left to our own devices, I'd be eating cereal, and he's be eating sandwiches, eggs, and chips every night...thanks for the opportunity.
oh I hope I win this! When we first got married (and were soooo broke) we tried meal planning and it worked great and kept us on budget. Then we didn't need to be so financially strict and we stopped meal planning... Now with a baby it doesn't pay for me to go back to work after paying daycare and so I NEED to go back to meal planning but it's so hard with a babe who likes to tear apart the cookbooks and I seem to have forgotten how to organize myself.
I've been meal planning for years, because I only want to go to the market once a week. And since we have various food issues in the family, I can't just fall back on take out. I use a notebook, and I'm very happy with my Luddite system. :)
Oh girl I know your pain! My husband is an engineer too and keeps lists about everything, like what additions we should make to the house in the next five years lol. Oh well I guess someone has to have a plan!
I have been wanting to plan our meals so badly, but like you I didn't want to feel trapped by it. Good to know about this program!
I signed up for a free membership!
I liked them on facebook, too!
I have tried meal planning. In fact I am back on the meal planning wagon currently. It really helps me to plan out a whole month of meals and do the majority of my grocery shopping in one trip. However, I am constantly changing the method to my madness. One month it is on paper with pencil, the next it is on my Google calendar, and so on. This tool looks like a meal planner's dream!!
I made a tweet!
I liked Say Mmmm on Facebook.
I signed up for a free membership to Say Mmm.
I do a supper swap in the fall and winter - I wonder if this would work well for that! Seems like a great program!
Been doing some meal planning, but my planning has so far been limited to a Post-it. This is awesome!
Also I just signed up for a free membership!
omgsh! i NEED this! Not only could this change my life but it could chsnge my marriage. seriously!!! :) i'm going all out on this one and doing all the avenues of entering! yay!
Hey, great giveaway! Meal planning drives me crazy. My husband tries to get me to be a more efficient purchaser of food and meal planner but... well, I seem to fall down on the job a lot! Would love to have some help like this! Awesome!
I, and my husband, thank you for the chance!
I keep thinking that I should do meal planning, but haven't gotten it together yet. Is there an android version?
I try to meal plan, but I suck at it. Hubby says to only do 3-4 days at a time, that way when I (inevitably) have something come up and we can't eat what's on the menu that night, we aren't throwing that purchased food away. Then the vicious cycle happens when we get through those 3-4 days' worth, and then there's nothing to eat, so we eat out for 3-4 nights before we go grocery shopping again. Plus I forget what I know how to make. Anyone else end up making the same 7 meals over and over? Moral of the story: I'm a craptastic housewife. Help me. jadelovesbrynn (at) yahoo [dot] com
Being that deciding what to have for dinner is one of the few things that my husband and I bicker about AND being that we're desparately in need of some cost-cutting lately, I'm totally into this!
AND I just signed up for the free version!
Ha, my husband has set up an Excel spreadsheet to organise us, but I am so much more of a 'go with the flow' type of girl we never use it. However, no more! This is just what I need, as I counted up what I had spent on groceries just over a few days of droping into the shop to pick up something for dinner. Oh my goodness! Way too many £££££ for a work-from home mum!
Off to download the free version (or maybe I should do some work and earn more £££?).
I made the plan of purchases and all family meal when I was on diet. For some weeks forward. And it was the great help!! I've really grown thin:) But then has again become pregnant.... :))
of course I signed up for free version:)
My husband and I started planning our meals on Sundays for the week, and it has been amazing. Once in a while we don't manage to get it done, which means we end up shopping a couple of times during the week for the one or two things we still need. We find that when we stay on track, we tend to each much more healthy meals, and I am always guaranteed good leftovers for my lunch the following day!
I LOVE meal planning. Taking those extra 30 minutes on Saturday or Sunday saves me hours during the week - no scrambling or having to make last minute stops at the store to buy something we don't have for dinner. Also this way I know that when I come home late the kids will have something decent to eat that I planned out not just something daddy threw together at the last minute (think frozen pizza!!)
I love meal planning, when it works. I could use a site like this to help keep me on track.
