Help me stick to not eating out this month!

[pampered_mom]

I've done a pretty good job of cutting our spending down so far: cancelled our very basic cable (only way to get any TV here), land line, water filtration service, changed some insurance coverage on our cars, etc.

BUT...the bane of my existence continues to be that we eat out WAAAAYYY too much. The worst part is not only do we out, but I continue to go grocery shopping for the meal that we plan to eat - and in some cases the food goes bad in the fridge.

I don't know what excuse I have really. I'm a SAHM and I LOVE too cook - in fact it's one of the things that I so looked forwarded to when I was working outside the home and got home too tired to cook. What can I say? I'm still tired (not from working outside the home, but from chasing around an 18 mo old little boy who gets into everything) and many times the last thing I want to do is make meals. Oh...and I never know when my dh will be home for lunch (he always comes home for lunch) or dinner. Even if he says he'll be home at a certain time that's rarely the case - which if I don't have dinner prepared or in the process of being prepared before then he's quick to suggest going out and I'm quick to accept.

SO...anyone want to join me and not eat out at all this month? You don't have to be a SAHM. Can we share suggestions on motivation? Thoughts on making the whole dinner making process easier while still maintaing culinary appeal? Thoughts on scheduling?

Anyone?

[kerc]

Interesting that you post this -- I just came up from the basement where dh and I were discussing ways to avoid eating out. We'd been out late tonight and dh looked at me and said "oh yeah, there's leftovers in the fridge." as if to say "yay we don't have to eat out in order to eat in 10 minutes."

and so we are trying to continue to do the same. Here's the basic plan:
1. make a list of stuff your family likes to eat that you can eat quickly when you're tired. My mom called these "emergeny dinners" -- Ours begins: pancakes or waffles
grilled cheese
quesadillas
bean burritos
frozen or canned soup
In the past for me it has been a frozen pizza. I'm too tired/busy/distracted/whatever to cook and I can just pop it in. It isn't as cheap as I can cook, but much cheaper than eating out.

2. make sure you have stuff for one of your emergency dinners on hand.

3. Allow yourself some leeway. We routinely write up about 5 dinner menus when I make the grocery list. One night is typically leftovers and sometimes the other night is dining at a friends, or take out or one of the emergency dinners. Stuff happens in my life, when I make a strict meal plan I can't stick to it. When I plan for 5 nights and am flexible on which meals which night, I tend to stick to it better -- your mileage may vary.

4. Post the menu for the week on your fridge. Think about what you're having at breakfast (or better yet, dinner the night before). Take out the chicken you're defrosting overnight. Make sure you have all the ingredients before you head out for the day. It is much easier to stop for lettuce or milk when you're at the library right next to the grocery than when you're about 10 minutes from dinner time.

hope that helps.

[emilys_mom1]

I'm in and have already started. Lets keep each other motivated.

I did have to get drinks today after church (bible study), as we took the kids to the indoor play structure at Carl's today. I only purchase drinks and then took the kids home to eat. I'm starting tomorrow to pack a cooler to bring with us when we go out for the kids snack and drinks or lunch..

We also had to pick up chips and drinks for a barbaque on Monday. Other than that, we are good so far this month.

[babyj]

Ditto! I could have written many of the same things you posted. I also love to cook so it makes no sense that we were going out to eat so much.

Here are some of the things that have worked for us:

It helped to identify why we wanted to go out. For me, I feel like I deserve to go out after a day at home. Sometimes now we go out for ice cream cones (cheaper but I'm still out) or just for a walk after dinner. Although DH never said, I wonder if he liked to go because he could order soda or beer, two things we rarely have at home.

DH taking DS to the park on Sunday afternoons while I cook. I turn up the music and play "chef". I love to chop vegetables. I'll usually roast a whole chicken, roast butternut squash and/or sweet potatoes, bake muffins and corn bread and make a curry or chili or soup. I'll also steam some veggies and boil pasta. I can do all this in about 2.5 - 3 hours. We'll eat something from this on Sunday evening and put the rest in the refrig. I have really good food to easily reheat for several days (and I got to cook which I find relaxing when done in the right atmosphere). The first few times of this take longer but pretty soon I have the timing down and even some of the recipes near memorized.

Once we get to Thursday or so, I'll make a pizza dough during the day and roll it out on my pizza stone and keep it in the refrig. When DH comes home, it's easy to heat the oven while topping the pizza and bake. I've also baked potatoes and done a potato "bar". Usually by Saturday we have pizza again or breakfast for dinner.

I keep on hand some frozen meals (gasp!) canned soups and beans. With home made biscuits or tortillas w/ cheese canned stuff doesn't seem so boring.

Also, when DH walks in the door, I will offer him a smoothie. He can have this and be happy for 30-45 min while I put something together.

I've been looking forward to my Sunday afternoon cooking but it's still too hot here to have the oven on that much.

We are currently aiming for eating out only 2x per month. It helped when we added up how much we spent on eating out! I went to Whole Foods food bars / prepared food section several times a week. We both agreed that we would rather use that money for something else other than food.

Take care!

bj

[michelle524]

1

[annekevdbroek]

I'm struggling with the same issue. I also recently got through a really terrible first trimester where I couldn't cook and could barely eat - so everyone ate a lot of carry-out. The things that has been most helpful to me is:
1. Use some convience food for fast dinners - e.g. frozen pizza, bag salad = dinner. Or frozen lasagna. We probably do this once or twice a week. It is still much cheaper than eating out.
2. I learned to cook some quick meals of foods that I usually crave for eating out: Bi Bim Bop and Thai Yellow Curry. I can make them pretty quickly and it helps with the "oh,.... I am dying for ________" drive to eat out.
3. Figure out some quick from scratch things you can make (e.g. less than 30 minutes from start to finish). THis includes pasta, quesidillas, burittos, beans (canned) and rice, soups, etc. Have the stuff on-hand for these basic meals (a lot can be from cans or frozen).

I hope that helps.