MenuForTheWeek.com and Dawn made the front page of the Thornton-Northglenn Sentinel on Thursday Feb 12, 2009.  Click to check it out.

Press Release

MEAL PLANNING WEBSITE MAKES HAPPY MOMS AND HEALTHY FAMILIES

Thornton, co, december 1, 2008: Dawn Billesbach, a Thornton, Colorado mom committed to restoring the family dinner to prominence, has launched a website, menufortheweek.com. The site organizes the planning and preparation for dinners every week; economically putting nutritious, tasty meals easily within the time constraints of busy but consciensious homemakers. Family dinner has increasingly lost its place as a priority for many families due to an increase in activities that take family members in many directions for work and play. Statistics prove, however, that eating the evening meal as a family still plays a significant role in the positive everyday life of children.

For less than a dollar a week, menufortheweek.com offers 5 dinner recipes, 1 brunch recipe and 1 dessert recipe weekly for subscribers along with a categorized grocery list.  No recipe has more than a 30 minute active preparation time. Meals average 12.00 each to make and feed 4-6 people. Other member perks include tips and strategies for successful meal planning, lunch, breakfast and snack ideas and an entire recipes database.

Dawn tells of her own struggles and successes that she wants to share with her subscribers. "Of all the things I do that make my life a little easier, I'd have to say that planning our meals by the week is by far my biggest life-saver.  Unfortunately, it is a long process.  From the time I sit down to figure out what we are having until the time I am done putting my groceries away takes up the better part of a weekend morning.  I used to dread it and complain often about having to do it.  But lately I have come to embrace it for all the stress it relieves, all of the time and money I save myself, and most of all the joy it brings our family to sit down every night to a yummy meal that I didn't throw together frantically at 5:00... I will share with you a variety of recipes.  These are all recipes that my family and I have tried and loved."

According to Gayle Peterson, PhD., "Sharing family dinners sets the stage for us to value our family relationships, rather than take them for granted. Consistently having dinner together as a family also keeps us in touch, allowing us to trouble-shoot problems in daily living, as well as keeping us abreast of our family members' activities and life experience. It is in the family group that we develop an ability to discuss, to express our opinions, to be ourselves and allow others to be themselves. We feel less alone in the world when we know there are people who love and care about us, no matter what we are going through."

The website is direct and easy to navigate. There are samples of weekly recipes and a shopping list there for prospective subscribers to examine to see what they get each week. This valuable site is sure to be welcome by mothers everywhere as they try to make their families' lives better and their own life easier.

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