stress-free dinner prep and planning: the happy family solution — Gatheredtable

When I was asked to check out Gatheredtable and then share it with my readers (if I liked it!), I was hesitant.

It sounded too good to be true.

• Stress-free dinner prep?
• Meal planning that won’t make me lose my mind?
• Food that will keep everyone happy? 
• New recipes catered to our family’s needs and preferences?
• Time-saving so that I can spend what few minutes I have cooking and not recipe searching or shopping?
• Homemade foods that will keep everyone healthy and strong?
• Money-saving on top of it all?

I honestly needed to see it, to try it–to live it–in order to believe it.

But you guys.

It’s crazy how awesome Gatheredtable is, and I cannot wait to tell you about it.

It’s stress-free dinner prep. It’s stress-free planning. It’s the perfect combination for a happy family. Really.

I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for Gatheredtable. It combines the best of all of my favorite food-related sites in one, simple and logical platform.

Here’s the skinny. . .

Stress-Free Dinner Prep and Planning — The Happy Family Solution — Gatheredtable: 

Essentially, Gatheredtable helps families get into the routine of home cooking.

It is a busy-family’s answer to finding time to prepare–and eat–home-cooked meals together.

Here’s how it works:

• Sign up for a free account at Gatheredtable.com;
• Update your profile and choose your menu preferences and cooking days;
• Check out the recipe suggestions Gatheredtable sends you and add your own;
• Populate your shopping list and head to the store OR have the groceries delivered to you via Peapod;
• Cook, eat, and enjoy time together as a family!

Watch a super-quick video of Gatheredtable:

 

Cool, right? Almost seems too good to be true? That’s what I thought.

Gatheredtable is stress-free dinner prep that really is easy to use.

Intrigued? I was, too.

Check out a little bit more about Gatheredtable:

Confession: We have a tendency to get into the taco rut. We also get into the slow cooker chicken rut. And the spaghetti rut.

Often, I’m running into the grocery store in between drop-off and pick-up, and I have no recipes with me–all I know is that we need food.

So I grab what I always grab–or I grab what’s on sale–and I zip onto the next thing.

We have only been using Gatheredtable now for the last three weeks, but we’ve tried several new recipes that our family has loved.

The recipes we chose were quick, easy, and absolutely delicious.

The Hungarian Beef Stew was so amazing that by the time I got home to have some, it was nearly gone!

Thursdays are our super busy days; we’re running non-stop after school until later than I’d care to admit. It’s just the way things worked out this winter, and thankfully it’s only one really crazy day.

Usually, though, it’s a grab and go kinda night. We usually do something quick, and it’s usually (cough) frozen or (double cough–) fast foodish. Gross, I know.

This week, thanks to Gatheredtable, I threw something new and interesting into the crockpot around noon, and it was ready–and devoured–for family members as they were home to eat.

 

And this week, we’ve had more snow than I can even remember. Thankfully, our power stayed on through the 36-hour blizzard and through 30+ inches of snow.  And thankfully, my Gatheredtable recipe list reminded me earlier in the week to pick up all the ingredients I needed for a few other recipes as well.

The Slow Cooker Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna was so good–and so packed with spinach–that each of my kids reached for seconds and thirds last night. Really and truly, I believe it was because the dish was delicious and not that they were starving from playing in the snow for five hours.

Gatheredtable makes planning meals so easy. 

You’re not stuck with recipes that you won’t like. You can pull recipes from just about anywhere you want–other sites, your favorite chefs, or you can input your own.

The Recipe Clipper bookmark makes saving your recipes from around the web incredibly easy.

 

Your monthly planner is super-easy to edit and customize. . . 

 

. . . whether you are on your desktop or your mobile device. 

And recipes are easy to find and actually make.

The Featured Collections break down recipes into manageable categories. 

The Gatheredtable Community breaks down recipes into users’ own recipes. 

I found it really cool to do a little searching to see which cooks had recipes that interested me or that looked tasty.

 

And you can add recipes manually, by cutting/ pasting, or by using the bookmark I mentioned above. 

The benefit of adding your own favorite recipes is that then, when you put them on your planner, the ingredients will automatically be added to that week’s shopping list.

How cool is that??

 

Your grocery list is created and updates on both the desktop site and mobile site any time you make changes. 

You can print the list, update your pantry or replenishables, or print or email the list.

And if you live in a participating area, Peapod can even deliver your groceries.

Dream. Come. True.

Friends, just so you know– there is a downside.

And here it is: Gatheredtable is not free.

But in this case, your money is well worth what you will receive in time saved, in money saved, and in time spent with your family–enjoying healthy,  home-cooked meals together.

And we have a super deal for teachmama.com readers.

The good folks from Gatheredtable are offering a 40% discount on annual subscriptions to all customers who sign up via this post–that’s $72/year. The promo code to receive this discount will be automatically attached to users’ account when the click on any of the links in this post.

So? What are you waiting for? Visit Gatheredtable and sign up now. Give it a go!

I was given a 30 day free trial for the purposes of writing this post, but I will definitely pay for the year after that. I think it’s worth it.

A few Gatheredtable fun facts:

• The Gatheredtable platform is so easy to use that your kids would probably love to be involved! Teach them how to use it, and then you can plan meals together. You may be surprised at how much your kids love making meals with you.

• 1% of Gatheredtable profits go to The Edible Schoolyard Project, a national non-profit organization founded by Alice Waters in Berkeley, CA.  The mission of the ESYP is to develop and share edible education curricula with schools across the country

• The Gatheredtable #homemade14 challenge asks people to share a picture of their homemade meal every day on social media. Customers who successfully complete the challenge (and post about it every day) will be entered to win their choice of a Gatheredtable Starter or Pro kit of kitchen tools. (In order to be entered to win, readers must use #homemade14 and #gatheredtable in at least one meal-related post/photo each day for 14 days starting anytime between January 4th and February 1. Posts must be on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.)

• Follow Gatheredtable on social with the hashtag #mynewdinnerroutine, and you’ll get a sense of the fab recipes and community: Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Follow on Instagram

What do you think, friends? Think it’s something worth checking out? What questions do you have? I’d love to help!

 

fyi: This post was written as part of a partnership with Gatheredtable. All opinions are my own, influenced only by my experience as a parent and educator and by my three little up-and-coming chefs.