Dinner Co-op

So my friend Angela asked me if I wanted to be in a dinner co-op with her. "What is that?" is all I could say. She went on to explain that we would get 4 people, including the two of us, to be in it and then we would each have a day, Monday through Thursday, that we would cook for the 4 families. Then on the three days it isn't ours to cook - dinner is brought to us! I was on board before she even finished describing it. This could be so great for me - I could eliminate so many 5 o'clock panics! She said that she had done it before and had loved it. There wasn't much to it - on your night to cook, you cook a main dish and one side (and easy sides too - a loaf of French bread, or bagged salad) and you have to have it delivered by 5:00. You deliver everything ready to cook with cooking directions. I was in for sure.
So she got the four families selected (she picked families roughly of the same age and number of kids) and then the four moms all got together and shared with everyone our family's regular meals. People would ask what was in it and say if they thought their family would eat it. A few meals got black-balled - no meatloaf, stroganoff, or sloppy joes in our group! Then we picked what days we would cook - Tuesday is me. That was all there was to it. Angela made us a 2 month menu - so we know what's coming every day and what we're cooking. And we only cook our own recipes so it's totally easy.
And then the first Monday rolled around - that afternoon, brought to my doorstep -spinach manicotti and a cesar salad kit. All I did was heat it through in the oven. It was totally delicious! The kids liked it - Derek and I loved it. It was the greatest!
Tuesday I cooked Swiss Chicken and baked potatoes. The chicken was totally easy to make and I just washed and wrapped the potatoes. I gave the families sour cream and chives too. The response was good too - everyone emails their reviews so we know if we should cook it again or not.
I told my sister about this and she said that there was no way this was going to happen without some kookiness and I'm sure she's right. There's bound to be a lot of dinners that we don't like and some mix-ups along the way - but I think it might work out.
Tonight Tex-Mex pork wraps were delivered and tomorrow I'm making a lot of lasagna. I think this could be really good to get my kids to try things I don't ever make and hopefully we'll be a little less picky!
As for the kookiness - when it happens, it'll make a fun blog!