Wildtree - Blue Apron - Hello Fresh 

Let's start by saying I love to cook.  I find it relaxing and enjoyable.  Trying new dishes and finding what my family likes gives me a sense of accomplishment.  Don't worry; I have made other accomplishments in my life other than dinner on the table!  hah

However, day after day I find it harder to pick recipes.  I get bored easily.  I can't eat the same meal over and over in a short span of time.  I like variety.  Don't get me wrong, I love my favorites too!  But with two kids now, I have a little less time to thumb through recipes books.  For a couple of years, I did Wildtree.  I am now alternating between Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. So here's my personal opinion and breakdown of all three.

​The concept I liked behind Wildtree is that you attend a Freezer Meal Workshop.  You bring your meats and prepped veggies, plus a ton of freezer bags.  At the party, you add the spices, seasonings, and oils (all Wildtree brand) to the bags.  Recipes and directions are provided. When everything is in the bag, you double bag it, go home and toss it in your freezer.  I became a rep because I liked the product.  I never marketed myself.  I just did workshops with my friends and neighbors when they needed more meals to stock in their freezer!  I stopped being a rep because of their policy changes.  I no longer sell the stuff, so I can assure you that I am honest in my feedback ;)

Pros

• Ten recipes yielded about 15-20 meals in my experience.  The full recipes were too large, portion wise, for my husband and me.  So I often split a recipe between two bags.  
• Kits were pricey, at $80, but lasted two batches of recipes on average.  In the end, they were very affordable.
  
• Helped me pick meals without worrying.  Quick and easy choices.
  
• I could have dinner ready for a snap some nights because the prep was finished ahead of time.
  
• The second stage of prep was always fun because I'd have a group of women come over, we'd snack, drink, and prep our bags.
  
• All of their products are organic, and many are gluten-free!
  

Cons

• A Labor of Love.  There is a lot of prep work.  You do ALL the prep in advance.  So it can seem laborious at the time. 
• Overkill on the onions.  The recipes use a lot of onions.  I like the flavor, but often it seemed like I could half the onions they called for, and the food still tasted great.
• You have to defrost the meals before cooking.  So you have to select meals on, say, Sunday so that they'd be refrigerator temperature by the time you want to make them.
• Sometimes I'd have to add my own side items like starches or vegetables, so I still had to think that out and factor in the cost there.

Overall Cost

• Freezer Meal Kit.  $80 for the whole thing, but like I said, sometimes it lasted two batches worth.  So I'd guess $50 for one batch of recipes to be safe.
• Meat & Produce.  Between $100-120 per kit.
• To be on the more liberal side, let's say $170 each time I made a round of recipes.  If I get 15 meals, which is definitely on the low end, that's $11.33 per meal.  (Not per person, but per couple).  Some kits I was able to get upwards of 20 meals, which brought the cost down to around $8.50 per meal.  Not bad!

With Blue Apron they send you ALL the ingredients you need for recipes except for oil, salt, and pepper.  

Pros

• No need to go grocery shopping, as it all comes to your door.
• I don't have to buy an entire bottle of something I may only use once and for a single tsp.
• I can choose from 8 recipes weekly.
• Customer service credited me when they sent the wrong recipe.
• I've learned a lot of new techniques for cooking food.  Times, layering of ingredients, and more.
• Food has been very good and helped open our palates to more things.
• Blue Apron comes via UPS for me, my UPS guy is good and places the box behind my large pillar out of direct sun.

Cons

• Oil heavy. Lots of pan searing.  So far, three weeks worth of recipes, have all called for oil.  I wave swapped my olive oil, at times, for some grapeseed oil or coconut, depending on the recipe.
• Portions were exact.  We have never had anything left over.  (This is a con to me because I typically eat leftovers for lunch the next day)
• Requires doing multiple things at once which can be tricky if you're not great at staying on top of things.  For one meal, in particular, I had the oven going along with three things on the stove.  You have to time it just right to make sure everything is hot at the end!
• I have heard a high number of mistakes with them.  Sending the wrong items.  Missing items.  Etc.  In the two months, I've been doing this, I've only had one mix up, so this wasn't my experience, but others have reported it.
• Vegetables and starches are all mixed together, so you'll need to sort them as you put them in your fridge or dig around on the day of.
• Blue Apron ships from the Northeast, so it takes a little longer to get here and I would imagine it would be colder if it had less transit time.

Cost

• Three meals, for two people, per week is $59.99.  That breaks down to $19.99 per meal.  So less pricey than a restaurant, but more pricey than regular old fashioned meal planning.

Hello Fresh is VERY similar to Blue Apron. Meals are sent to you on a chosen day of the week.  There are just some minor differences between the two.  
Pros

• Hearty portion sizes.  We regularly had a little of the side items left over that I could nibble on the next day for my lunch.
• Easy recipes that require doing one thing at a time or two simple things at a time.  
• Fewer steps to prepare the meal than Blue Apron.
• Meals come in paper bags so everything is pre-organized and I can grab the bag and get to work.
• No need to go grocery shopping, as it all comes to your door.
• I don't have to buy an entire bottle of something I may only use once and for a single tsp.
• I can choose from 8 recipes weekly.
• My box ships from Jacksonville (within my own state) so the food seems colder as long as I bring it inside as soon as it arrives.

