This recipe sounds so good and the pic takes it over the top but I don't have a spiralizer.

inspiralized.com/2015/01/07/spiralized-paleo-eggs-benedict-with-roasted-sweet-potato-noodles-avocado-and-chipotle-hollandaise/


I know I can't use a handheld one because of my arthritis and the big machines seem to take up a lot of storage space and have lots of parts to clean, then I saw this one.

Check out this spiral slicer it has the parts contained without switching out blades, you just turn the knob for the size of spiraled veggies you want.

bing.com/videos/search?q=gefu+spiralfix%2c+how+to+use+it+video&FORM=VIRE9#view=detail&mid=0C01689C8FE9D6612B710C01689C8FE9D6612B71


I'm not sure I have the strength to hold this one closed either. It looks like it takes up less storage space than the really large cumbersome ones but the requirement to push down and turn is what causes me to pause on making a purchase. I have too much injury and arthritis so pushing down on things is pretty hard for me.

I can only do so much when it comes to peeling potatoes or carrots so I think I have to avoid this altogether even though the recipe above looks so good to me. I wonder if my husband would do the job if I bought this, I hate to ask him though because he is already so busy working and doing house stuff.

Does anyone have this thing?

Hi everyone, hope all is well. A friend came from up north so several friends met for breakfast this morning. We had some good conversation and enjoyed catching up. The food was good too. I haven't been to this restaurant called Kountry Café (that's how they spell it!) in years. I had an avocado breakfast burrito. It was yummy. Afterward I went to the farmer's market. I kept it light and got green and yellow beans, zucchini, pickling cukes, and a grapefruit all for $7. I stopped at Trader Joe's next and got my weekly stuff there then came home just as hubby was leaving to run to Ace Hardware so I unloaded my groceries then jumped in the car and took the ride with him to get some hose nozzles. We stopped for a bite to eat afterward. He was very hungry, I was not, so I got a fish taco and he got a tamale plate.

I finally finished getting caught up on all the posts and spent quite a bit of time on Amazon after anew's post about spiralizers, checking out all the different types and brands. Ever since Marcie mentioned her veggetti I have been wanting to try one. I don't think I'd get the one Anew mentioned. Although it looks good I don't think I'd use it enough. I saw one that seems very similar to the veggetti but a bit sturdier perhaps. It is called the iperfect Kitchen Envy Spiral Slicer. It comes with e-books, a peeler, a "guide" to stick on the end of the veggies, a little brush to clean it with, and a cloth bag to keep it all in. All for $14.95. The blades are Japanese and sound like good quality. I am considering getting one for myself and one to give away at our bible study white elephant exchange at Christmas time. We'll see if I actually do or not...

Marcie, Hope you are pretty much over your virus. Last time I had a terrible cough that was keeping me (and hubby) up at night I went to the pharmacy to get a cough suppressant and stared at the gazillion products trying to decide what to purchase for what seemed like forever. I finally went to the pharmacist and told him I just wanted something that would stop the cough and help me sleep thru the night. He told me to get original benadryl. It worked like a charm!!! Sorry to hear you are still having fires up there. Hope they are resolved soon. Good as it Gets is one of my favorites also. Are you still using your veggetti? Do you have any wasted left over veggie with it? Do you still like it?

Debora, I'm looking forward to some of the new shows coming up too. Grandfathered sounds like it might be cute. It is about a playboy (played by John Stamos) who didn't even know he had a son much less a granddaughter. There is another one called Life in Pieces which is also a family comedy.

Anew, you got me cruising Amazon for a long time looking at spiralizers. On line shopping is addicting! I'd really like to get one soon. The site with the Hoosiers was really interesting too. And the silverware is beautiful. All fun stuff.

Jannie, Yay on the cabinets! They look fantastic!!! I can only imagine how excited you were to be able to cook "normally" again.

Carla, great to see you! Hope all is well!

