Once my sister and I hit middle school or so, every night was "fend-for-yourself-night". Mom was in grad school, we were tall enough to reach the stove, 'nuff said. We didn't plan meals, they just sort of happened.
In the interest of both my sanity and my budget (I'd rather spend money on shoes and lipgloss than waste it at the grocery store, if you want the whole truth), I've made a concerted effort to plan my menus and my shopping lists more carefully. Inspiration comes from all sorts of places: blogs, magazines, Food Network shows. But I wouldn't be reading food blogs or watching cooking shows if I didn't have a general interest in food and cooking, and I wouldn't necessarily have the time to scour through magazines or cookbooks looking for interesting ideas if I weren't an at-home mother.
Websites that help busy families plan their meals are stepping in to help bridge the gap between the desire for a home-cooked family dinner and the reality of modern family life for a monthly fee of five bucks or so. Recipe databases, shopping list builders, and other tools are par for the course with these sites, many of which were launched by other parents looking for a way to solve the problem of the dinner hassle.
Dinners In A Flash (turn off your speakers, 'cause that's one annoying little animation they've got) has a free trial and some demos of their user interface. They've also got a forum, which seems like a great idea to me.
If you've ever gotten to the point where you've had to turn to FlyLady to get out of a household funk, then you've probably heard of Saving Dinner, one of the original meal-planning sites. More flexible (and more pro, for that matter) than many sites, you can subscribe to vegetarian or weight control options, among others. I have the Saving Dinner cookbook, and can vouch for the recipes as well as the relief of having the pre-selected menu choices to do the thinking for me.
Real Simple magazine reviewed six menu-planning sites in a recent issue, including Saving Dinner. Based on title alone, Dine Without Whine sounds like a winner (although never, never without wine. Perish the thought!). The others all have different stand-out features that make them suitable for just about any need, except maybe the need to just make reservations.
