Need help planning meals for your special diet? Check out eMeals and get a bonus recipe for Paleo Basil Cashew Chicken Salad
Let me start off this post with a confession: I am not a good menu planner. Never have been, and still haven’t been disciplined enough to make it a lasting habit! I look on with envy when I see people posting photos on Instagram of their weekend meal prep. If only I was that organized!
I do weekend bread-making for my kids and husband, but when it comes to meals, I just kind of wing it… Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t! One of the obstacles I face in using pre-made meal plans is that many aren’t tailored to the many food allergies we have in our house.
Since I am meal planning-deficient, I am getting a little help with meal plans and getting some fresh meal ideas with eMeals. I joined the eMeals blogger network and they gave me a 1-year eMeals subscription to try out and share with my readers.
I had never tried a meal planning service like this before, and I was pleasantly surprised to find healthy meal plans for several kinds of special diets. The one that is closest to what my family can eat is the Paleo meal plan, with a few changes (no eggs for my kids and I and seeds subbed instead of nuts for my kids).
Fresh meal ideas are really important for us too since we sometimes end up in a food rut during weeknight meals and I get too busy or tired to get creative. Kinda sad, but true! You busy moms know how that goes 🙂 The eMeals plans are sent to your inbox once a week and they include cooking instructions, ingredients, and shopping lists to make things easy.
Despite the fact that I really stink at meal planning, there are so many great things about meal planning:
- Less food waste
- More family-oriented meals and less dining out
- Healthier food choices
- Budget-friendly
- Better dietary variety and less meal boredom
eMeals makes meal planning easy with their 13 meal plan options (which you can switch between at any time). They include popular ones like Clean Eating, Paleo, Gluten-Free, and Low Carb. The basic meal plans include dinner, but there are options for adding lunches, breakfast, and desserts.
And here’s a bonus recipe from one of the eMeals Paleo menus: Paleo Basil Cashew Chicken Salad.
Paleo Basil Cashew Chicken Salad
Paleo, dairy free: Free of: eggs, soy, peanuts
Ingredients
- 1 rotisserie chicken
- ¼ cup homemade or organic mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup thinly sliced fresh basil
- ¼ cup chopped cashew halves and pieces toasted
- 2 medium cucumbers sliced
Instructions
- Remove breast, thigh, and leg meat from chicken; discard bones.
- Chop meat into bite-size pieces.
- Combine chopped chicken, mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl; toss well to coat.
- Stir in basil and cashews.
- Serve with cucumber slices.
Nutrition
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and healthy living blogger based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Jody - Fit at 56
I am not paleo but a lot of the food fits for me! 🙂 YUM!