Creative at home dinner ideas to feel like eating out

[Krischaser]

We are trying to cut costs and the kids miss going out to eat like a lot of their friends do. Any ideas on making fancy out to dinner meals at home?

Thanks!

 

[DLgal]

What do your kids normally order when you go out? Try and make those things at home instead.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Is it "gourmet" or "expensive" food they are missing? Is it "greasy spoon" food they are missing? Is it just "kids meals" they are missing?

One dish my kids love is crab dip with those soft pretzels...but I have a modified version I make at home when fresh crab dips under $5/8 oz. I pair it with Aldi pretzel rods (the $3.50 container ones that are think and beautiful) and the kids love it. I can make enough for everyone with leftovers with 2 containers of crab - when we are in a restaurant, they might get 2 bites before it's gone...

Another dish my kids love is Shrimp Scampi (you know, that totally "healthy" version from restaurants). I make my own (slightly healthier, I'm sure, since my doesn't swim in butter) version with lemon/butter/garlic when large raw shrimp hit $5-6/lb (since I need 2 lbs to sooth the savage beasts). The kids enjoy the orzo side I make much better than the wild rice they were stuck getting, so it's a win-win for them.

Another thing they love are cheese steaks. Around here, they don't exist, not in Philly form, but when thinly sliced ribeye is on a deep sale, I have been known to pick that up, get some cheese and pretty "hoagie" rolls, and saute some onions and bake up some fries...not quite Philly perfection, but a heckuva lot better than I can find here...

I could go on, but making restaurant food isn't too hard or time consuming...and can even fit the budget if you make the meals when the main ingredients are on a deep sale...

 

[DaretoDis]

Do a trial with one of the food delivery services...Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, et.al. They have meals for 4 people, I believe.

ETA: They have family plans...for around $9.00 per meal.

 

[QueenIsabella]

It really depends on the ages of your children, and what they feel like they're missing out on. If they feel like they're missing fast food, you could cook burgers or whatever at home, then serve them wrapped in paper, with french fries and drinks with straws.

If they feel like they're missing out on fancier food, consider breaking out a nice tablecloth and your good china. Maybe add some sparkling grape juice in wine glasses to make a regular meal seem elegant. Inexpensive touches can go a long way--umbrellas in drinks, fancy picks for finger foods, chopped parsley or an orange slice for a garnish--you get the idea. Don't forget a lemon slice in the water glass!

Along the same lines, for a special occasion, you and your Dh could play waiter and waitress, serving the kids a meal of their choice.

Another thought, although this really doesn't answer what you asked is, have the kids help you make dinner. They pick the menu (within reason) and help to prepare the food. Kids are proud to make the family meal, and they learn new skills along the way. My Ds10 doesn't make entire meals, but he can cook eggs, pancakes, spaghetti, mac and cheese, and makes himself yogurt parfait and smoothies. Not fancy food, to be sure, but not a bad start, and he takes great pride in both the cooking and doing a fancy presentation.

Beyond that, I would look at Pinterest or similar to get recipes for food your family buys in restaurants. We make pizzas/Italian food a couple times a week (I'm Italian, could do this in my sleep, and have a bread machine for easy dough). We also do Mexican food, Chinese stir-fry, and so forth. Start simple and add to your repertoire as you gain confidence. Added bonus--like with the PP's scampi recipe, you can make the dishes healthier, or at your level of spice.

 

[powellrj]

Dollar Tree sells the white carry-out boxes like you get when you eat out. You could get a package of those ( I think they are 10 for a Dollar) and pack the meal up and serve it. They also sell the baskets like you get at old-fashioned drive-ins and could serve meals in those.

There are lots of copy cat sites for recipes or try pintress.

They sell many fast foods in grocery stores now too. I know you can get Arby Fries and Red Robin fries in the Frozen Food section. They also sell other restaurant items in the supermarket these days.

 

[perditax]

Fondue!

 

[Mom2KandK]

Sometimes when my daughter has a friend over for dinner, I bring out the pancake griddle and cook "Japanese Steakhouse" food on it. I prep the meat, veggies, and rice (or noodles) ahead of time. Then when it's dinner time, I cook it in front of them on the table. They get a big kick out of it.

