Eat at home

[mhsjax]

here is my menu for the rest of the week

Wednesday-Grilled cheese and soup
Thursday-Spaghetti and sauce
Friday- Pizza! and a movie
Saturday-Mac and cheese
Sunday-Pancakes!

We are on day 11/30 of not eating out!

Wow, day 11. You are an inspiration. We have greatly cut back, I mean way back. We did eat out more often than not. Now I won't and it gets easier. I am at the point where yes anything is better than drive through and cheaper. That being said, our problem like everyone elses seem to be the kids schedule. Drive through seems like a good option because I have the time at home.

You have inspired me and I will drop this habit. We are a family of 5 and with one teenage boy it costs us a small fortune to even hit McDonalds, plus the kids really don't like it anymore. So I am starting today, Sept 23, no eating out.

Oh crap, I have to go to dinner with my Best Friend for her B-day this weekend, no one else in the family but me, does that count? But other than that no eating out AT ALL, for 30 days. Wish me luck.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I'm not very good at meal planning, but I find that what helps me eat at home is having my pantry well-stocked. We're vegan, so our pantry would look different than for people who eat meat, milk, etc., but here are some of the things I try to buy on sale and keep stocked up:
canned beans of various kinds
canned baked beans (vegan varieties, of course)
spaghetti sauce
frozen vegetables (mainly peas, corn and broccoli)
frozen fruits
cubes to make vegetable stock
boxed soy or almond milk
jars of minced garlic
hot sauce
curry paste

With these ingredients, and any fresh veggies and fruit I might have, I can pretty much always get a meal together.

Teresa

 

[gillenkl]

This thread is great and so inspiring - I love reading all the recipes and can't wait to try some of them. Some nights we have to eat/cleanup quick and some we don't so our meals our adjusted that way.
Monday - cheesesteaks, chips, salad
Tuesday - london broil (Emeril), crash hot potatoes (pioneer woman), lima beans
Wednesday - homemade pizza and salad
Thursday - Beef Stroganoff
Friday - turkey chops, stuffing and veg
Sat - Mexican spaghetti, salad, pillsbury breadsticks
Sunday - Chicken tenders/fries for the kids
Mulagatawny soup for adults


thanks to this thread I made my menus, did all my shopping in one day and haven't had to run back to the store for anything....that feels great!

 

[MandM-Mom]

Wow, day 11. You are an inspiration. We have greatly cut back, I mean way back. We did eat out more often than not. Now I won't and it gets easier. I am at the point where yes anything is better than drive through and cheaper. That being said, our problem like everyone elses seem to be the kids schedule. Drive through seems like a good option because I have the time at home.

You have inspired me and I will drop this habit. We are a family of 5 and with one teenage boy it costs us a small fortune to even hit McDonalds, plus the kids really don't like it anymore. So I am starting today, Sept 23, no eating out.

Oh crap, I have to go to dinner with my Best Friend for her B-day this weekend, no one else in the family but me, does that count? But other than that no eating out AT ALL, for 30 days. Wish me luck.

Good Luck! I give you lots of credit we could never make it 30 days, I am happy with myself if we only eat out do 1 day a week!! Its still a big cut back from eating out fri-Sat-Sun and a quick takeout on busy nights. Would love to make it 30 days, maybe we can try in Oct

 

[figment3258]

Wow, day 11. You are an inspiration. We have greatly cut back, I mean way back. We did eat out more often than not. Now I won't and it gets easier. I am at the point where yes anything is better than drive through and cheaper. That being said, our problem like everyone elses seem to be the kids schedule. Drive through seems like a good option because I have the time at home.

You have inspired me and I will drop this habit. We are a family of 5 and with one teenage boy it costs us a small fortune to even hit McDonalds, plus the kids really don't like it anymore. So I am starting today, Sept 23, no eating out.

Oh crap, I have to go to dinner with my Best Friend for her B-day this weekend, no one else in the family but me, does that count? But other than that no eating out AT ALL, for 30 days. Wish me luck.

I am so glad i could help! As far as that b-day diner i would not count it for you. Its just you and the rest of the family is eating at home. i would count that as a b-day gift. Good luck in your journey! After the first week it gets easier! Good luck!

 

[CherylA]

Just imagine what you like to eat on a pizza and adjust the ingredients accordingly...you might think of even more ingredients that would be tasty.

1 onion, chopped - cook this with a tbsp of butter first so it's not so strong onion-y

1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup of sliced green olives
1/2 can of sliced black olives
1 stick of pepperoni cut into small chunks
2 (14.5 oz) cans pureed stewed tomatoes
1 small can beef stock
1 tsp basil (I like fresh, but I'm sure dry would be good)

I throw it all in the crockpot on low for 6 hours.

Canned or frozen breadsticks - add some garlic butter.

Top the soup with shredded mozzarella cheese.

I am totally guessing at the amounts, I'm not a recipe-follower, I tend to toss everything in my crockpot.

Hmm this sounds pretty darn good. Might have to give it a try. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[CherylA]

Wow, day 11. You are an inspiration. We have greatly cut back, I mean way back. We did eat out more often than not. Now I won't and it gets easier. I am at the point where yes anything is better than drive through and cheaper. That being said, our problem like everyone elses seem to be the kids schedule. Drive through seems like a good option because I have the time at home.

You have inspired me and I will drop this habit. We are a family of 5 and with one teenage boy it costs us a small fortune to even hit McDonalds, plus the kids really don't like it anymore. So I am starting today, Sept 23, no eating out.

