Julie is a busy mother of three and works part time as a computer programmer. She taught high school math for a few years and looks forward to getting back into teaching when her kids are a little more independent. Favorite Movie: Amelie Favorite Treat: Whoppers (the malt ball kind)

Pete is married to Julie. He has spent the last decade working with video, multimedia, and web applications in the educational sector. He hopes his kids don't grow up so he doesn't lose his rock-skipping buddies. Favorite Movie: Breaking Away Favorite Treat: Whoppers (the burger kind)

The Mealplanner 101 Story

The concept for Mealplanner101 emerged after a good friend of Julie's shared some simple yet unique ideas on meal planning. Julie was stunned at how a few straightforward techniques on meal planning could make such a difference in her everyday life.

The timing couldn't have been better as Julie was frustrated with trying to prepare three meals a day for a family of five each day of the week. On top of that, Pete was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and had some new specific diet requirements which added to the mayhem.

Even though Julie likes to cook, and comes from a family of good cooks, she never learned how to meal plan or even thought about it before. She was so overwhelmed with the task of trying to feed her family on a daily basis that she never stopped to consider the overall process involved.

She began breaking down the process into small simplified steps. Once this was done, the process became much more manageable, which lifted the stress and frustration levels that she previously experienced with trying to feed a family of five.

It didn't happen overnight, but with a new approach to meal planning Julie started making a single trip to the grocery store each week, spent far less time and money at the store, and was able to plan and prepare healthy delicious meals for the whole family all week long.

According to Pete, the best part was seeing Julie much more relaxed and calm in her everyday life. When mom is stressed out, everyone feels it. Since meal planning is source of stress for most families, Pete thought it would be a great idea if Julie could share her approach to meal planning by teaching the information on a DVD. Mealplanner101 was born.

It's not a 'quick fix' solution, though there are many great tips and techniques that can be put into practice immediately. The main goal is to share an approach to meal planning that will work for you and your family over the long run. Enjoy, and please pass it on.