​Cons

• Up Charge ($10) for premium items like steaks.
• Also, lot's of pan searing with oil.
• Salads, I might be the only one here, but a salad is not a side item for me.  I like salad, but I need a little something extra with my protein besides a salad.  Some meals come with a side salad.
• Seasoning packets.  A few meals have come with "southwestern seasoning" or "Italian seasoning," and I am not 100% sure what ingredients are in there.  I could probably figure it out on my own, but I like to know exact ingredients and amounts, so I can replicate in the future!
• Comes via Fed Ex and my driver just dumps it at my front door which blocks my ability to get out my front door and also sits in direct sunlight.

Cost

• Three meals, for two people, per week is $59.99.  That breaks down to $19.99 per meal.  Some items, like steaks, are premium meals and have a $10 up-charge.  

In the end, I like them all.  I've stopped doing Wildtree because I am finding Hello Fresh and Blue Apron to be a tad more convenient.  They are, however, more expensive.  Strangely... I've tracked my grocery spending for the last two months, and surprisingly it has not gone up (I place BA and HF in my grocery budget).  It's staying right about $150 a week for groceries, which is what we averaged before the meal delivery programs.  So, for now, I'm going to continue alternating (based on the week's menu) with meal delivery.

I recognize that some of my Pros and Cons are very specific to me and may not happen to others, but I'm just reporting the whole picture!

If anyone is interested in trying either Blue Apron or Hello Fresh, I can send you a FREE week! Here is the LINK to the Hello Fresh Code.

 Just send a request below for Blue Apron.

     Let me start by saying that I am posting this late.  I completed this program right before I left for a trip last week.  I typed most of it then.
     Twenty one days ago (Monday, July 6th) I started the 21 Day Fix.  Have I seen results?  Yes!  Did I stick to the program 100%, no.  I stuck to the eating plan Monday-Friday and did my best on weekends, but I slipped up a few times with some treats on Saturdays and Sundays.  As far as workouts go, I have never been good at workout videos.  I like to dance and I do better when I follow dance moves versus pushups, lunges, etc.  So I didn't stick to those very well either.  I would say I did pretty good, considering I didn't follow the program to a T.  

                         Before                                   After
Chest:               30.5"                                       30.5"
R. Arm:              10.5"                                      10"
L. Arm:               10"                                         10"
Waist:                 32.5"                                      30"
Hips:                   36.5"                                      35"
R. Thigh:            21.5"                                      18.5"
L. Thigh:             21"                                         18"
Total Inches:      162.5                                     152"
Weight:              124.6                                      118.2

     As you can see, I've leaned out a bit in the midsection.  This was my goal with trying the 21 Day Fix. I was not trying to lose weight, just lose the baby fat that's been hanging around for 2+ years.  I plan to continue following the meal plan and exercising regularly to see how much further I can go!

     I came across some nice food related items last week.  I am always looking for something that make my life a little easier without creating too much unnecessary waste.  So I wanted to share these with other moms and dads.

     I have been slowly buying little things on sale that my son will need for school.  This August he will be attending a pre-school for a few mornings a week.  The kids eat lunch at school and so I bought a Pottery Barn Kids Backpack and matching lunchbox when there was a 40% off sale in May.  I wanted to find a container that fits in the lunchbox, so I don't have to use plastic baggies every day. I found the Sunsella Bento Boxes on Amazon. It came as a four pack for $14.99. The reviews were good and they don't have yucky chemicals. You'll notice that there is room on the side for a drink pouch or box.  My plan is to send a thermos with water (we haven't introduced our son to juice yet).

Yesterday I posted about rehabbing a dresser I found (brand new) for very cheap.  I'm not sure if it's a true rehab because the piece was new, but I changed the look to match my son's future big boy bedroom.  The dresser itself was $150 (in the store it would be $500 + delivery charges). I bought it from a neighbor who purchased it from the store 6 months ago. See the post HERE. 

Below is my finished product.  Nothing majorly different, but I feel like it is a much better fit for my son's future bedroom and it's nautical theme.  The dresser was $150.  The six knobs, rope, and construction adhesive came to $38 at home Depot.  What do you think?

Before, just in case you didn't see my post from the other day.

     I see cutesy rehabs on Pinterest and Facebok all the time and think "Pshht, I don't have time for that!"  Well, I am going to attempt to turn a girly dresser in to a more masculine piece for my son this week.
     I recently got a hold of a brand new white dresser for super-cheap! It would look great in my son's nautical room.  Only problem is, it has a girly wave pattern under the top row of drawers.  I was initially going to paint the wave blue to match the nautical theme.  Then my mom came up with an idea to buy some thick rope to cover the girly wave and switch out the knobs for metal ones that match the other metal elements in his room.  So here are the before photos...

