30 Meals In One Day Review and Giveaway!!

We all have busy lives and don't always have time to cook dinner.  Or sometimes last minute things come up during the day that need our attention or maybe you just don't want to cook.  I'm 36 weeks pregnant with an 18 month old and really don't like having to cook EVERY day and I know when the baby comes making dinner is going to be even more challenging.  It would be nice to have a few meals ready to go in the freezer and it's cheaper than buying the frozen ones from the store.

30 Meals In One Day is a system that includes a recipe book complete with 150 freezer friendly recipes that can be bought with or without the software which I'll discuss later.  The book has step by step instructions on how 30 meals can be made and frozen all in one day!  The recipes are divided into sections depending on how they're  made; slow cooker, oven, stove top or assembled.  It's not necessary, of course, to make 30 meals as we don't all have the time or enough pots and slow cookers to do it all.  The book explains what equipment is needed, how to choose the right recipes for your family, how to prepare the day before cooking, what order things should be done on cooking day,how to package the meals for the freezer and of course instructions for thawing.

The software has all the recipes that are in the book but simplifies everything even further by including shopping lists.  You choose the recipes you want in your menu plan and a shopping list is made automatically then based on what's in your kitchen you can add or remove anything you want.  The list divides the products into categories making your shopping trip faster and easier.  The software also allows you to add your own recipes.

I decided to start with five recipes since it would be next to impossible for me to spend all day in the kitchen with my toddler running around.  I chose recipes that had similar ingredients so I'd be able to make large batches of whatever needed to be cooked.  I also made sure that since I only have one oven and one slow cooker that I'd only be making one recipe done each way and the other three were assemble recipes.  This would further streamline the process as I wouldn't be waiting for the oven or slow cooker.  The recipes I chose were porcupine meatballs, grandma's beef stew, chili beef and rice, beefy macaroni and almost ravioli.  I went shopping the day before and chopped up some of the veggies when I got home.  For grandma's beef stew I bought stewing beef that was already cut into cubes,

The morning of cooking day I tried to get everything together that I thought I would need before starting any cooking.  Then I measured everything for the beef stew, threw it in the slow cooker and turned it on.  That's one recipe done and 4 to go!  The meatballs were equally easy.  Just a matter of mixing everything together, shaping into balls and putting into the oven so I did that next.  For the last 3 recipes I cooked all the ground beef together.  Then I separated it as needed for each recipe and added what was called for.  The different pastas and rice were all of course cooked separately.  After that it was just a matter of assembling everything together into foil pans, covering it up and sticking it into the freezer when it was cooled!  So in a few hours I had made enough to probably last my family at least 10 meals which will help out greatly after the baby comes!  When we're ready to eat it's just a matter of pulling something out of the freezer and following the directions for heating it up.    I'll probably be using the cookbook a lot too just for making one meal at a time as many sound quick, easy and tasty.  It was all a very easy process even for someone like me who doesn't really like cooking.

More information and how to order can be found on the 30 Meals In One Day website.   If you enter the promotional code CAROUSEL upon ordering you'll get free shipping.  

All comments are my own and I was provided with the book and software for review purposes.  

One of my lucky readers will win the Dinner Is Ready book and software combo!  Just leave a comment letting me know what your favourite food is.  Contest ends on June 13th and is open to Canada and the US!

For extra entries:

1.  Follow me with GFC and comment that you did
2.  Like my blog on facebook and comment that you did
3.  Subscribe by email and comment that you did
4.  Follow with networked blogs and comment that you did
5.  Follow on twitter and comment that you did
6.  subscribe by email and comment that you did
7.  Like Dinner Is Ready on facebook and comment that you did
8.  Comment what your favorite recipe is on the 30 Meals in One Day website