Did you ever hear of the "Atkins at Home" program? It was an Atkins Nutritionals version of the popular "Diet to Go" online program--you choose the plan, and they send you seven or 14 days' worth of meals at a time. Frozen and delivered in a nice cooler with dry ice.

I did the "Diet to Go" thing a few years ago (low fat, didn't work) and must say I enjoyed it but finally quit because it was just too expensive and, I now realize, low-fat just doesn't do it for me. Now, Diet to Go has a low-carb version, but they aren't any cheaper. Still about $135 a week--LOTS more than I can spend. But it's interesting to look at a "typical" menu for low-carb:

Breakfast: Western Omelet with Fajita Veggies, Sausage Links

Lunch: Baked Turkey Cutlet in Curry Sauce; Onions & Peppers; Cauliflower

Dinner: Crab-Stuffed Flounder w/ Dill Sauce; Cauliflower; Green Beans; Creamed Spinach

Then, in today's spam E-mail folder, I found an unsolicited e-mail from Pure Foods Low Carb, which apparently has taken over the business of Atkins At Home. They're running a special of $5 a week off their regular price of almost $250 a week. YIKES! Can people really afford that?

The attractive thing about these pre-fab programs, if you're independently wealthy, is that you can have something different every day. Granted, they don't teach you much about meal planning, but the mindlessness of it is attractive to me, as well as the variety. I have pretty much the same thing all week long. Oh yeah, I know, Superwoman can plan her meals ahead, cook up a storm on the weekend, create a freezer-full of low-carb meals already prepared that she can pop out on a moment's notice. I'm not Superwoman, just a poor schlep who works full time, doesn't like to cook, and wants to do fun things on the weekend.

So back to sauteed mushrooms and grilled chicken breasts for me.