Sheryl, we want to see a picture of your hair. I know it looks strange when you have a hair color you aren't used to but you may come to like it. How was your lunch with Carol? How is she doing? Hopefully John will leave the stove door closed longer this year so it won't get so smoky in the house. We are still running the AC. It was 89 degrees today. It is amazing all the offers on the house. You must be selling it for a pretty great price to go along with the good location. Great that you should have it in the sale process by Monday. I can't believe the gardener couldn't cut the grass because his mower is broken. If that is your livelihood you go and buy another one for pete's sake! I haven't been to One Kind Planet for a few weeks. I'll have to go and visit. I really do like the site. We will be starting season 3 of Downton Abbey tonight. We continuously marvel at how much we are enjoying this show - the acting, the writing, the photography - all top notch! We are binging - just can't get enough of it. We haven't watched much of anything else since we started. Of course it helps that the summer shows we watch have ended for the season and the others we watch and the new fall season shows haven't quite started yet.

OK, I'll close for now. Talk to you all later or tomorrow perhaps!

Hi everyone, I came across this meal planning program and was interested enough to take a look at it which required a 10 day free trial signup. The plans start at $7 per month and after taking a look at it I can see where it would help a very busy family plan their meals with an ability to check things off their grocery list while at the store and using the app on their phones. I don't think I would be interested in it enough to pay for something like it because it seems so easy to do my own planning. But again I can see how it would help someone who didn't have the first clue about making a plan or would just like something they can put everything into in one place for all meal plans they have or want to add to. This could very possibly save me a lot of time writing out that grocery list though so it might be worth it just for that time spent. The grocery list can be emailed or accessed on your phone to it's quite useful in that way. It also changes the list as you edit ingredients in your recipe on your weekly menu plan. It also removes the ingredients if you take a recipe off your weekly menu.

If you are a member you can add online recipes to your recipe book using the recipe clipper on our bookmark toolbar but I am having some trouble making that work. I know that would work great for someone who uses a few of the online resources like me to get dinner on the table each night if you can figure out how to use the clipper, lol.

You can make your pantry list for all the things you keep on hand and even make a list of things you need to replenish for your pantry. The shopping list tells you what is in your pantry as long as you maintain it on your account. I don't know how extensive the free trial is at this time but I will keep playing with it and see if I decide it's worth it to me to use or not. I might just like it and keep right on trudging through!

Check it out here it's called "Gathered Table".

https://gatheredtable.com/

We ordered the tires to my truck today and should receive them on Wednesday and the price was lower than the last time we looked at them plus there is a rebate for $70 for the purchase of four tires. This means a savings of over $300 for four tires, what a score I got by needing to wait. I'll need to make an appointment to have them installed on my truck this coming week so I can get my truck safety inspected and get the tags by the end of the month. I will have to get the alignment done on it as well. The other work it needs will have to wait, I just won't be taking any trips in my truck anytime soon.

I got it! Okay, so if I add an item to my grocery list it is listed as "Add On" so I can't put it in my pantry but I can check mark it and delete it. I have practiced a few times sending my husband a grocery list by emailing to myself first and then copying the list text from within the email and sending it via an email to his phone. This works pretty well. I won't need to be contacting them to see how to make if more user friendly than it already is because I see it works very well all around. I think this is the most complete meal planning site I have ever seen but still might not be something I really truly need.

I wonder though if I used it and followed a meal plan if I could save money by not buying too much and then winding up tossing fruits and veggies because we didn't eat all of it in time. Hmm, food for thought!

Just a quick drop in before I go to bed.

Debora, love your post as always. Of course we stayed with you to the end!

Anew, your new site sounds interesting. Let us know how it works for you and if it saves money.

Sheryl, Sounds like you had a nice day. We were back to record breaking temps today. It was 100 degrees here and very humid. At 9:30pm it is still in the 80s. Should cool down to the high 80s by the end of the week. Look forward to hearing about which offer you end up with.

I actually posted a discussion about spiralizers out in the main community in the recipes discussion and am actually getting some replies. It's kinda nice.

My friend Jami dyed my hair today. Yay! We had a nice little visit, watched the Chopped cooking show then I went and finished my grocery shopping at Sprouts. They had mini watermelons for $1.88. They are SO good!

OK, off to bed. I have to work tomorrow. Good night all!

