Over the past two weeks, my family tested the Kraft Foods/Sam's Club Two Week Dinner Planner. By utilizing a menu plan created by Kraft and one stop shopping at Sam's Club, families can cut down on trips to the store, save money, and have more time to spend together, while also eating home cooked meals.
Our experience has been a positive one, and some of the meals were so well received that they will go into our "favorites" category.
The pros of the program are as follows:
**All the recipes were easy to follow, easy to shop for, and quick to prepare. Even an inexperienced cook who "can't boil water" should be able to make this food.
**All the recipes tasted good, although some were better than others.
**Most of the ingredients were easy to store and most recipes contained ingredients that were either freezer-friendly or that lasted for awhile in the fridge or pantry. I made the recipes containing fresh ingredients first, so the food wouldn't spoil.
**The recipes were all family/kid friendly. Even my picky preschooler ate most of the meals without being prompted.
**The recipes were all easy to alter to make them healthier, or to tailor to the particular tastes of my family.
The cons were as follows:
**You're responsible for planning and providing side dishes, as the meal planner does not include those.
**Not enough fresh produce, or a wide variety of produce.
**Most of the meals contained some kind of meat, usually chicken or ground beef. I'd like to see more vegetarian options, or recipes containing pork.
**Shopping in bulk may mean you end up with a giant package of something you might never use again, even though the meal plan only requires a small amount.
My husband and I both chose the Cheesy Salsa Mini Meatloaves as our favorite recipe, and his runner up was the Quick Pasta Carbonara. We both chose the Di Giorno Pizza With BLT Topping as our least favorite. It tasted fine, but he felt that it wasn't anything special, and I thought it was the hardest recipe to make healthier because it was a jazzed up frozen pizza. However, it is perfectly adequate for a hurried evening or a night when mom just doesn't feel like putting a lot of effort into cooking dinner.
Interested in trying out the Kraft Foods/Sam's Club Two Week Meal Planner?
WHAT TO DO:
1. If you're not already a Sam's Club member, use the store locator to find a location near you. Sam's Club Locator
2. Get the meals here. This download will provide you with recipes for all fourteen recipes and a complete shopping list to take to the store with you. Sam's Club members can also create a personalized cookbook by clicking on the link on this page.
3. Take a look at the shopping list provided, make any notes to personalize the menu for your family, then head out to shop!
If you missed Part One, my introduction to the Two Week Meal Planner, you can read the details and get some tips here.
**GIVEAWAY**
As an added bonus, I have two prizes to give away to lucky winners.
The first prize is a Sam's Club Guest Membership, valued at 40 dollars, and the second is a gift card to Sam's Club, also for 40 dollars.
To enter, leave me a comment telling me what your biggest dinner challenge is and how you think Kraft and Sam's Club can help you overcome it. For example, my biggest challenge used to be deciding what to make, but planning menus is advance eliminated that problem. My current problem is trying to cook dinner during the "witching hour," when my kids are tired and cranky and hovering on the edge of meltdown. Having quick and easy meals that don't require a lot of my attention helps.
Be sure to mention in your comment which drawing you are entering. You may enter both, but you must leave two comments. I also need a valid email address to contact winners. This contest will be open for one week. I will choose and notify the winners on Saturday, July 18, 2009.
**Edited to add--Congratulations to Toni, the winner of the Sam's Club membership and to Dipti Shah, the winner of the Sam's Club gift card!
I was one of five bloggers selected by Kraft Foods to work on the Kraft Foods and Sam’s Club Two Week Dinner Planner program. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program which includes my trip to Sam’s Club, my interactions/experience with the two week dinner planner and my posts about my experience. I have also been compensated for the food purchased for the two week dinner planner. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
Our experience has been a positive one, and some of the meals were so well received that they will go into our "favorites" category.
The pros of the program are as follows:
**All the recipes were easy to follow, easy to shop for, and quick to prepare. Even an inexperienced cook who "can't boil water" should be able to make this food.
**All the recipes tasted good, although some were better than others.
**Most of the ingredients were easy to store and most recipes contained ingredients that were either freezer-friendly or that lasted for awhile in the fridge or pantry. I made the recipes containing fresh ingredients first, so the food wouldn't spoil.
**The recipes were all family/kid friendly. Even my picky preschooler ate most of the meals without being prompted.
**The recipes were all easy to alter to make them healthier, or to tailor to the particular tastes of my family.
The cons were as follows:
**You're responsible for planning and providing side dishes, as the meal planner does not include those.
**Not enough fresh produce, or a wide variety of produce.
**Most of the meals contained some kind of meat, usually chicken or ground beef. I'd like to see more vegetarian options, or recipes containing pork.
