Dine Without Whine: Online Meal Planning Service Brings Families Back to the Table

In March 2005, Christine Steendahl was a stay-at-home mom of three and her family was feeling the pressure from a tight budget. Wanting to stay home with her children, Christine decided she needed to get creative. After brainstorming various ideas to bring in extra income, Christine had her lightbulb moment when she was preparing her weekly menu like she does every week. “Menu planning is a very helpful thing, but it takes time,” says Christine. “Why not share my menus with other busy moms to make their lives easier?” So Christine researched what was currently available on the market and found various menu planning websites, but none that were focused primarily on simple recipes for families. And Dine Without Whine was born.

Dine Without Whine is an online meal planning service for families. For $4.95 a month, subscribers receive an email with the main dish recipes for every night of the week, suggested side dishes, brunch menus for the weekends, and a couple of desserts to use during the week anytime. Recipes are family friendly and come with a grocery list categorized by aisle.

Clever Parents caught up with Christine to find out some of her family’s favorite meals, food staples to keep in the house and an upcoming service for vegetarians.

Clever Parents: What are some of your family’s favorite meals?
Christine Steendahl: We enjoy many things, some standard things such as Spaghetti or Baked Chicken Breasts, and we also enjoy trying new kid-friendly recipes. Here is one of our latest favorites:

Hot Taco Salad
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 envelope taco seasoning mix
• 1/2 16-ounce bag tortilla chips (or Nacho Doritos)
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 medium tomato chopped
• 1/2 head lettuce chopped

Sauce

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 pound Velveeta cheese

Directions:

• Brown hamburger, drain, add taco seasoning mix and set aside.
• Crush chips into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Spread hamburger mixture over chips.
• Layer onion, tomato and lettuce on top of hamburger.
• In a large saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour and stir continuously until smooth. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil – stirring constantly and boil one minute. Add Velveeta Cheese and stir until melted. Pour sauce over casserole.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until bubbly.

Clever Parents: What food staples do you recommend families keep on hand?
Christine Steendahl: This is going to vary from family to family and what your favorites are. I encourage members to shop the sales and stock up on the basics your family frequently uses. I often will stock up on certain items such as ground beef, chicken breasts, pork chops, oatmeal etc. when they go on sale. Our menus include a grocery list each week that includes everything needed to create the menu recipes including the basics such as flour, spices etc. All members need to do is print the shopping list and then cross off anything they already have on hand. It is quick and easy.

As for vegetarian families, Christine says she has had several requests and is working on a 12 week menu that will be available as a one time purchase option in the near future. (The menus can then be rotated every three months.)

What does Christine find most remarkable about how families respond to her service? “It has been the biggest blessing to hear how we have helped families come back around the dinner table and re-discover the pleasure of the dinner hour.”

Look for a regular column from Christine coming soon on Clever Parents. Visit Dine Without Whine (www.dinewithoutwhine.com) to learn more about the service and to sign up.