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Are You and Your Family Sick of the Same Tired Dinners?
Start a dinner swap in your town
Many of us cook the exact same meals week after week because they are quick and easy. If you and your family are sick of the same dinners, add some variety to your weekly menu by starting a dinner swap in your town.
What is a dinner swap?
A dinner swap is a group of people who get together as often or as infrequently as they want to swap meals. Some dinner swap groups meet once a week or once every few months. It is completely up to you and your group. Your group can also consist of as few as two people or as many as ten. Just remember, the larger the group the more meals you will be cooking. It might be better to break up a large group of people who are interested in dinner swapping into smaller groups. Between three and five members per group is ideal.
How does it work?
It’s simple. Each person in the group picks one meal and makes enough for everyone. For instance, you might decide to cook lasagna. You would cook one pan of lasagna for each person in the group. Everyone then gets together and exchanges meals. You will leave your dinner swap group with a variety of meals that you can freeze and heat up throughout the week.
Dinner swap tips:*
- Note any allergies at the first meeting
- Note how many people are in each family so you can make enough food
- Bring your meals in disposable pans with reheating instructions attached
- Include the recipe with your meal so your friends can make your meal again if they like it
- Consider assigning each person a theme so that you don’t end up with duplicate dishes
- Establish a menu of favorite meals that each member can choose from
- Make sure you have plenty of room in your freezer
Make your dinner swap even more fun with a contest*
Contest ideas:
- Recipe using the fewest ingredients
- Recipe that is the fastest to prepare
- Recipe that is the least expensive
- Recipe that is the fastest to get on the table from freezer
Starting a dinner swap in your town will not only help you to save time and money but it is a great way to build community in your neighborhood. If you have always wanted an excuse to get to know your neighbors, a dinner swap is a great excuse and something everyone can benefit from.
So go ahead and spend the extra time you would normally use in preparing dinner to sit down and enjoy a great meal with your family.
Recipes to get you started!
Here are a few links to some quick and easy recipes.
If you have a great recipe that you would like to share, tell us about it!
Submit your recipe
*Suggested tips and contest ideas from
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/568563/starting_a_dinner_swap_group.html?cat=51
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