I love cooking on a whim. Sometimes on the weekends, I like to find a new recipe, run to the store for the ingredients and prepare it that day. However this is not feasible  most of the time and I must have a dinner plan laid out. Dawn at Menu for the Week says, “The hardest part of dinner is not the cooking.  It starts with deciding what to have and figuring out what we need.”

Dawn let me try her menu planning service and I am very impressed! She plans five days worth of dinners and puts them in a printable format for her readers. The dinners are  family and budget friendly. One of my favorite aspects of her weekly menus is how crisp and clean they look which makes them easy to read. I love using recipes with photos and her plan includes several each week.

Her recipes, which use  easy to find ingredients, have a helpful comment prior to each one. She always tops off the weekly recipe file with a  brunch and a dessert recipe – some of which are new to me and sound AMAZING- as well as a shopping list.

Once you are a member of  her site, you can access the online cookbook to find “that casserole I made a few weeks ago, but now can’t find the recipe” as well as previous week’s menus.

Dawn offers a free weekly trial at MenufortheWeek.com so you can see what I’m talking about and you can also request a sample menu. The six month membership is $25. Ladies, this might be something to put on your Christmas list for your guy, its a win/win. Your job is made easier and he will love the good food!  This service could also be a perfect gift for a new mom who wants to cook but feels a little overwhelmed, as a housewarming gift or for the hard to buy for person at Christmas.

Because of Dawn’s budget and family friendly ideas, recipes and menus, she is one of My Best Picks.

You can visit her at MenufortheWeek.com.