     I started working on it yesterday, but I haven't finished it.  I need to refine the details.  The new knobs are loose so I think I need some washers and the rope needs to be secured better!  Stay tuned for the final product. :)

     It can be hard to post photos of one's self for the world to see.  No matter what body type, we all have those trouble spots that we don't like. I didn't decide to start this process to lose weight.  I am starting it so that I can tone my body in the places I feel that it needs it as well as develop healthier eating habits.
  Click on the first photo and you can shuffle through them in a larger size (if you really want to see me that close!)

As you can see I am not overweight, just lumpy in some places.  My belly never went back to it's original state after having my son.  Want to see what my belly looked like, exactly 3 years ago?  The picture on the left, that was the day I found out I was pregnant with my son, July 1st, 2012.  The picture on the right was about 1 month prior, with my husband on the right and my long time friend in the middle.

What am I doing to do this?  I am attempting the 21 Day Fix.  Join me on my journey to get my body back before I get lumpy again ;)

     Okay, so my son is nearing 2.5 years old now and I never really did much to get myself back in shape.  I did lose most of my baby weight, but I was left a little soft and lumpy.  So now, before I travel down the road of motherhood again, I have decided to do something to help myself.  
     I am starting the 21 Day Fix. Many of you know I am not a fan of these programs, but I figured I'd give this one a shot because so many people swear by it.  I am not officially starting it until next Monday.  Before I start that I am doing a little Belly Buster group.
     For five days I am eliminating all added sugars.  only naturally occurring sugar is allowed. I am pairing it with some ab blasting exercises!  Until I looked over the list of "added sugars" I never realized how awful our food is for us!  Half of the items in my pantry and refrigerator have some form of added sugar to them.  What a disappointment.  So I went for a quick shopping trip and brought the list with me.  It took me an hour to get a few items for this week, but I was proud of the fact that I stopped and carefully read each label!

Do you want to see the list of added sugar???

56 Different Names for Sugar from Women's Health Magazine.

Feel free to follow me over the next month and see my progress :)

     Back in November we randomly put our house on Zillow's Make Me Move to see what we could sell it for.  Four weeks later, it was sold and we had moved out!  It happened fairly quickly, we did not expect it to actually happen at all.  We did it just to play around.  Now five months later we've settled in to our new home in a new city, but not far from where we were.  This meant creating a new play space for my son.  I have to be honest, I wasn't as motivated this time around.  Probably because I was unpacking boxes and arranging an entire home!     The new house has one bedroom downstairs, we chose to make that the playroom because it's the main living floor.  I used a lot of the same furniture but incorporated a few new things.

The room is set up different and slightly smaller than the old play room so I had to move things around a number of times to get it the way I wanted.  These photos show a messy room because my son was just playing in here a few minutes before snapping the photo.  I love that he can play and then I can just shut the door if people come over. No, not with him inside...  No mess to be seen behind a closed door!  the closet is filled with unopened toys, a bookshelf with my old classroom picture books, arts and craft supplies, and larger ride on toys.

     Last week I saw a post on my Facebook feed from a newly wed girl I know.  Her post named a few things that she would never do once she becomes a mom.  It got me to thinking about all the things I said I would "never" do.  

     Becoming a mom changes you.  I used to hear this all the time and, frankly, it scared me.  I worried that I would lose the parts of my that I loved.  The things I enjoyed would be stripped from me.  I wouldn't be able to do "cool" things.  Life would change and I'd be stuck at home on a Saturday night. I was worried about venturing down the road to parenthood.

     Two years in to this gig and I have to say that I love it.  Yes, my life changed.  It changed for the better.  I don't care that some of my friends are out at bars, clubs, fancy restaurants on Saturday night.  Frankly, none of that even interests me these days.  I didn't lose the parts of me that I loved.  I am still me.  I still get to do the things that make me happy.  I have a new joy in my life.  My son.  I love seeing him happy.  I love doing things with him so that he learns about the world around him.  Do you know what the most exciting part of my day was on Saturday?  My son said "What do I hear?" when a neighbor was mowing his lawn. That may not seem like a big deal, but two year olds are supposed to START saying two-word sentences around this time.  He said a FOUR-word, complete, sentence!  It was awesome.  To people without kids, this probably sounds lame.  I can honestly tell you, that as a parent these moments are amazing.  If you're not a parent yet, you'll get it one day, I promise!

     The mommy wars are real unfortunately.  It seems like everyone wants to be that perfect mom.  Perfect doesn't actually exist.  Everyone's perception is different.  What is my definition of the "perfect mom?"  It is someone who works tirelessly to do what is best for her kid(s).  It's someone who admits that she was wrong about what she used to think about parenthood and laughs about it with her friends.  It's a mommy who is always learning and doing better.  That is the perfect mom, no matter what path they take with their child, as long as they are working in the best interest of their child, in their particular situation. Oh and guess what, sometimes that "perfect mom" is really a dad!  I know I had certain ideas about being a mom and they have changed dramatically over the last two years.  Experience makes you wiser.  You change your mind on a lot of things as you mature and jump head first into this crazy thing called parenthood!

     Here is a State Farm commercial that reminds me of this whole topic as well.  No I was not paid to put this up, it just reminds me of this post I saw the other day...