 

[chris31997]

You could also menu plan based on the restaurant: subway, McD, ect....

We usually make food based on favs from different places we have eaten. Current fav dinner is sashimi with salad requested by the kids

 

[chris31997]

Just thought of something while cooking dinner: you are trying to cut cost. Why not reward the kids for helping you cut your monthly costs? If the kids can help you cut groceries and household expenses on a monthly basis, money they saved you can go to dining out. If they save over the month $25 then that is what they have to spend on dinner but if they save you $50 then that on eating out.

 

[Hikergirl]

Just thought of something while cooking dinner: you are trying to cut cost. Why not reward the kids for helping you cut your monthly costs? If the kids can help you cut groceries and household expenses on a monthly basis, money they saved you can go to dining out. If they save over the month $25 then that is what they have to spend on dinner but if they save you $50 then that on eating out.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of cutting costs? If you spend what you have saved then you aren't saving.

OP, I would look up copycat meals for their favorite restaurants and try those.
I'd also do some hand-on meals, like make your own pizzas, taco bar, etc.
My kids would give up going out to eat if I made them breakfast for dinner (pancakes, eggs, bacon). When they were young they thought that was the best!

ETA just saw in your OP you said fancy out to eat meals.
What about shopping sales, and then just trying new "exotic" recipes? Things you wouldn't normally cook at home so it feels more exciting to them.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Okay, so more fancy...(I didn't go with what I think as fancy, which would be fois gras, duck, rabbit, elk, etc...but something more likely that the kids have had)...although duck is super-easy and very fancy...

Main courses...
Any steak is made uber-fancy by the addition of a pat of herbed butter and/or a red wine glaze - both are super easy to pull off at home. Another easy steak topping for fancy is chimichurri (and also, not too hard...
Salmon fillets (another kid request) are super-easy to make fancy - rub with lemon juice, a touch of olive oil, dried dill, s&p and then put tiny pats of butter dotting the top and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes...
Shrimp cocktail is super easy to pull off - just hit goodwill for some martini glasses to make it stupid cheap...
Those same martini glasses can go double duty for a ceviche dish (not sure how adventurous your kids are) which is citrus, veg, herbs, heat, and chopped fish (not hard - make when the loved white fish is on sale...http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/classic-ceviche

For super fancy vegs...
Roasted rainbow carrots (drizzled with honey at the end), steamed long green beans (sprinkled with sea salt at the end where you can see the cubes), pureed anything (take the veg plus s/p and cream and throw it in your blender or food processor), roasted purple cauliflower, steamed asparagus (topped with lemon zest) - they are not hard and will make a beautiful fancy side for the food...buy the ones on the deep sale for the week that your kids love...

And just one more thing b/c this isn't hard and is WORLD'S cheaper than getting this at a restaurant if you can find a good deal on the beef (and that should be now, since Valentine's Day is one of the days they offer them - and someone successfully switched in sirloin which is world's cheaper)...a wonderful app...Beef carpaccio...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/beef-carpaccio-recipe

When you make an "expensive" course, fit cheaper sides/veg around it so your dinner cost is just a little higher than normal...restaurants do this ALL the time with the serving of a rice/pasta/potato and a veg that is seasonal...

Okay, and one, one more thing - the bread basket...whether you have a go to bread recipe or you just buy a 99 cent baguette at the store, the kids are probably missing the "fancy spread" - you can do olive oil with s&p on a plate, herbed room temp butter, room temp butter drizzled with honey, etc...if it's different than the block of butter, they will lap it up...

Okay, one last thing, b/c it's time consuming, but stupid cheap - risotto. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/250205/basic-risotto/ Add roasted spring veg as a topping at the end and you have a glorious vegetarian "fancy" meal...and use up the leftovers in arancini balls - 2 fancy meals, one dish...

 

[a742246]

This isn't at home but... picnic's in a park, should satisfy any kid.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Two suggestions, when eating out, one of the parts we like best is the pre-food conversation. Perhaps you can have the family sit down at the table for a few minutes prior the main course and just visit while snacking on appetizers or salad. Also, decorate your dining room like a restaurant, say for Italian meal, cover the table with a red-checkered cloth, put bread sticks in a glass, a candle on the table, etc; for a Mexican meal, chips and dip as an appetizer, etc. In other words, create the dining out atmosphere as well as the food.