I liked Say Mmm on facebook! yay! you would think i would meal plan since i tried it last year for 2 weeks & it made a world of difference! & that was when i only had 1 kid! :)
Living paycheck to paycheck, meal planning is the bomb for not over spending on groceries. We plan 4 "family" meals a week, then 3 "sandwhich" meals a week - meaning fast to prepare meals and it has changed my life in the kitchen. I actually look forward to perusing magazines and cookbooks and online for new recipes to try and I have my own notebook organized to keep up with recipes we love. All of this in one easy place that can make it even easier! Sign me up!
i do dinner meal plans on a piece of paper on my fridge. It would be so much better if it was on my phone so I would know what was going on when I was out!!
That's really neat! I do meal plan, but only a week out. And I've thought of keeping weeks that worked well (the right mix of pasta, grilling, vegetarian, easy) but have never gotten around to it. Reinventing the wheel each week is indeed a chore.
I would love to win this! I am pretty new to meal planning but am working my way towards meal planning monthly and hopefully eventually, when we live in a different country, shop monthly too or at least bi-weekly.
My heart just stopped when I saw this. This is a gift from heaven.
I "like" say Mmmmm on fb
We meal plan every week. I think it actually drives my husband a little bit batty because I want to sit down and figure it out, but in the long run it makes my life SO much easier and he can't complain about that.
and.....boom! signed up for the free version. we'll practice w/ this one...until i'm notified that i'm one of the winners! :)
I *so* need this! With two little ones and too much to do, I'm often standing in the kitchen in the evening wondering what in the world I'm making for dinner. This could be the s.O.S. I need. lol
My sister found this for me. I have been talking to everyone of my friends who seem to have such great shopping and eating meal plans. As a working mom, I have been searching for ways to have things all set to go to make and eat and then enjoy more time with our son. As it is we debate for about a half hours before finding somethign in our "mother hubbard" cabinets to make. Would love to have this tool to help our family. Less fighting for mom and Dad, saving money and more time overall to enjoy life - LOVE it!
i've tried to do some meal planning using e-mealz, but it's so hard to remember to print the menu each week. this seems like a perfect solution for me! WANT!
I have been meal planning a month in advance for about 2 years now. I buy canned/dry ingredients and meat to freeze at the beginning of the month and then go weekly to get fresh ingredients and cereal, which we always seem to be out of. It has saved us a ton of money and I always have stuff on hand to make food.
Meal planning should probably be a must, since we are a family of 8. But I've never found a meal planning sight that was easy to use and worked the way I needed it to.
I liked their FB page. :)
I shared on my FB page (always kind of "don't" want to do that... a good secret is a good secret!).
And now, I'm going to give it a try with their free trial!
I've never successfully meal planned before. I'm about to start another job, so my life is going to get more hectic. I need all the help I can get =)
I liked them on facebook.
I signed up for a free account.
Looks great! I meal plan every meal and for a family of 7 it saves time and money!
Ooooh, pick me! I've been using the free version for a while and looove it!
I liked them on facebook too.
FB fan now!
oh my Husband and I attempt to do meal planning. We do it for a month and then loose steam. I don't know why we can't seem keep up with it. Without a meal plan we come home from the store with random food that sometimes doesn't equal full meals, or is way more food than we can eat and a large portion spoils. I found when we meal plan we can cut our grocery bill by 25%+. I would Love Love Love this membership.
Looks neat, I will have to get the free version. I love it when I have meals planned, since it means I will have all of the ingredients! I usually plan my meals around whatever is on sale :-)
I signed up on SayMMM
Liked it on FB! Great idea!
Signed up for the Free Membership on site. Looks great and can't wait to get in there and play around!
I'd like to try anything that might make our meal-planning process less stressful and more enjoyable!!
Shared on FB!
i also signed up for the free version. thx for the giveaway opportunity!!
I am a virgo. I NEED this. Yes, we have tried meal planning but HAVEN'T FOUN THE RIGHT TOOL. We use "Remember the Milk" to organize shopping and attempt to organize dinners but it's not a perfect fit.
