I am *SO* excited! I get daily emails from a home organization website that helps me stay on top of decluttering and organizing my home one task at a time. Each week has a special focus on an area of the house, and each day within that week has a more specific task assigned to it to complete that area more thoroughly. In the email are helpful related links to free printables, ideas from other readers with photos, and articles with more detailed tips and helps. I usually glance at the daily target area and briefly browse the links and articles to see if there is anything that might organize my home better than it already is. The newsletter is a great way to keep things purged and neat and orderly.
Today’s task was recipe and menu planning organization. Within that email, there was an article included with reviews on some websites and apps that have been recommended by readers to help them stay on top of this task. I track my recipes and nutrition information/calories in My Fitness Pal, but I don’t really have a good way of planning my menus. I’m currently following the menu plans set up in the Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbooks, which keep total daily calories at about 1,400. I use that in conjunction with my daily workouts from Summer Body Club. I kind of loosely follow the suggested meal plans, mostly using recipes from the cookbooks, but sometimes rearranging them or swapping some out based on what my family likes. When I make changes like that, I’ve just had to mentally store that information, and then I’ve been forced to make manual shopping lists by combing those recipes myself. I often overlook something or intend to see if I have something and don’t write it down. You know how that goes!
So I decided to give some of these websites/apps a try and see if any of them worked for me. A few were free, but most had fees associated with them either up front for the app or monthly for the online service. Some had a free version that set up limits on how many recipes you could store or what features were available to you, or an upgraded version that you paid monthly for. None of those were the right fit for me. Then I discovered one that was totally FREE, AND it had all the features I wanted with NO LIMITATIONS! That’s right…unlimited storage of recipes, the ability to create menu plans, scale recipes, and create shopping lists automatically…AND you can use it online as well as on the app so you can access your information from anywhere, even on the go! I knew I was in love!
So here it is…welcome to Pepper Plate! Best service ever. I spent a good portion of my day glued to my computer, importing my recipes for the rest of the month, creating my menu plans, and finishing off my shopping list. Now I’m ready to go! I was so excited that I made my husband sit with me and look at everything it could do as soon as he got home, and I knew I just had to blog about it so you all could try it out, as well! This is a game-changer for me.
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