3 Months of Dinner

A few months ago I started keeping a calendar of what was planned for dinner for the week.  This helped me to make sure I used up all the food I bought for the week (and thus decrease waste and save money).  However, it also turned into a great way to guilt my husband and myself into eating healthier. With the calendar being taped to our fridge, we are constantly reminded of what we have been eating (even if it is only dinner). It has really helped us be more proactive about eating more nutritious things.  Also, it has helped to cut back on our eating out at restaurants.  Before I started documenting what we had for dinner, it was commonplace for us to eat out for lunch and dinner every weekend. Now, that is a rare occurrence, and we try to only eat out when we are away from home for an event (movie, concert, vacation, etc.) or I am mentally/physically unable to prepare dinner (July 30th).

The only drawback is that with us preparing more dinners at home our recipe rotation is getting pretty old.  Things that we once loved (and would get me so excited when I thought of it at lunch), are now so blah.  Now just to find new recipes!


Key:

L.O. = Left overs
*OUT* = Went out to eat...
CHIX = Chicken

Sadly, we have stopped eating linguini and clam sauce (our cheapest and easiest meal) due to OD'ing on it.  Husband guy has also informed me that grilled cheese sandwiches are now a 'no' - he/we are trying to cut back on bread and cheese.

Interestingly though, I have gotten good about making meals out of random crap we have in the fridge (see July 24-27).  It saves money and helps to clean out the fridge! I always thought dinner had to comprise of, well, "dinner food."  Now I am comfortable knowing that for us the only requirements for dinner is that it includes food, and that it would be great if the food was somewhat healthy.  So, hardboiled eggs + random fruit in smoothie form + assortment of leftovers can be a perfectly acceptable dinner.