I feel like planning weekly meals should be easy. We will have X, Y, and Z to eat this week and I need A, B, and C ingredients to make that happen, right? Somehow it’s just not that simple, though. I spent the better part of Saturday trying to puzzle together our plan for the week and I’m still not confident that I won’t be back at the store by Wednesday.

I struggle with meal planning {just like I do with cooking} because my creativity does not extend to the realm of food. Give me the choice of every fabric in the fabric store and I can make you a pretty quilt, give me a pile of random ingredients and the likelihood of me making somethingl that’s not boring or gross is not high. I can’t really put my finger on why this is, honestly, but it’s super frustrating.

And lets not even get into the anxiety that’s caused when someone messes up my plan. For example, 50% of this week’s plan was based on the ham my husband was supposed to bring home from work Saturday night. When he didn’t bring it home and I had already done the shopping, my head started spinning all over again. About ham. I don’t even like ham, but THE PLAN WAS MESSED UP AND ZOMG NOW WHAT?

So yeah. I have issues.

Anyway, this is what I came up with for the week. Some recipes are new, some are old, all are from tried and true Paleo recipe sources so I’m confident they will be yummy. Now I just need to move on from the absence of ham.

• Salmon Taco Bowls
• Ham {or, you know, some other protein} with Lemon Brussels Sprouts and Cumin Roasted Carrots
• Hot plate {inspired by } ingredients: roasted chicken thighs, ground beef, olives, fennel, eggplant and bell peppers

I’m going to try something different next week. As much as I love the concept of Melissa Joulwan’s hot plates, I just cannot wrap my brain around the quantities of veggies that I would need each week and how I will know from day to day what goes with what. Maybe someday, but for now I need more structure.

With that in mind, I decided to snap up the Groupon I found today for a 12 month subscription to eMeals. I love that everything is laid out for me, one week at time, including a grocery list. Right off the bat, I don’t love that I can’t add my own staple grocery items or add recipes to Ziplist {which is how I manage my grocery list}, but I feel like the time I save on planning meals may just make it worth my while to overlook these shortcomings.

Have you tried eMeals before? I’d love to hear about your experience with it – good and bad.

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{Disclosure: This post is in no way sponsored by eMeals – all ramblings are my own. If you click through the links in this post or on the right side of my page and purchase any of the products, I may receive a small percentage from the respective affiliate programs.}