Depending on the ages of your children, they can take turns being the waitperson for the meal. You can tip them by giving the a voucher for something like extra tv time or whatever is important to them.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

I think sometimes eating out can be considered an activity instead of just having a meal. Maybe it's the something to do they are missing?

Walking, hiking and exploring could get subbed in for this. Also card and board games.

 

[Soulsearching]

We are trying to cut costs and the kids miss going out to eat like a lot of their friends do. Any ideas on making fancy out to dinner meals at home?

Thanks!

So much info missing!

Ages of children?
Restaurants they miss?
How many times a week?
Do you need Desserts too?
Do they include friends or go with friends?
Is it the activity they are missing? The night out?

If it is the activity, think about recreating a dish together. Tape a foodnetwork dish and cook it together. Watch a movie or pick a board game for the night and add a friend or family.

(You save money, you taught them something and they enjoy it with friends or family)

When my kids were small, every night was a "I don't want eat that" kinda night. So I decided they needed to have a night where they chose what was for dinner and we ate it. Even if it was just ice cream. I would put it on the calendar and for two months they could not choose ice cream for dinner again. Eventually, they started picking foods I was cooking. Wacky Wednesday was their day. I served whatever they wanted, we played a board game that night. They looked forward to it every week.

My point. Give the night a name, a fun one, and they will look forward to it every week.

 

[Soulsearching]

Sometimes when my daughter has a friend over for dinner, I bring out the pancake griddle and cook "Japanese Steakhouse" food on it. I prep the meat, veggies, and rice (or noodles) ahead of time. Then when it's dinner time, I cook it in front of them on the table. They get a big kick out of it.

Love Love this idea! so going to do this with my grown adult twenty year olds. Thanks for posting!!!

 

[TwoMisfits]

If you want a full meal, I've done the Melting Pot at home - since the kids' favorites are cheese and chocolate, I do both fondues (dinner and dessert).

For dinner, we've dipped french bread baguette, tortilla chips, pretzels, roasted potatoes, roasted broccoli, roasted cauliflower, apples, pears, baby carrots, and cooked (non-Italian) baby meatballs and hot dog slices.
For dessert, we've dipped strawberries, bananas, and pineapples (all 3 fruits always) and then I've added marshmallows, pretzels, rice krispie treats, pound cake cubes, and mini donut holes (usually only one or two of these).
We usually do a fancy chocolate fondue (we've done dark chocolate caramel, peanut butter milk chocolate, we've added godiva or amoretto to a chocolate, etc...we keep the cheese one normally cheddar beer although I have done a Mexican inspired one.

I can normally make this start-to-finish for 6 for about $25...I do it when the fruits and cheese are on a sale (since I can prebuy the meats and chocolate)...(Right now, with less dippers and no meats, it would cost me a minimum of $110 + tax/tip for these 2 courses for my fam at Melting Pot...so, home is a steal)...

 

[Marionnette]

Do a trial with one of the food delivery services...Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, et.al. They have meals for 4 people, I believe.

ETA: They have family plans...for around $9.00 per meal.

I joined Hello Fresh over a year ago, but I rarely actually get a delivery (you can skip as many deliveries as you wish). I found that their produce was not the quality that I can buy locally and they rarely included ingredients that I don't already have in my pantry. They have their recipes archived on the website. So, when I want to make a meal for the two of us that has the look and taste of a restaurant-quality plate, I turn to one of their recipes and recreate it for much less than the $9/meal.

However, OP, part of the true restaurant experience is that you do not have to order the same thing that everyone else is getting. When you eat at home, that's not the case unless the cook is okay with making more than one entree and then doing the clean up for it all. And if you're just an "okay" cook (successful cooking is very much technique-dependent), no one is going to be satisfied with eating at home vs. dining out. Instead of trying to mimic restaurant meals, I think that it's much more reasonable to make a collection of go-to meals that you know your family loves and then make sure that you keep the key ingredients available in your pantry.

 

[dclpluto]

It's not that they are missing the restaurant food. They are probably missing going out. Now they are stuck at home