"Liked" 'em on Facebook. Did I mention I am a Virgo and thrive on organization?
The way I do meal planning is pretty simple, I have an empty piece of paper, I fold it in half lengthwise, then in thirds (so I have 6 boxes - Saturday or Sunday is a wing-it day) and then I scour my cookbooks for meals/recipes that look good that we haven't tried yet - and I fill them in each block and also write in the page number of the cookbook On the other side, I have categories like "Veggies & Fruits" "Breads" "Dairy/Frozen" "Canned/Baking", etc. and I list all the ingredients (as I go along) so it's easier for when I go shopping. Now that I've written that out, it doesn't seem "simple!" but definitely effective! :)
Signed up for a free account! WOOOT!
I signed up for the free membership!
I have tried meal planning and failed-- many, many times. Would love to win this service so I could finally be a meal planning success!
I've Tried to meal plan and only got as far as wishing I could be an awesome meal planner. I haven't gotten passed my intimidation of coming in general, not that I'm a bad cook just bit confident
I've definitely loved the times when I menu plan, but then I find myself in a rut and stop planning altogether. I'd love to try this!
Wow! This is pretty cool! I've tried meal planning before (half-heartedly) but having to find different recipes and buy all the new ingredients...it only lasted 3 days! LOL! This site looks so organized it might work for me!!!
Meal planning is really the best! It really makes cooking so much easier because you are not standing in the kitchen stressing over what to make for dinner an hour later. We too have a "notebook" ours is more a piece of paper. On the weeks we actually do it my week seem so much easier. This website seems like a wonderful way to stay organized and encouraged. I'm heading over to sign up now!
My husband had this same idea when we first got married, but I quickly nixed it for all of the same reasons - I don't know what I'm going to want to eat on Friday, or even on Tuesday! But now with two small kids, something like this would be a lifesaver!
I always plan my meals. We only have one car, and I can't stop to pick up groceries every night so meals have to be planned in advance. I love not having to worry each day what I'm going to make for dinner.
I just signed up for the free version.
Very interested to hear how this works. I've tried meal planning like some people try diets. It's such work. Would be interested in anything that makes it easier.
I am a big meal planner (and should be finishing my list right now) and write out my list every week while making a mini meal calendar at the bottom. Provided I do not throw away my list after shopping, it works well for our family and helps us stay on budget. It also helps cut back on the amount of trips during the week (and impulse craving buys). The only thing I struggle with is inspiration and meeting the meal needs of all the ages. This seems like a great tool! Kuddos to husbands that use their brain power to problem solve in the home!!!!
OK as an engineer-type who is married to an engineer-type, we absolutely have been doing meal planning JUST like how you described (even down to the little details of making a list of some of our favorite meals in a little notebook). So, yes, every week we keep a running grocery list to add things like staples/toiletries/home care products that we've just run out of, and then at the end of the week do the meal planning and add those ingredients to the list. It's amazing! One thing we've learned, though, it to NOT plan every single day. We often leave 1 or 2 evenings totally unplanned to account for those nights when we simply may not feel like making what was on the list...it gives us room to shuffle stuff around if need be. However, right now we do all of this planning manually, so it would be quite fun to do it on this site and have it on my iphone!
and I liked them on FB. I'm working on entering our common meals into the website. So far I'm liking it.
OMG... I am so tired of buying the same things to make the same things but trying to put together a shopping list for new recipes is so time consuming and I don't have time that! This could be my answer!! :)
I NEED this! I never know what to make for dinner and I get so tired of all of those last minute shopping trips!
Liked Say Mmm on FB!! Going to go sign up for their free membership. ;)
i've tried it one week. i loved it but it was too hard for me to keep up! online meal planning would be perfect! i'm signing up for their free membership now!
Just signed up for a free membership... so excited to get started!
