I began my game of seeing how many dinners I could make before I repeated a meal.  I had gotten lazy in my shopping, planning and cooking.  We were having pasta three nights a week for dinner, hot dogs once or twice a week and picking up fast food or eating out the rest of the week.

I decided to start planning two weeks of meals (coinciding with paydays).  I now shop once every two weeks for staples and 2-3 times in between to pick up perishables such as fruits, vegetables, milk and eggs.

I noticed several things already:

Since we have been planning meals our eating out has been reduced.  Normally we would eat out 2-3 times in a two week period.  We have not gone out for dinner in two weeks.

Because I am planning my meals two weeks at a time I can think about what I will have leftovers for and how I can use them in another dish.  Roast Chicken one night- Chicken Soup another night.  Need Oyster Sauce for a recipe?  I will make sure to use it at least once or twice in other meals over the course of the next two weeks so I will not be throwing away half a jar.

Food waste has greatly reduced.  I am throwing away very little food.  Everyone wants the leftovers for lunch the next day so everything is being eaten.

So far, so good.  This is going to get more difficult as my work schedule picks up but I plan to see how long I can keep this going.