Good Morning. My planned day has changed, but it's better this way. Carol called me last night and postponed our lunch because she's been sick and still doesn't feel up to going out. We'll get together next Monday. My car gets serviced at 3:30 this afternoon and I will still be going out for that. I was going to be gone all day, lunch with Carol, kill some time and then go to the Toyota dealer later. I didn't think it was wise to come home in between, waste gas, but at the same time, it's not wise to leave John home alone all day either. So, this works out best, I'll just be gone a couple hours this afternoon.

I forgot to tell you that last Thursday, when I came home from the dentist, the big ladder was up against the house. John had decided to clean out the gutters while I was gone. It scares me that he doesn't realize the risk and something might happen while I'm gone. I plan to have John go with me tomorrow to my doctor's appointment and then we can do something fun together while we're in town.

More later, John is calling...

Good Morning. Car servicing went as well as can be expected, but since I forgot to clear out the back, they couldn't get to the spare tire to check it, they didn't want to be responsible for all my junk back there and possibly lose something. It was a more extensive check and took almost 2 hours. Next chance I get, I'll leave all my stuff at home and run by the dealership to have the spare checked, and, to get the car washed. I skipped having it washed because it was so late in the day and I needed to get back to John and fix dinner. Next time, I'll make the appointment earlier in the day, I function better then.

Today is the oncologist appointment. John is still undecided if he's going with me. Now, I hope he doesn't want to go to Portland. then I can see the doctor and stop at TJ's and shop and come home. If he goes, we'll be gone all day.

Christina is bringing Jason home today. I don't know how she does it, in pain and totally exhausted, but still pulls it together to take care of him too. They will have to help each other, but at least he's home and she won't have to make trips to the hospital to see him.

I guess that's it for now, my mind just went blank. It's going to be one of those days...

Hi all, I'm home early, John did not go with me and I skipped the shopping at TJ's. I had a very routine two month check-up and go back in three months. I still remain on medication and will for several more years. This is a 5 year regimen and this month marks my first year down, 4 to go.

Marcie, I usually empty the entire car, just on principle, not leaving any personal property in there that may lead to any kind of dispute. I didn't realize they check the spare either.

Apparently, they still don't know absolutely, for sure, what is wrong with Jason, here's what Christina wrote...
been in the hospital the past two weeks. he was in a lot of pain short of breath, couldn't pee, so we took him to the hospital twice, and twice they sent him home. We had to wait 3 days to see his family dr. and they sent him straight from the office in an ambulance to the hospital. If he would have had to wait any longer, he would be on dialysis or dead.

They had him on iv fluids and morphine for a week, ran hundreds of tests, and couldn't figure it out. best they can tell, he had a virus that mimicked his muscle tissue, and his immune system was attacking all his muscle tissue heart, kidneys, diaphragm and every other muscle system every time he would try to move, he would get short of breath, his heart rate and BP would soar, he literally couldn't get out of bed and it just came out of no where He was in the regular hospital for a week, and in the rehab hospital almost a week and I am just done.

She is totally exhausted and her mom is not being any help at all, in fact, her mom is adding to her problems, very demanding.

What a beautiful Fall day. John is outside, I better go check on him.

Good morning, I have three grands coming here this morning. It's the day for Ava's botox shot. I need to go to El Dorado this afternoon so I don't know if they'll be here for lunch or not. Maybe I'll try and straighten the house - hasn't been touched much since Sunday. Just haven't been home a lot with spare time. Ralph had an appointment Monday and we had to reschedule cause they forgot to tell him not to take his morning dose. We got our other errands done, ate lunch. I went to Lori's after school and we worked on 4-H stuff. Deadlines get you working harder.

Tuesday we went back for the appointment. It was a long one so got home in time for me to go to a meeting about getting Good News Club again and the evening was a annual meeting with meal so I didn't have to cook all day.

Yesterday I was home but I spend a lot of time typing up the 4-H info I got Monday. I headed back about 5 and got signatures, did the dishes but got home about 8. Gave me time to do my list without it getting too late. But things aren't slowing down. I'll try to start straightening the house while the kids are here when they don't need my attention.

