So we are moving into week 10 of the no-repeat dinner game.  I have been doing well so far.  A few times I have really, really had to stretch – Meat and Cheese Platter?  But it worked for my family.

We are learning quite a bit along the way too.  We are still eating dinner at the table together usually 5-6 of each week.  We have slowed down our eating out to once a week or less.  Because we have slowed down our eating out and I am planning two weeks of meals at a time I am not running to the grocery store every day to get a forgotten ingredient, which usually costs $3-5 but I usually end up spending $50 while in the store, our food bills have decreased by about 25%.

I have done my research and have meals planned through July.  The nice thing though is that if something goes on sale at the store I have my book with me and can swap a bunch of ham meals (like last week) into the rotation when the ham was on sale.  I am also less likely to impulse buy items wondering if we are out or not because I have all the ingredients I need for the meals in my note book .  I almost bought Panko bread crumbs last week thinking we were out but I realized I had crossed them off my list because I switched out the meal that called for them until later in the month.  Back on the shelf the bread crumbs went instead of sitting in my pantry for 3-4 weeks.

My children are more interested in dinner at home.  They love to quiz me.  “What’s for dinner mom on May 18th?” they will ask.  I know it is homemade macaroni and cheese, one of their favorites.

It is also difficult to post each day a picture of the meal the next day, I also do not post pictures of our meals when we eat out, only the meals I make, but I am caught up now and will hopefully be a bit better about posting them sooner.

The only downside to all of this are the nights I really don’t want to cook and really, really want to order a pizza or Chinese food because it is easier.  I may move around some of my meals to bring an easier meal up but I cook anyways.  Though now I am really craving a pizzeria pizza.  Guess I will have to work that into the meal plan.