**Shopping in bulk may mean you end up with a giant package of something you might never use again, even though the meal plan only requires a small amount.
My husband and I both chose the Cheesy Salsa Mini Meatloaves as our favorite recipe, and his runner up was the Quick Pasta Carbonara. We both chose the Di Giorno Pizza With BLT Topping as our least favorite. It tasted fine, but he felt that it wasn't anything special, and I thought it was the hardest recipe to make healthier because it was a jazzed up frozen pizza. However, it is perfectly adequate for a hurried evening or a night when mom just doesn't feel like putting a lot of effort into cooking dinner.
Interested in trying out the Kraft Foods/Sam's Club Two Week Meal Planner?
WHAT TO DO:
1. If you're not already a Sam's Club member, use the store locator to find a location near you. Sam's Club Locator
2. Get the meals here. This download will provide you with recipes for all fourteen recipes and a complete shopping list to take to the store with you. Sam's Club members can also create a personalized cookbook by clicking on the link on this page.
3. Take a look at the shopping list provided, make any notes to personalize the menu for your family, then head out to shop!
If you missed Part One, my introduction to the Two Week Meal Planner, you can read the details and get some tips here.
**GIVEAWAY**
As an added bonus, I have two prizes to give away to lucky winners.
The first prize is a Sam's Club Guest Membership, valued at 40 dollars, and the second is a gift card to Sam's Club, also for 40 dollars.
To enter, leave me a comment telling me what your biggest dinner challenge is and how you think Kraft and Sam's Club can help you overcome it. For example, my biggest challenge used to be deciding what to make, but planning menus is advance eliminated that problem. My current problem is trying to cook dinner during the "witching hour," when my kids are tired and cranky and hovering on the edge of meltdown. Having quick and easy meals that don't require a lot of my attention helps.
Be sure to mention in your comment which drawing you are entering. You may enter both, but you must leave two comments. I also need a valid email address to contact winners. This contest will be open for one week. I will choose and notify the winners on Saturday, July 18, 2009.
**Edited to add--Congratulations to Toni, the winner of the Sam's Club membership and to Dipti Shah, the winner of the Sam's Club gift card!
I was one of five bloggers selected by Kraft Foods to work on the Kraft Foods and Sam’s Club Two Week Dinner Planner program. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program which includes my trip to Sam’s Club, my interactions/experience with the two week dinner planner and my posts about my experience. I have also been compensated for the food purchased for the two week dinner planner. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
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10 comments:
My biggest challenge is deciding what to make for dinner. :)
our biggest challenge, is mostly getting a meal quickly on the table some nights. We do alot of outsdie things and time is tight so meals need to be quick, yummy, and good for you too. Which can be a challenge. Kraft does have a lot of stuff that helps, I use their cookbooks a lot .
Meal plans would help me have all the ingredients for the meals I attempt to cook! And maybe since they are by Kraft the kids will want to at least TRY them:)
I would love to win the Sam's Guest membership!! I've always wanted one:)
This osunds like it would help a lot. Figuring out what to have every night is time consuming, only to find out you don't even have all the ingredients...
I would love to register for the Sam's Club give-away.
Thanks!
My biggest challenge is coming up with dinner ideas of what to make. Sam's Club is great because it sells such a wide variety of meals/dishes, and many of them are very easy to prepare. I would like to enter the drawing for the one year membership. We would love to become a member. Thanks! erikaesposito@hotmail.com
My husband and I are students with a toddler and I moonlight as a personal chef. My challenge is preparing organic, vegan meals for my client, while keeping the menus for my family budget-conscious, and somehow trying to avoid cooking around the clock (so I can eventually graduate!)
My biggest challenge is figuring out what to make for my uber-picky toddler, who also happens to be a vegetarian. It's tough to come up with 'tasty', yet healthy options.
Thanks!
ddshah@att.net
Forgot to mention that probably planning ahead and therefore doing all the shopping once a week would help over some of the stress of trying to figure out what to make. Please enter me in the Sam's gift card give-away (already a member :-))
ddshah@att.net
My biggest challenge is finding a meal that will fill up us adults and will also have a dish that my (almost)one year old can/will eat. I like making chicken so I can feed her bits of it but am tired of eating it now myself. I need some new options!
I'd love to win the $40 gift card to Sam's Club. I have been a member for around 10+ years now.
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