Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

poohbear59

I like the new headings weezl:D They fit in better with the overall colour scheme.
And of course the layout of the recipes.

tiamai_d My sons don't like porridge and one of them doesn't like cakes either. The reason for the ready brek is to make sure you get all the necessary vitamins. I think so long as you get the ready brek into your diet in some way, that is the important point.

In the end I made savoury biscuits for DS2 so he got his ready brek. We also made muffins for breakfast from our instant oats. If you want more ideas just ask:)

poohbear59

weezl Shall I go through the vegan recipes too? I haven't even looked at them yet. I could do that when it is quiet later tonight.

shanks77

Here is a piccie of my pizza tonight its for 2 people in case anyone thinks im a real piggie lol

shanks77

weezl74 wrote: »

no don't blush, it's cool! It means the changes are subtle but good

shanks you are such a cutie, I hope you know that?

Aw shucks first time i have been called that

shanks77

Allegra wrote: »

Shanks, well done you :T I like your kitchen - it has that shabby chic character going for it :cool: And like Weezl, I like that pile of yeast, too !

Thanks not sure about the chic part but the first bit is def true xx

queen_of_string

Hi Weezl, I'm going to stick my neck out here a bit and take a risk. It's just my opinion as ever and in RL people can choose to ignore it as usual.

I think you're wrong about the not advertsing. Yes, things can grow organically and virally, but even then they need a little push.

You are working on the idea that a lot of Shirleys are here already, on mse, and motivated. These may not even be the tip of the Shirley ice berg, and having found mse and dfw and all the other threads, they might be happy with their payment a day and tackling a debt in 100 days and making £10 a day. These Shirleys might be less interested than the average Shirley in reducing their food bill.

Shirleys who want and need to reduce their food bill might be Shirleys who are turned off by dfw, feel like it's not for them etc.

Every product and idea needs to reach a tipping point. Those of us on the thread are early adopters, we need (I think) to get the word out to everyone else by whatever means are available to us in this modern age. I think the only reason some of us ( me) are holding back from doing this, is that this is very much your project and we dont want to do anything that might make you feel uncomfortable.

I have no idea who, among my friends, relations and face book contacts needs this plan. Their debt problems are not something we dsiscuss, however, by posting about this on facebook, it reaches all of them , so they can access it privately without me ever knowing.

I think we are waiting for your permission to tell people.

Nic

Ambersuccubus

Hi Weezl,
Thanks for giving me a chance to explain my thinking on this. I've watched you lovely folks pour tons of resource into this; I may not always have agreed with some of your thinking, but the overall intent and the outcome (both current, ie planner 1, and projected, multi planner resource) have been astounding particularly in the time frame you have had.
I would hate to see this wasted.
I am concerned that you are in fact indulging in very parochial thinking, biased almost, by saying that the planner has to succeed "at home" before you will spread out. Luvvie, I hate to break it to you, but most of the world that has computers and could access your resource at all doesn't "do" community any more - be that physical, or even online really. Folks dip in and out of things, pay attention for a little, then move on.
The sense of community your project has fostered may mislead you, but don't be mistaken. These (even the regular lurkers) are very special people. But I think your work has a wider value, and you'll need to get people to look at it for them to make the decision. And the only way to do that is to let them know it exists.

Marketing talks about the stages of involvement in a product, service or cause, and the first is AWARENESS (or sometimes attention, it's part of one of those acronym things!). People can't decide if it's useful or not without knowing it exists, and I think that restricting your lovely volunteers from spreading the word by whatever means they have available is unfair to them and to the project.

The next stage is Interest - where all the nice informational tags and links in your website come in, as well as your method videos and pretty pics...but awareness MUST come first!

The 3rd stage is Desire - I think this is where you're trying to jump to...you want to deal with people who want to be helped! But the standard is that it is rare for someone to come in and this stage. Most people don't know what they need or want - they can describe it's effects (I want to have money left at the end of the month instead of the other way round; I want my family to eat well, but can'tafford x)

And finally we come to ACTION - which is where you want Shirley to be, helping herself and her family with the assistance of your good selves. But it does take time to get there, and I think you're cutting your nose off to spite your face if you don't allow for the first 2 stages, because you want to get to the "sexy" final bits.

Meh, it's of course up to you. And if it's really that your family needs your time more, that's more than fair enough!

queen_of_string

Me again.
The website has really come on and it's so refreshing to use a new website where all the linkies work and the layout makes sense.

As someone mentioned previouslly, when writing websites, or advertising,they tend to be set out in a certain way to cover everyone's needs. I used to know the theory of this, but my grey cells appear to have turned to porridge of late.

any way

I'm a big picture person. For people like me, it would really help if, on the first page of the website, it said something like " meal plans, recipes and shopping lists that feed a family of 4 for 80p a day" or something along those lines. For someone like me, having to read a block of text, quickly reads as "blah,blah,blah". Only once you have me hooked with the big picture statement will I be motivated to read the rest.

Now you might be thinking "ah but that's just her" IIRC about 25% of the population are like me in this respect ( about the only time I fit in a big group LOL).

just a thought. Please dont be discouraged by my comments, I love this project and passionately want it to succeed. When you start recruiting people to go out and do workshops on it, can I have a job please?

Nic

Ambersuccubus

disclaimer:
the above is all my personal opinion, and in no way meant as any form of personal criticism.

I have been told I can be a bit blunt!

weezl74

Ambersuccubus wrote: »

and I think that restricting your lovely volunteers from spreading the word by whatever means they have available is unfair to them and to the project.

Ah! Ok I'm getting there slowly amber, stay with me

So people think I'm saying they aren't allowed to tell others in whatever way they like. That's a shame, I never meant to imply that

I was more thinking that if the testers didn't feel able to share the recipes or whatnot with people on MSE (which IS an audience of those who want to save money, I'm guessing) then why would they want to say it on facebook for example?

So you feel I'm ignoring the awareness phase, and not doing enough to make the jump from interest to desire? Is that right?

And if so, what do you suggest?

Also, do you feel comfortable giving your marketing advice, I don't want to pressurise you, bcause I noted that you don't agree with the thinking behind the project (which is fine! ) but I didn't know if thst meant you are still comfortable advising us