We are officially half-way  through our month of no take-out. So far we have stuck to it, and I have to say I really haven’t missed take-out meals at all. I’ve been a little more than burned-out on the local restaurants, so cooking everything at home has been super tasty. I have been keeping up with the extra dirty dishes fairly well too, so I haven’t been living in the kitchen 24-7. I have also really enjoyed trying out a lot of new tasty meals for the family too.

There are a few things that I have been tricky this month… The snow kept me from making an Aldi run, so I had to shop locally only, and that is a little pricey. Also I was in need of an ingredient to make some awesome fried chicken, and had to hit up three different local stores, and yep, none of them had what I was looking for. I hope to make a run to K.C. and stock up, or maybe one day just move up there already, and then I won’t complain about shopping as much.

The family has been pretty good about the no take-out month. James has been really happy with the menu, but his co-workers are making things a little tough. They have been bringing in take-out meals non-stop to his office, and I know that bugs him a bit. I’ve made a lot of his favorite dishes, and he has liked the new desserts too. So far his favorites have been the Panko Crusted Fried Chicken and the Mini-Blueberry Pies.

Dylan hasn’t had any complaints. He has been really good about trying the new dishes and likes a few of them too. He happily ate the Cheese Grits at breakfast for dinner night, and he put away the Chicken Couscous.  He is usually the pretty mellow one anyway, but I’ll count it as he is a happy camper and doesn’t mind the homemade-fare.

Thade, on the other hand, isn’t happy about the no take-out experiment at all. He keeps telling me that it is the worst month ever, and he hates February, and he wants Pizza Sandwiches. It cracks me up a bit, Pizza Sandwiches are a homemade dish, not take-out. I’m sure that by the end of the month, he will be a little less grumpy. I’ve been making a lot of his favorites too, and asking him for extra help in the kitchen. Helping out with the cooking seems to cheer him up a bit.  Thade loves Spaghetti night, and Hot Dogs, I’ve served those a couple of times to make the little guys happy.

So far so good, I hope to keep it up for the rest of the month.