Anew, the meal planning site sounds really good but I've never done well with planning meals. Seems like we do a lot of eating leftovers and some weeks end up being out so I just try and keep enough around that we can eat. I had left a frozen meal for Ralph to eat last night and then I got home before him so I was supposed to fix him something. That was a bit of a dilemma but he got tuna and tomatoes and some cantaloupe. He doesn't complain. The plan sounds like it will be good for you. You're doing good at getting the truck taken care of. Although I'm guessing when you and I say trucks, we are talking different things. I'm your truck is our pickup. Then we have the 3 ton truck and the semi.

Sheryl, glad you got your hair more like you want it. Oh my on finding the ladder against the house. Good health or not, ladders should always require two people. Even though your week has changed around, you've gone with the flow and it has worked out well.

Isabella, I enjoyed your post on the spiralizers. Let us know what you decide to do.

Marcie, glad you're better and your dad isn't getting it. Glad the house is taken care of. Still plenty of paperwork to come but the hard part is done. Hope it all goes through okay.
That smart to enjoy the ancestry.com while it's free. My sister does that on my side and Ralph's side has it going way back and quite thorough so it's there if I want to look.
Bummer on your dad's walking group. He'll just be able to move at his own pace. Cooler weather will be nice for you walking. Our days can warm up (80s) but nights pretty much cool off now. Fall is here. We're combining our corn now - it's finally dry enough - way later than some years.

Christina had quite the scare with Jason. So thankful he is home. That's good for both. So sorry her mom is not helpful. That's not easy. Those unknown things that hit a person are so hard to figure out.

Carla, we'll do our best to encourage you. Hopefully, once you get your recipes in, it will take less time but you are doing a great job.

Better get busy on things - eat breakfast and get ready for the kids to be here. Have a good day.

Hi all! Been meaning to come visit but have been having bad reflux and just don't feel like typing All the meds I'm taking for my hip are aggravating my GERD and then the reflux comes roaring back. I forgot how bad it can be but am hopefully I've got it back under control. Also, I've been eating healthier and I guess the fiber/roughage isn't helping either.

The countertops come on Wednesday! I can hardly wait to get the sink and dishwasher hooked up It will be so fun to have a fully functioning kitchen again!!!

Marcie--so glad that you are better! Yeah for clean air You and your dad are doing great with the steps, I'm impressed!

Aero-- so sorry to hear about Ava. Does she have a seizure disorder? That is scary and I'm glad she is better. Did you make my 'Ravioli Lasagna'? My boys love it and we have it at least twice a month

Anew--I am looking forward to hearing if you will continue to like the new meal planning. I hate the planning part and the preparation part, and the cooking part, and the cleaning up part I do like the eating part

Carla-- always so glad to see you. I will look forward to your monthly updates. You can post it here for all of us to see (in case we miss the FB post!)

Sheryl-- glad it was a 'normal' checkup and that John didn't hurt himself doing something while you were gone!

Ivanek-- glad to see you! My friend uses a spiralizing doo-hickey all the time. He loves it I think it looks like a pain but I'm not big on cooking!

Hope everyone has a great weekend

Hi all, I know I'm posting REALLY late this weekend but I went in to work today because my contracts were getting so stacked up I was starting to feel very overwhelmed. I worked for 7 hours (nice overtime) and got mostly caught up. It felt like quite a weight off my shoulders and so nice to work while it is so peaceful and quiet. I left work at 2:30 and went to Trader Joe's (missed the farmer's market) and Ralph's. I also stopped at Dollar Tree. I'd never been there before. Got some b-day cards for $.50 each and a composition notebook for prayer requests after bible study. You know the ones we used in grade school with the black and white speckled covers? I don't think I'd shop there very often but it was interesting to look around and see what they sell. We were supposed to go to a BBQ today but my friend got the flu and cancelled so I made us some grass fed beef hamburgers for dinner. I was glad the BBQ was postponed - we were both pretty tired. Dan is still working on the landscaping outside. He is working really hard to improve the drainage on the west side of the yard right next to the neighbor's house. We would not want to be responsible for water damage to their home if we ever actually got a lot of rain. It has been back breaking work for him but I think it has been good for him psychologically.

