Food Group {saved my life}

Food Group 

When you are newly married cooking can be extremely intimidating but you do it anyway because who wants to eat out 6 days a week 3x a day? NOT ME! (and I of course love my husband!)

I remember running around from work, to school, to the grocery store, and back home just in time to finish making dinner so that I could have it on the table for Eric when he got home (he to was working full time and going to school full time.) 

It became extremely exhausting and I wanted that to change. 

I enjoyed cooking, but after a long day, it was one of the last things I wanted to be doing... soo... I made a change.

I had remembered something my mom and aunts did when we were little, it was called food group and here is how is worked...

• There were four families involved; In order for it to work right, each family needed to have a similar number of people in it. 
• Each family would pick a meal they wanted to eat for the week and prepare enough for everyone in the group. For Example: If each family had 3 people in it you would need enough food for 12 people and you would split that evenly by 4. (a meal for you, and a meal for each of the families.)
• We would then pick a day we would consistently meet each week and we would rotate houses.
• When we were together we would simply explain what our meal was and give the instructions that were needed to finish the meal
• and just like that we would have 4 meals that were prepared and ready to cook for the week! 

Needless to say I decided I NEEDED this in my life. so I gathered a few couples and started a group of my own.

It has been such a blessing to not have to worry about dinner everyday. 

I have done this every week since Feb of 2015 and it is still going strong. 

It not only saves money.but it also gives us a bigger variety of meals each week, and we get to try things that we probably wouldn't have otherwise. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Food Group

• Can we have more than 4 families in our group?
• Yes you can but here is why I only have 4
• 4 days worth of meals, one left over day, Date night, and sunday dinner
• Should the meal be cooked all the way? 
• Depends on the meal. If you go to my recipes it will give you suggestions for how prepared the meal needs to be  
• How much do you typically spend on a meal?
• There are only couples in our food group at the moment so we cook enough for 8 people. price varies anywhere from $10-$40 depends on ingredients I have in my pantry.  We try to make a variation of things. (Occasionally steak is provided... because we love the men in our lives.) The better the meals are the more successful your food group will be . Spaghetti every week just isn't acceptable. I used this as an example to my gtoup when we were first starting (as a joke) and spaghetti has yet to shown up in the whole year I have been doing this. I like spaghetti... 
• Do I provide sides for everyone?
• Typically you do not provide sides for everyone. If it is something that would be good with rice, I usually will include uncooked rice. 
• What do you trade meals in every week?
• I had each person buy 11 cup pyrex containers with lids from walmart so that if we made a casserole it was all ready to be put straight in the oven. As well as it is way more cost effective then having to buy throw away containers each week. Also, if someone decides to leave the group you don't have to try to track down all of your containers because you all the same containers. 

IF YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO ASK IN

 THE COMMENTS OR BY EMAILING ME! 

People in the group have come and gone as they pleased so we often need a spot filled, you can always check if the spot needs to be filled by contacting me at my email (ssbbww@gmail.com) or on facebook. If you create a food group of your own, I would love to hear about it and the ways that it has blessed your life and if you do anything different then what I have stated. 

HAPPY COOKING!:) 

Stay tuned for food group recipes!


P.S the other thing that saved my life was Walmart Grocery Pick up!
If you haven't tried it, you should because it is incredible. You order your groceries online (you have to do it the day before), schedule a pick up time, and then go to the store at your pick up time (they will even call you to remind you!), call them when you are on your way, park in the designated parking spot, and then they will bring your groceries straight to your car!! How fantastic is that?? I pick up my groceries right after work and it takes 5 min of my time!!
CHECK IT OUT at this link,
Walmart Grocery Pick Up