Swap dinner with friends to save money and time.

Despite your foodie and planning skills, it takes commitment to cook from scratch every night. Between the grocery shopping, the prep, stove time, and cleanup, it’s enough to make you put down the spatula and reach for the takeout menu. But you don’t have to sacrifice eating homecooked meals to spare your wallet or time. Instead, think about starting a cooking co-op—a meet-up where members bring a dish to exchange for other dishes so everyone ends up with a week’s worth of delicious homemade meals.

To start a co-op, here are our suggested steps:

• Find 5-6 households to participate (no more than 12 people total so you can easily cook a dish). That way, you walk away with dishes for four subsequent evenings. (Four leaves flexibility to go out to dinner, eat leftovers, etc. on the other days).
• Pick a day and meeting time that works for everyone (Sundays seem to work well). Also, start by making your co-op a once-a-month event so people don’t feel overwhelmed.
• Agree on which containers to use so everyone ends up with the same type. Everyone divides their dish into four containers and trades for four different dishes at the event. We recommend BPA-free, 7-cup glassware as it can be safely used to reheat dishes.
• Cook a dish that can be easily frozen/refrigerated and reheated like a soup or a casserole. Also, always practice safe food handling!
• Make your co-op fun and interesting by trading recipes, serving cocktails or assigning a type of cuisine to each person for a good mix of dishes.

For recipes and more advice, check out:  Dinner At Your Door.

Image via What Katie Ate.

Tags: Cooking at Home, cooking co-op, cooking swap, Food, Organic Food, Recipes, Swap, vegetarian recipes