Now that everything is said and done with the wall Dan has decided that it looks good and even recommended the contractor we used to a lady on the next street up who has the same wall. She came and asked him who he used and said that her wall is really shaky and about to fall over. It was nice too that the contractor came and asked Dan for his detailed "cad" type drawings Dan made of our wall so he can use them to build the woman's wall. Made Dan feel good. The contractor also volunteered to haul away the rocks that Dan wants to get rid of from working on the drainage. He will only charge Dan the dump fees which are pretty high but we'd have to pay them anyway and now Dan doesn't have to worry about what to do with them. Dan also found out that the association did actually send letters to about 35 home owners warning them that their wall is unstable and may fall over. This makes us feel that our wall problem did serve some purpose and may help others avoid trouble if they take care of their wall now before it collapses like ours did.

It is really nice that you guys read my spiralizer post. Marcie even commented.

I am considering a spiralizer that is very similar to the hand held one that Marcie uses but it comes with a little knob to poke onto the end of the veggie to hold onto it and also comes with a little brush to clean the blades and has a cloth bag to keep everything together for about $15. It is called the "iPerfect Kitchen Envy Spiral Slicer Bundle. We'll see what I actually end up with but for the amount of times I'd use it I don't want to spend a lot of money and space on a table top model.

Debora, I can't believe they found Thomas' bike! That is almost unheard of! I can just imagine how happy he is. I am also amazed that you managed to get the house cleaned up with the kids there. You are amazing.

Marcie, glad you're feeling somewhat better. Hope the cough is gone soon. Yay, that you finally have clean air. Thanks for sharing the pretty pics of the sunsets. Yours was one of the prettiest ones! Thanks for sharing about your vegetti. I think that is the type I am going to get. Interesting about the ancestry site. You'll have to let us know what you find out. I bet it will be really nice to be able to get back to your walks during breaks and lunch again. I haven't been able to take my usual walks at lunch either due to the heat and LOTS of road construction. Cox cable is cutting up all the streets in the area so businesses can have high speed internet service. Sheesh! I hate when they do that because they never fix the cuts in the roads correctly! I am anxious to get back to a nice walk at lunch again.

Sheryl, I am so glad the young couple is getting the house instead of the house flippers who usually don't really care about the house. They will be putting lots of love into the house and building happy memories there even if they do have some issues with it. I think it is very fitting. I know what you mean about John and the ladder. I have asked Dan a couple of times to please not do stuff on the ladder when he is home alone. These men can be pretty stubborn! Glad you had another good visit at the doc's. Also good that the next visit is in 3 mos instead of 2.

So scary to hear about Christina and Jason. They are having to deal with so much! I just can't even wrap my head around it. I have heard some very frightening stories of guys getting a virus like this and not recovering. I don't know how they cope. I must renew my efforts to keep them in my prayers daily.

Carla, I don't blame you for not joining the Wednesday weigh in. It can be a tough commitment. I think your idea of posting monthly updates is a good one. I also agree that you should share them here with us as well so we can be sure not to miss them.

Jannie, can't wait to see the countertops and hear about your first meal in your completed kitchen. I don't remember hearing about your hips. Are you waiting for a hip replacement? Acid reflux and gerd can be awful. I have a friend who has a damaged esophagus because of her gerd. The doc said it is partly due to the fact that she was eating late at night before bed. Glad you're getting it back in control.

Well, I've rattled on long enough and it is 1:00am so I'd better get to bed! I'll try to stop in tomorrow too. Good night my friends!

Good Morning, again, this will be short, John is up already. It also doesn't help that I've been sleeping in later than I used to. The last two days have been a bit stressful, John is needing more and more attention and coming up with weird questions. We were playing CD's and he wanted to know how to turn the CD over to play the "B" side of music. I said there is no "side B" on a CD, it's not like a record or a cassette. He insisted that there is a "side B", almost to the point of arguing with me. He told me that he knows it can be done because he's done it before. I was dumbfounded. How can I prove to him without flipping over the CD and possibly ruining the CD and/or the player? I am amazed that he trusts me with his finances, but can't take my word on a silly thing like this.

I enjoy reading all about everybody else's activities, even if I don't mention each individual one.

Good morning everyone, I have to warn you this is a very long post with a good explanation of how Gathered Table works and things I have discovered while using it for the last 9 days.

