Meal Plans Without

by Anthony Thompson

Every once in a while, I come across a service that is such a good idea that I have to find out how it came about. This week I received information about a web site that offers meal plans for people with food sensitivities, mostly gluten and dairy sensitivities. The site is Meal Plans Without. In a previous post, I discussed the importance planning what we eat and portioning our meals so that the most beneficial foods make up more of our diet. How much more difficult this is if you have food sensitivities? So, when I heard about this site, I knew it was something I had to share.

The president of the company, whom I spoke with, has a sensitivity to gluten. Her battle with trying to plan out meals that would meet her needs and also be enjoyable for the rest of her family was the impetus for the web site. The site was put together with the help of 2 nutritionists, a professional chef and her husband, who handles the technical side. What they have done is set up a program of flexible menus that allow you to plan your meals and shopping for a week at a time. This can be done in just minutes on your computer and you are able to print out a shopping list to take to your local grocery store.

There are also some hidden benefits as well. They try as much a possible to use whole foods and to avoid specialty "gluten free" or "dairy free" products because these tend to be expensive. I think this is a real advantage because you can find many specialty products online, yet is expensive to include these in your diet on a day to day basis. Another advantage is that most markets will have the products, so you don't have to shop online or at specialty markets. While this site can also be valuable for those of us just looking to eat better by cooking for ourselves, it is a real find for those of us that have to follow a restricted diet.