A Food Experiment

Our household is embarking on a food experiment. I setup a monthly menu that is posted on the fridge.  With the exception of leftovers, foods are only repeated every 30 days (one of the goals is to get that 60 days).  There are a few no pasta weeks in there at Mom's request.  I am planning to add in one dessert a week.

Here is the next couple of weeks:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
n/a	n/a	Hamburgers, Fries, Green Beans	Leftover Pasta & Sauce Garlic Bread Leaftover meatballs green beans	Taco Night Turkey Tacos (soft shell) spanish rice salad wax beans	Spaghetti & Meatballs (likely to change)	Leftover Tacos
Mac & Cheese Brocolli Oranges	Chicken Fingers (Kate makes these) Pears peas seasoned, roasted red potatoes	Turkey chili, Rolls, Apples salad	Pot Roast Mashed Potatoes Green Beans Gravy Bread	Leftover Turkey Chili (love this stuff!)	Leftover Pot Roast (hope it is good enough to eat twice!)	Daddy-Daughter Dance I'm working it, Kate and her Dad are attending it!
Homemade Pizza Salad Oranges	Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breast Salad Pears	Leftover Pizza! salad fruit of some sort	Spinach & Artichoke Calzones bananas Dessert?	Turkey Dogs Tater Tots Salad Fruit Salad	Leftover Spinach & Artichoke Calzones Salad fruit salad	ECHS Murder Mystery Event!
Turkey Dogs Salad Oranges	Italian Sub Stoup Salad Oranges	Grilled Chicken Breasts salad Beans Apples	Leftover Stoup Salad Oranges	Cheesy Penne Bake Salad bread	Salmon Burgers Cucumbers, Tom Wedges bananas	Leftover Cheesy Penne Bake salad broccoli

The only rules:

1. the occasional no pasta week, 
2. 1 veg and 1 fruit at every meal,
3. 30 days no repeats.

Possible future rules:

1. 1 no-meat day a week,
2. 60 days no repeats,
3. 2 vegs 1 fruit at each meal.

We'll see how this goes first.

So you can see I had very little "health" rules here.  I am not expecting this to result in any great health benefits except those you get from sitting at the table with your family and eating together.  Also I think for the most part this will be slightly healthier than eating out because the portions will be smaller and we can control the oils, the fats, the salts, etc.  Tomorrow is our first leftovers day.  We are trying to clean out the fridge before we have to clean it out.  Novel concept in our house.

This all started because Kate and I are notoriously difficult eaters.  Mom will often say that she would have started us dinner but she didn't know what we'd eat.  So here it is, this is what we will eat.  Plus, I am trying to be more frugal, you can see there are leftover nights all over the place.  There are very few eating out nights and those are planned ahead.  I have the calendar done through March 26.  I'll share it as we go.  Many of these recipes come from my Rachael Ray Cookbooks that I got for Christmas, there are also some internet sources, my 75th Edition Better Homes & Gardens, a Kraft Family Cookbook, and my Joy of Christmas.  I am actually pretty excited and wish we were starting tomorrow with cooking!  But also, the food is there and needs to be eaten while it can be done so safely!