My Build A Menu Story
A few years ago I learned about a new meal planning service called Build A Menu. This service promised to help me plan menus for the week, and save money on my food budget. It seemed too good to be true, but I trusted the woman who told me, so I figured I'd give it a try. It turned out that Build A Menu was even better than I expected - in addition to planning meals and saving money, a portion of my subscription was donated to kids in need. Karee and Lisa, the sisters who run Build A Menu, are homeschooling and adoptive moms with huge hearts for orphans. I love this!I have been a Build A Menu subscriber ever since. My kids and I even did a stint writing "Cooking With Kids" recipes for the Build A Menu blog.
Meal Planning How-To
So how do you plan meals with Build A Menu?- Choose the store you like to shop at most
- Pick your recipes (breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides, desserts and snacks)
- Build and schedule your menu
- Print your recipes, shopping list and calendar

Saving Money
Karee, one of the Build A Menu sisters, has a background in financial planning, and a passion to help families live within their means. Saving money is one of the central purposes of Build A Menu. Here are some of the ways I save money with Build A Menu:- When choosing recipes, a little window pops up that shows the ingredients. I really appreciate this feature because I buy many items in bulk. So when money is tight, I can choose recipes for which I already have most of the ingredients.
- Because recipe selections vary to match the seasons, ingredients in the recipes I pick are often on sale.
- Each ingredient on the shopping list is shown with the price most recently found at MY store! So I know exactly how much I will spend to make a recipe. This is a super cool feature.
An Example of Why I Love Build A Menu
A while back we went on a road trip to New England. We drove from Massachusetts back home to Texas in 43 hours. I was exhausted. But guess what? I'm a mom and the show must go on. I woke up the next morning, got on Build A Menu, and in 10 minutes had a menu ready for the week. I was so happy I wrote to Karee and Lisa:I was just throwing my shopping list together and marveling that even though I am exhausted from driving back to TX from MA in less than 2 days, I am going to be able to fly through my grocery store this afternoon in under 30 minutes, and have ingredients for 7 fabulous dinners when I walk out the door. Those dinners plus sides and a lunch or two came to something like $55, and I won't even spend that much because I already have some of the ingredients.
Awesome Sale - Only 67¢ a Week!
Build A Menu is running a huge sale right now - more than 50% off a year long subscription. Normally $76, you can sign up for just $35 right now. That works out to only 67¢ a week! I know I save much more than 67¢ a week using Build A Menu.They offer a 30 day, 100% refund policy. No risk - if you sign up and find it's not for you, just cancel!

Patti Brown home schools her three children in the heart of Texas. She blogs about the home arts with her daughter at Blossoms and Posies (http://blossomsandposies.com/
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