I’m on a mission to save and make some cash, right?  Isn’t everyone?  And I get tons of “money saving tips”  and “fast and easy menu ideas” in my e-mail all the time.  So today and next Friday, I’m going to try one and let you know how it went.  Kraft’s Food & Family magazine is full of recipes and coupons and such.  The price is right (it’s free) so it’s worth a try.

One of the features of the website for Kraft Food & Family is what they’re calling 1 Bag, 5 dinners.  This concept intrigues me so I thought I’d take a look.  The premise is that time and cash strapped shoppers can not only get through the grocery store fast, they can get food on the table in a hurry too.  A key feature of each of the menus I surveyed was frozen “It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno!” pizza every Friday.  Pizza and a movie night?  Awesome.  The  copy claims all the ingredients will fit in one bag and all of the menus feed 4 to 6 people.  Nutritional information is included and that is a huge plus for me. The dishes all seem like things my not-too-fussy eaters will enjoy also.

Immediately apparent negatives:  No side dishes are included.  Not a salad, not a vegetable, nothing in most cases.  I can’t see that flying too high in my house.  Now, I should clarify that vegetables are included in a lot of the dishes and one dish features a side of corn on the cob.  However, a cheeseburger by itself is not dinner, know what I mean?

Anyway, I thought that – just for my six loyal blog readers – I would give these a try.  I’ll have to make concessions for the fact that I need to feed five every day so I’ll allow 2 bags but Monday morning, I’ll hit up the store and see if the claims are true.  Next Friday, I’ll review the menus and let you know if they liked it.  Okay?

Have any other things you want me to test and review for you?  Leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can do.