1. Saving money with Gathered Table. I have definitely experienced some things this lady in the link below has experienced by using Gathered Table for two menus. I am ending my 10 day trial tomorrow and will need to decide to continue on or not. I think I will continue on and here is why.

2. It has been easy having my menus setup and ready to go each day, especially when I have not been able to sleep. It has made the task of knowing what is for dinner easy because it is right there on the menu which has allowed me to take out whatever I need from the freezer a couple of days in advance to thaw in the refrigerator and have the meat of choice ready to use on the night I need it. I have not had to do any counter top in water defrosting in 9 days.

3. I purchased a Pork Butt on Wednesday last week so I could do a pulled pork yesterday on Sunday, I knew what I would be using it for, didn't miss the pre-prep because I added the pulled pork recipe along with my regular meal menu for Friday, Saturday and Sunday to remind myself that I had pre-prep to do with the roast and had it on the table yesterday afternoon and had some friends over too. In the past I would have needed to toss in the freezer so it wouldn't spoil and then go through the dreaded thawing in order to make it. Which resulted in "NEVER" buying a Pork Butt because I didn't want to go through that, lol.

We have plenty of leftovers I froze in two serving packs that will be available on nights we are busy and need something fast and easy on the table. I have done this with three dinners I have made in the last 9 days and I am keeping notes in my "notes" section of my phone with the date it went in the freezer so that I know what meals are available in the freezer and the "best by date" to use them. This will make it so much easier when we are out and asking what is for dinner, I can check and we can go home and not eat out and spend money there since most of this food would easily reheat in the microwave. I have also added two of those meals to this weeks menu which means then I only need to make sides to go with them saving me time in the long run.

4. Speaking of spending money going out to eat. We haven't spent any money going out, we have usually eaten out at least once per week but mostly once per every other week. Having not gone out we have saved from $25-$50 in just 10 days because we have eaten in and I much prefer to eat what I cook instead of what a restaurant puts on the table for me. I have a menu set for the rest of the week and have purchased everything I needed for the week in one grocery trip. It's all ready to go.

5. Speaking of grocery trips. There would be at least two of those in a weeks time because I would do the same thing as the gal in the story on the link below regarding the grocery store. Make a list of things I could make according to what was on sale or whatever popped into my mind when I saw something in the produce section. I always bought more than I needed and a lot of the time I would forget what I was going to make with it. I threw lots of fresh produce in the trash because I just couldn't get it used before it went bad.

A huge savings there because it doesn't matter if I can't sleep, I can still function to get a meal on the table because it's all in the refrigerator and ready to go. He hasn't said anything yet but I am positive my husband is happy not having to stop by the grocery store after work a couple times per week to buy things I need because I don't have everything necessary to make a meal like he did before Gathered Table.

6. I love how easy it is to add a recipe to my account by using the toolbar helper called "Clip to GatheredTable" or I can manually add a recipe. Then I can put each recipe into a folder according to what meal it is for, main dish, veg side, carb side, dessert, and I can make my own folder such as breakfast or whatever else comes to mind. I can even mark it for recipes it goes with such as a main and a side that are served together often. I can use their recipes or mine and the menu can come blank if I choose or have a few of Gathered Tables recipes and a few of mine or just their recipes.

This system is very easy to setup how you would like it. You can set up a recipe according to how often you would like to eat it. So far I have left everything on 30 days which is the "default" setting but I find it easy to just go through my recipes to add what I would like to. The main purpose of setting up how often you would like it is to have the recipes generate on your new weeks menu automatically. I set my default to "rarely" include Gathered Table recipes in my menu but have found there are a lot of them and it is probably because I have all menu's set at 30 days, the default. I should probably change that so more of my recipes show up on my menu but it is easy to delete what they have added. I have actually had some inspiration from their recipes and it reminds me to add my version of that recipe to my library.

I haven't used any of their recipes yet because I really like my own so I need to expand my thinking in that area and the time it takes to add a recipe, edit to make sure everything copied over correctly isn't long. Some recipes don't all copy over correctly and those would be the ones that have stories attached to them. So say you have a favorite recipe that starts out with "My family loves this recipe once per week, da da da". Then it goes on to tell you how to start the recipe. Let's say the recipe is a meat with a gravy and the meat portion of the recipe is the first thing you see, then the gravy portion is met further down the page after a long finishing of the story. The Gathered Table program doesn't always catch that there are two recipes within one and will usually only catch the first recipe leaving you with only half the recipe.

