Menu Planning Website

For my course project, I'm working on creating a website that will provide a week's worth of healthy and flavorful recipes, designed for busy individuals who are not used to cooking at home. This week, I scoured the internet to find a website that might be a good model for what I'm planning to create, and found one that has some good characteristics...and also some ways that I might change and improve their design and organization for my particular implementation.

Eat At Home: Everyday Food for Busy People (http://eatathomecooks.com/) is a blog that publishes a weekly feature with pre-planned meals (6 dinners and one dessert). The current menu (http://eatathomecooks.com/2010/10/menu-grocery-list-recipes-year-2-week-8.html) features several slow cooker recipes to be prepared before work, and then several that can be completed quickly. In addition, there is a PDF shopping list, organized by type (produce, dairy), and including printable versions of each recipe. Each recipe includes clear, concise directions, and the online versions also include several images of the finished dish and/or steps along the way. While the recipes aren't always ones that I'm interested in eating, the layout and organization does make it easy to use the entire set.

What I find frustrating about this site, however, is its organization. Since the site has multiple purposes, it isn't always easy to see what recipes are there--and what the week's meals are once you get further into the week. Also, once you navigate to the individual recipe, the only way back to the weekly plan is the "back" button on the browser--there's no link between it. Finally, there is little support or illumination in the recipes themselves. While there are images, they are often only raw ingredients and finished dishes--not intermediary steps to clarify directions. In addition, there is no clear resource for understanding specific vocabulary--such as the difference between "dice" and "mince." The overall layout is cluttered with advertisements and non-helpful links, with no defining characteristics for the active parts of the page (where the recipe is). I am impressed that they've been producing weekly dinner plans for families for over 2 years now, however, there really isn't an easy way to go backwards in time to find older recipes, or any running organization for meals sorted by main ingredient, cooking time, etc. While I may borrow some of their recipes for my site, I think there's enough that needs to be changed about its organization and flow so that mine will be distinct from this environment.