We don't usually do commercials here, but this one definitely merits an exception.  Our own Karee Blunt and her sister, Lisa, have started a business called BuildAMenu.com.  The "press release" below from Karee explains how it all works in detail. Two key points to remember, though:  1) BuildAMenu is a very powerful tool to help people stay within their grocery budgets and 2) A portion of the profits from this business go toward orphan care charities.

Be sure to read the information below, then go to the website if you need more information or to sign up to participate in BuildAMenu.

After almost two years of research, planning and finally development, my sister and I have finally launched our new business and we’re so excited to tell everyone about it! We’re thrilled with the initial response we’ve had, but since we’ve only been open a few weeks, we need all the help we can get spreading the word and would like to ask for your help. If you know anyone who would benefit from using our website, would you please tell them about us?

The business is called Build A Menu and you can see our website atwww.BuildAMenu.com. Be sure to read the About Us page, so you’ll know why in the world we decided to conjure up an online menu planning service. We’re fairly certain we’re crazy to be doing this, but our motivation is clear to us and we hope that you will be excited about it as well.

In a nutshell, here’s what Build A Menu (which we lovingly refer to as BAM) is:

• It’s an online menu planning service featuring weekly meal plans that we put together based on store sales. (We chose 6 stores to feature, plus an “Any Store” plan, with more stores to come in the future.) We search the sales each week, plan recipes around those sales and get them ready for our members to use.

 

• Each week, members get to choose recipes from any of our meal plans (Family Friendly, Low Fat, Sensible Portions (based on Points Plus system), Low Carb, Gluten Free, and Vegetarian), as well as any of our Side Dishes, Breakfast, Lunch and specialty recipes (Dessert of the Week and Cooking with Kids).

• After choosing meals for the week, just click Build A Menu to get a customized grocery shopping list, broken down by category (Produce, Meats, Frozen, etc). You’ll also get all your recipes ready to print for easy reference when you’re ready to cook that week.

• One super neat feature on the website is the Build A Menu calculator. It shows you approximately how much your groceries are going to cost as you add each recipe. (That way, you’ll know if you need to choose a few of our less expensive recipes to complete your weekly menu plan.) A very cool way to help you stay within your grocery budget!

• We offer meal plans that serve 4-6 people, as well as plans that serve 1-2 people. We even have a “Crowd Pleasers” menu that serves 8-10 – great for larger families, or for planning meals for company, potlucks, etc.

Our goal is for our website to be a blessing to people in three ways: by helping families easily stick to their grocery budget (we know this can be very difficult to do!), by encouraging families to bring mealtime back to the dinner table, and by donating part of our proceeds to the orphan care charities we’ve chosen (you’ll want to read the About Us page to know what that’s about). We think that will be a winning situation all the way around!

Thank you in advance for your time and for sharing this with your friends and family. We hope you enjoy visiting our website!