We made it to day 25 of the no take-out month, and the family couldn’t take it anymore. I picked up some donuts as a peace offering and ended the month, they were relieved. To be honest, I was surprised that we made it that far, they were pretty much ready to end the project after week one.

The kitchen kept me extra busy, I tried out a lot of new dishes, and made the usual take-out favorites for lunch. The dishes seemed to be never-ending (the next house I’m getting a dishwasher for sure), and I went through two bottles of dish detergent for the month. I also used the crock pot at least three times a week, that really helped out.

The kiddos really wanted take-out, specifically take-out with Uncle Rob. They asked for Pizza 51 and Crayola Cafe a handful of times. We’ll have to go on a road trip to K.C. soon.

James was a really good sport about it, but he was really relieved when I called the project off. I didn’t miss take-out at all, I always crave what isn’t here anyway, but I was really tired of washing all of those dishes.

I did notice a few things though… For the entire month I never had to fuel my van, without the extra trips here and there, I saved on gas money. I didn’t save on the grocery bill at all, I was hoping too, but I had to shop locally only (snowed in) and it adds up fast. On a happier note, even though I made a ton of extra desserts, I lost 5 pounds for the month. I thought that was pretty cool.

I don’t think we will take on this project again, it just wasn’t worth the grumpiness from the family. It was a fun experiment though, and I’m happy to have tackled some of my cooking fears. March will be here soon, so I had better get a menu plan together.