I came to MMM just a couple months ago. I loved what I have read. And like so many others, I started to make changes. June was declared a no-eating-out month at our house as that was the out-of-control area for me. This included no more coffee shop hangin out with my 14-year-old (something we both loved), no more runs to the co-op for cookies, no more smoothies at dutch bros or ice cream at dq, and no more "I'm too tired, had too long of a day, didn't plan for dinner" eating out. We did it! And more importantly the following things were gained:
- kids (11 and 14) had fun, yes, fun coming up with creative alternatives (like baking our own cookies, making our own smoothies' etc., hangin at the library)
- 14 yr old now is loving being responsible for one night a week dinner (finding the recipe, going shopping for ingredients, putting it together, serving it, taking 11 yr old's tastes into consideration)
- I rekindled my love of cooking, and teaching my kids to cook and bake. I really needed the creative outlet!
- kids have done lots of math with comparison shopping, and have a blast finding the deals, or finding the fake deals
- it saves so much time to be prepared with meals planned, ingredients on hand
oh yeah, and despite a 20% increase in the grocery bill, we saved a boatload! (I'm too embarrassed to say what out eating out run rate has been).
The best thing of all is that no one felt deprived; in fact we all voted to keep it up!
As an interesting tangent, we have decided to re-purpose the living room (rarely used but open floor plan to the kitchen ) as a "homework" room once school starts again, so that while I'm cooking, I can help with homework or projects more easily if needed. This because the kids had so much fun in June hanging out with me and talking about the day while I was cooking.
So there's my save money and improve quality of life anecdote. More to come as we have only just started.
Hey Mrs. MM - just finished cooking a batch of Bolognese sauce from scratch. Thought of you while I was doing it...wondered if you wouldn't like it a lot given your diet. Freezes really well. Junior MM might love it; my finicky boy does.
later everyone!