In my previous article, I talked about forming co-ops to share resources and save money. One of the co-ops I talked about was the meal co-op. I think this is a great idea. So, let’s talk about it a little bit more.
In a meal co-op you share meals. You cook once or twice a week and have a week’s worth of varied meals to enjoy. Not only do you save money by shopping and cooking in bulk, but you save time, too. You will be less likely to rely on convenience foods or take out foods on those busy or tired evenings. As you know, those easy meals can get expensive very quickly.
Here is how a meal co-op works. Team up with one, two or three friends. A meal co-op of four would allow you to have a different meal four days a week. Depending on how everyone cooks, this may allow you enough leftovers to eat for the whole week, or you could supplement the week with a freezer meal, a take out pizza, etc., if you don’t want to cook more than once a week. You can also start out small with just one other friend and then invite others as you get your system down.
Each member of the co-op chooses or is assigned to one day of the week. On that day, the cook delivers meals to the other members of the group, usually in the morning or afternoon, so dinner isn’t interrupted. Some meal co-op groups distribute the meals at work, making delivery really easy. Consider your schedule. It might be easy for you to drop off meals after you drop of your kids at preschool, for example.
Next up is part 2, where we’ll talk more about how the co-op works, about cooking the meals and about delivering them.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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