Share the giveaway on my FB page. :)
I'd love to try this. I've tried meal planning before, but my husband isn't on board and he does the shopping. I think a site like this could make it work for us.
ok, ok.... I signed up for the free meal plan thingy... I sure hope this can help me in my meal of a mess!! I am hopeless!! I've gotten to where I HATE to cook... hubby asks what's for dinner and I look at what the kids are eating (which happens to be a chicken nugget from the freezer) and say whatever you can find that you want! I usually have cereal. It's THAT bad! I used to be good at cooking (pre-children!). Liked to do it. Not sure what happened. Maybe this will help.... stay tuned... :)
well, we haven't *tried* meal planning yet, but we talk about trying it a lot. does that count? would love some help in the moving-forward-on-our-plan department!
Yes, same story being an engineer's wife... I did my list in Excell, ingredient by ingredient, but wow!!! this website is so amazing... thanks for share it with all of us :D (What a thing with these engineers...)
I typically meal plan more when I'm on a weight loss journey than any other time. I do really well about 5 days out of 7 but then something will come up or I will crave something.
Plus side typically saves money, and a daily stress is eliminated from deciding whats for dinner. Negative sometimes I feel trapped to the meal plan and it does take a chunk of time to sit down and plan it all out. I love the idea of the online program it could save alot of time after initial input. Very excited to give it a try!
I NEED this! I'm only good at planning a few days at a time. :)
I signed up on their website. :)
Oh I need this so badly!
OMG, this is what I need! with a new baby and a 2 2/1 yr old, by the time dinner comes around, thinking of what to eat is the last thing on my mind
Meal planning besides standing in front of the fridge with the door open for 27 minutes trying to make someone materialize? Or calling the hubs and asking him to swing by Subway on his way home? Please count me in. Would love the inspiration!
We plan our meals almost every week. It really helps us save money and saves on trips to the grocery store.
what a cool idea.
I do meal planning some of the time- it does help save money, and brain power when I get home from a long day at work!
This looks great! I do meal planning but, I don't always stick to it depending on what I'm in the mood for or how much time I end up having to cook on a particular day. It does always save money in the long run though.
I liked Say Mmm on Facebook!
And of course, I signed up for the free version!
I haven't tried it yet. But I'm willing to give it a shot if it'll save me time and money. Thanks for the tip!
I've been meal planing for a few years now (yes, my dear hubs was the one with the genius idea too) But this would be so much more sleek and efficient than my tattered note book :)
I haven't tried it because I felt like it would be a lot of work, but it has to be less than waiting until 5:00 each day and thinking "What on earth are we going to eat tonight?!?" :)
I've tried it,and I think a family as large as mine would benefit.I never stick with it and usually give up after a month.
Signed up for the free version!
We always meal plan (for like 5 years now), not just to track calories but so we can stay within our budget. I use sparkpeople.com and really like it and this system seems very similar! It feel that once you start meal planning your life becomes so much simpler and you can save money if you cook meat a couple times a week and then use it throughout the next few days. You can also bulk cook which can save you thousands, coupled with coupons and the stores start owing you money :)
Ive liked Say Mmmm on Facebook!!
Ive also signed up! Im all for trying new things, esp if it helps me plan my meals :)
Thanks!
I love meal planning, and I've been bugging my husband who does computer-y type things to make an app like this for my Windows phone! My biggest meal planning pitfall is when I am having One Of Those Weeks and for a couple of days I refuse to cook, so we eat out/take out/order in, and then my fresh ingredients go to waste. I'm trying to be better about that, though.
I've sign up for the free version ...
... and "liked" them on Facebook!
Mmm, just what my caotic life has been looking for. YES!!
Just 'liked' Saymmm on Facebook. :D
Just signed up for a Saymmm
i never thaught all this things can be organized
properly...time & money will not waste anymore...
try to do it manually on a calendar, but never seems to work out.
I really like meal planning! It makes me feel so organized AND well-feed - I know I won't starve!
I've tried meal planning a few times but always back out after a couple of weeks because it seems so tedious and I have so many cookbooks, I have a hard time organizing what we like and what we don't. This would be great.
sassysarahl@hotmail.com
I totally do meal planning, but this really steps it up in a great way. I love that it does categories and stores your recipes and links, creates a shopping list, and I can even check it on my phone. Brilliant!