This is easily fixed by going to "switch to manual" recipe add, then copy and pasting the rest of the recipe to the page. There is a notes section for the instructions to the recipe and the missing second recipe is usually included in the entire written story with both recipes included. I usually cut and paste the second recipe ingredients from here and add the ingredients to the first one. I always remove the whole story and just keep the actual instructions in this section. Each recipe that is added to my library has the link to the place it came from except for the ones I add myself. Those you add the link yourself and with both auto download, and manual download, you have a choice to mark the recipe with "From" which would be the actual website it comes from. "Adapted from", which would be if you have edited the recipe to suit your taste and needs for substituting products within the recipe but there will be the link to the original recipe included for it as well.

An example of this would be the recipe calls for 16 ounces of crushed tomatoes but I have fresh Roma tomatoes I want to use instead. I can add the Roma tomatoes to my shopping list and remove the canned tomatoes from the shopping list. I would like to have a notes section included in the grocery list to remind myself that is the plan to use Roma's instead of canned, lol. I thought I was missing my tomatoes and decided to use the Roma's instead but realized that was the plan all along. I can also move an item from the grocery list to the pantry if I already have it on hand and vice versa. Then you can also move something to the replenish list as well so it will show up on your grocery list. This will probably work well on things like fresh produce, meats and spices that are regularly purchased such as my husbands apples and oranges or that three pack of romaine lettuce I buy all at once and I will use all week long.

7. So, the conclusion is this. You get 10 days free trial to see how you like it then you can do a 1 month long trial for .99 cents to see if you really want to use the program. The next level is to pay $10.00 monthly or pay $86.00 at once for a one year program which saves more money in the long run. I have already saved a minimum of $25.00 because we didn't go out and eat anywhere but I have saved more than that because I haven't thrown out any food from the refrigerator so let's just consider that about $5.00. So my savings are already $30.00 in a two week period so if I continue this the program will pay for itself and then some. I will continue the program for .99 cents for one month and report back regarding my experience.

The best part of this entire thing is when I joined for my free 10 day trial I received an email from my personal coach telling me how to get started and she has answered all the questions I have had very quickly. I like the fact there is a real person on the other side of my computer and not just a place to "ask a question" that goes to anyone who checks those emails. I also like that you can be friends with others and share recipes with others, or you can be private and not share with others. You know me, I want private so that is what I chose but they are looking into implementing a friends section to share with only your friends and family. If they do that then friends and family can share their recipes with each other which could expand our recipe base exponentially.

Below is the link I talked about above, it is a story about a working woman and her experience with Gathered Table. My experience as laid out above is very similar to hers.

http://blog.gatheredtable.com/2015/07/16/carries-kitchen-story-saving-time-money-and-stress/



Here is the link to the page on how to use the grocery list from Gathered Table.

Grocery List Tips

blog.gatheredtable.com/2015/07/23/how-to-enter-recipes-for-the-best-menus-and-grocery-lists-from-gatheredtable/


Here is the page which talks about how Gathered Table pays for itself and I can say it has already started saving me money in only two weeks of meal planning. I have not only saved money but trips to the grocery store have become once per week as long as I stick with the menu plan. I can save upwards of about $50-$75 per month if not more. This pays for Gathered Table a few times per year so I can see a lot of money staying in my pocket. Using the weekly grocery store sales ad makes it easy to plan meals with on sale items and saves even more.

blog.gatheredtable.com/2015/06/04/how-gatheredtable-meal-planning-pays-for-itself/?utm_source=personal_1dayleft2&utm_campaign=lifecycle


Well, there you have it, not in a small nut shell but laid out pretty well. I hope you all join me over there because the time saved meal planning is going to be better and better with the more recipes I get added to my account so the time needed to plan will be a quick menu fill and done. Then on to shopping.

Have a great day everyone, I'll come back later and read everything I have missed.