Meal planning on a budget was my first love.  Back in 2006 when my sons were babies, money had become really tight in our house, but I refused to not feed my family well simply because we needed to spend dramatically less money.  In fact, I predicted that with some serious planning I could cook 20 meals a week for a family of four on a $200 budget. I also included two bottles of wine a week in that budget and I insisted on shopping at Whole Foods Market.  And to prove it could be done, I posted my recipes and my receipts each week to my blog, “One Family One Meal”.  

I sent my first blog to 75 people, and soon I had 10,000 loyal readers who had fallen in love with the concept.  Little by little, I started to give people hope that it doesn’t have to be hard, cost a lot of money, or take a lot of time to cook delicious meals at home.  

Luckily for me, the blog was such a hit that I scored my first cookbook contract off that concept and the rest, as they say, is history.  

After launching my first round of online classes for subscribers to my site, I started working on more class ideas.  Oddly enough, I feel that same feeling in the air that I felt in 2006. With gas prices through the roof and inflation creeping up by the minute, people are nervous about spending.  Employment might be high right now, but other factors are making us think twice about how we spend our money.  As I dug a little deeper, I discovered that U.S. households are spending $450 more a month than they were a year ago.  $450!!! Groceries are up 11% year over year–the highest percentage increase in one year since 1981!  We are indeed nervous, and 75% of us are looking to cut back on discretionary spending. 

It feels like the right time to bring back this valuable work.  With a little planning, you CAN create delicious, healthful, varied meals that don’t have to cost a lot, take a lot of time to make, or be difficult to master.  Together, we’ve totally got this.