I signed up for the free membership, but I'd love to win the premium! I have a lot of recipes to store...
OMG I NEEEEED this! lol I have 3 kids under 3 so I barely have time to cook let alone plan what I am cooking ahead of time. I am going to go get the free version now!
I still have yet to conquer those freezer meals. I am going to check this out. Maybe this can be easy.
Taking the challenge, just signed up for the free membership.
Wait, my husband is an engineer but is a horrible planner! He actually gets annoyed by my planning...I'm jealous! I meal plan, but would love a tool that gives me meal inspiration. With kids it's hard for me to think far enough in advance to know what we are doing tomorrow, much less what we should eat!
yes! i meal planned for one week and i will never forget how easy is was! i loved it...just need to make the time to do it again.
i signed up for the free membership, too!
We are obsessive meal planners! I save all my scraps of paper from my work, and use the backs to make up a menu and a shopping list. It's a little sad-looking, but the recycling and the planning make me feel very virtuous.
This is all a mom thing for me - I NEVER planned meals before I was working full time and momming full time.
I go through phases of meal planning. Currently off the wagon now, but needing to get back into the swing of things :-)
I try to meal plan, but usually life gets in the way and I fall down on the job. It's also a lot of work to try to continually come up with new ideas, but I think we're all getting tired of my standbys! I started a private blog with recipe ideas, but that hasn't helped too much... it would be wonderful to try this!
I'm a sucker for all things organized... but never manage to keep it together for meal planning. hoping this one might stick!
So I decided to sign up for the free membership, too :)
And, liked on facebook!
My family has been meal planning for about a month now, and I'd love to have a tool to make it easier!
Signed up for the free membership... gonna give it a go!
liked say mmm on facebook as stephanie m
smartinez03 at live dot com
woo hoo! I've been trying for the past year to figure out a meal planning strategy that works for me....this may just be it!!! and with baby #3 due any day I could use all the organization help I can get!
meganbrueseke (at) yahoo (dot) com
"liked" say mmm on facebook
meganbrueseke (at) yahoo (dot) com
This sounds wonderful! Count me in.
316ramirez@gmail.com
Cool! I actually made a littlle mama-notebook with weekly sheets for to-do lists and monthly goals. In this notebook I had a page for a month ahead meal planning. I am way slacking in this category right now...I think I would love this!!
Oh please, please, please!
I go through phases of meal planning and it really does help! Now, to find time to meal plan...
I try to do meal planning, and it works for a couple of weeks ... then I'm right back to standing in front of the fridge and wondering what's in there to cook. And I usually have to stop at the store at least 4 times per week. I really need to be better at this!
Some weeks I meal plan others I forget. Life is much easier when I do plan! I liked on Facebook
I also signed up!
I have only ever tried free meal planning services. I would love to try something like this--I think it might make things easier for me.
ruthaw_1974@yahoo.com
like say mmm on facebook
ruthhill74
shared on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ruthhill74/posts/144094308995486
tweeted:
http://twitter.com/#!/ruthhill74/status/67216919526244352
already signed up for their free service
ruthaw_1974@yahoo.com
I try to do meal planning but often times on a Sunday night, I don't feel like planning out the weekly menu! Hoping this app will help :)
I try to menu plan. Sometimes it works, occasionally it doesn't! :)
This is the answer to my prayers for a more organized life! Please, please, plEASe pick me!!!
Anything to make my week and grocery trips easier, yes please!
Signed up for the free service
Liked on facebook!
I plan meals for most weeks, but only for a few nights a week. It's just me and my husband and two toddlers who don't eat a whole lot (yet!), so making two or three dinners a week yields enough leftovers for the rest of the week.
I just signed up for the free version - this looks great. Thanks for the giveaway!
Wow! This is so cool! I've planned meals in the past, and then somehow when our daughter was born, all sorts of things went out the window. It does save money, and could make shopping easier, though unless this comes with free babysitting, shopping may still be a challenge :)
thanks for the giveaway! I signed up for the free version with high hopes and expectations...
miscstadra at hotmail dot com
This is something that all of us Moms need :) Wow !
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home