HOW IT WORKS
DinnerBeat is easy! When you register, you get a personal Recipe Box and your own online Calendar that lets you plan your meals in advance. Then our system generates a customized Shopping List, so you are sure to have the right ingredients every time! You can even add other items to your list; then save, print, or email it.

The Calendar
Your DinnerBeat Calendar is at the heart of your new, easy-to-use menu planning system. You can create an interesting, diversified, nutritionally balanced menu for a week, a month, or as far ahead as you like, simply by clicking a button. Just click on the calendar, then the recipe (or vice versa), and choose “Schedule it!” DinnerBeat will automatically transfer the recipe and ingredients list.

When you click on the day’s menu, the recipe pops up so you have complete instructions right at hand.

The Recipe Box
At DinnerBeat, you get a free electronic Recipe Box as a permanent place to store all of your meal ideas. You can copy your personal recipes into the Recipe Box, import recipes from our community recipe list, or find recipes on the internet. With permission, you can also peek into your friends’ recipe boxes and import meal ideas to your box!

The Shopping List
When you copy a menu to your Calendar, DinnerBeat automatically copies the ingredients to your Shopping List. Then, when you are ready to shop, simply add any additional items you need for the household, and print. Or, you can work on the List today, and save it for a later shopping trip. You can even email it to someone else!

Friends
DinnerBeat can be just a menu-planning website, if that’s all you need and want. Or, it can be your doorway into a new community of like-minded friends!

Whether you are cooking to a special diet, or looking for exciting new menu ideas, you can make DinnerBeat friends and share recipes, ideas, tips, and techniques. You can even invite your own neighbors and friends to join DinnerBeat, where you can peek into one another’s Recipe Boxes to share favorites!

How I use DinnerBeat
As the creator of DinnerBeat, here’s what I do. Each week, I take a peek at my mom’s calendar to see what she has planned for meals. If I like one of her ideas, I add it to my own Calendar, and then add side dishes from my Recipe Box. Later, when I’m ready, I print out the Shopping List and head to the grocery store.

Sometimes, when I have a special occasion – like the Thanksgiving Brunch I cooked last year – I’ll go looking for a special dish. I found a great Apple Coffee Cake recipe on the internet. So I added it to my Recipe Box, where I have it stored for the next special occasion – or for that rainy day when I just want an extra-delicious treat!

Before I go shopping, I click on to the Shopping List, where I add things like cereal and milk for breakfast and cold cuts for lunch. When I’ve got everything, I hit the Print button.

I find that shopping to the list saves me time, because I know I have everything I need; it saves me money, because I stick to the list; and it helps me provide better meals, because I’ve pre-balanced my family’s diet!

Automate your Menu
If you’ve got a very active lifestyle, or just a hectic week coming up, you might want to let DinnerBeat automatically create menus for you. All you have to do is click on the ‘Automatically Schedule’ button (located on the Plan Meals page), and DinnerBeat will select main dishes for you. If you regularly rate your dishes, DinnerBeat will select from your family’s favorite meals. Then you just add side dishes, and let us prepare your Shopping List!

DinnerBeat is quick and easy! Register today to start taking advantage of all of our free services and features right away!