Oh crap, I have to go to dinner with my Best Friend for her B-day this weekend, no one else in the family but me, does that count? But other than that no eating out AT ALL, for 30 days. Wish me luck.

If you can get everyone else to eat at home while you go out with your friend then no it doesn't count Thats a big undertaking, 30 days no eating out. Good luck! This thread has been great for lots of quick dinner ideas for before, during and after games

 

[mhsjax]

Good Luck! I give you lots of credit we could never make it 30 days, I am happy with myself if we only eat out do 1 day a week!! Its still a big cut back from eating out fri-Sat-Sun and a quick takeout on busy nights. Would love to make it 30 days, maybe we can try in Oct

The hardest part for me will actually be during the week for lunch. DH works from home and with the kids in school we tend to go out for lunch. THis will be difficult. I will let you know how it works.

 

[figment3258]

I also find lunch hard. We home school our girls and i would go grab something quick a lot for lunch whenever we are out. I miss eating out a lot but I know that now we don;t throw away any food. Which is saving money and being healthy too.

So here is what we are sticking too for the rest of the week

Thursday-Spaghetti and sauce
Friday- home made pizza and a movie!
Saturday- Either mac and cheese or pancakes I will let the kids choose
Sunday- Whatever we did not have on Saturday
Monday-Need to go food shopping!

Today is day 12/30 of no eating out!Almost half way there!

 

[Liberty Belle]

I've been forgetting to check in here. We're leaving for WDW next Friday , so I'll do tonight through next Thursday.

Thursday: Meatloaf, boiled potatoes, tossed salad (ok, scrap the boiled potatoes, just read the recipe for crash potatoes - gonna do those instead.)
Friday: Pork chops, cooked cabbage, butter beans
Saturday: Baked Chicken Breasts, mashed potatoes, peas
Sunday: Hot dogs, corn, chips
Monday: Scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, orange slices
Tuesday: Tacos (with ground turkey) and refried beans
Wednesday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, Italian green beans
Thursday: Pizza delivery (sorry to break the eating at home thing, but I don't want much clean up)! Tomorrow we leave for Disney World!

 

[CherylA]

I did chili in the crockpot last night. I bought a $3 electric timer thingie that I plug my crockpot into and I can pick what time I want the pot to go on and what time I want it to go off. That was great, I put the meat in there frozen and had it turn on at noon then off at 6:30. We were home from dance and soccer at 7:00 and the chili was perfect, not overcooked like it sometimes is when we don't get home until 7:00. My hubby said I should just buy a better crockpot with a built in timer but I thought this was a perfect solution for only $3! I think someone on this thread suggested it, so thanks to them. Tonight I'm making bacon egg and cheese on biscuits with fruit on the side.

 

[figment3258]

I've been forgetting to check in here. We're leaving for WDW next Friday , so I'll do tonight through next Thursday.

Thursday: Meatloaf, boiled potatoes, tossed salad (ok, scrap the boiled potatoes, just read the recipe for crash potatoes - gonna do those instead.)
Friday: Pork chops, cooked cabbage, butter beans
Saturday: Baked Chicken Breasts, mashed potatoes, peas
Sunday: Hot dogs, corn, chips
Monday: Scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, orange slices
Tuesday: Tacos (with ground turkey) and refried beans
Wednesday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, Italian green beans
Thursday: Pizza delivery (sorry to break the eating at home thing, but I don't want much clean up)! Tomorrow we leave for Disney World!

Have a wonderful time!

 

[figment3258]

I did chili in the crockpot last night. I bought a $3 electric timer thingie that I plug my crockpot into and I can pick what time I want the pot to go on and what time I want it to go off. That was great, I put the meat in there frozen and had it turn on at noon then off at 6:30. We were home from dance and soccer at 7:00 and the chili was perfect, not overcooked like it sometimes is when we don't get home until 7:00. My hubby said I should just buy a better crockpot with a built in timer but I thought this was a perfect solution for only $3! I think someone on this thread suggested it, so thanks to them. Tonight I'm making bacon egg and cheese on biscuits with fruit on the side.

Oh I need one of those timers!

 

[CherylA]

Where is everyone today? Last night I did bacon and eggs with biscuits for dinner. The kids were not pleased that I made them eat one bite of scrambled eggs (thats the deal in my house, you have to eat at least one bite of each thing on the menu at dinner then you can eat just the things you like as the rest of your meal) Mostly they ate biscuits with Jam and bacon for dinner. Whatever, everyone else liked it and it was fairly quick and cheap and I had all the stuff in the house and I got rid of some of the fresh eggs I keep getting in my farm share every week

Last night I asked DH what he wanted for dinner tonight and he said takeout pizza, I told him "skillet taco bake it is" He likes skillet taco bake anyway. So the ground beef is defrosting and I'll make that tonight when I get home from work. It's a pretty quick meal, it just takes about 1/2 hour to prepare.

 

[RN01]

Does anyone have any good ideas for picnic food besides cold sandwiches? We may be going to a family reunion in a few weeks and everyone brings their own stuff. Usually we just get pizza or something but this time I want to pack it from home. It will have to be something that can be kept cold because we have soccer games out of town before that then going straight to the reunion.

 

[figment3258]

Does anyone have any good ideas for picnic food besides cold sandwiches? We may be going to a family reunion in a few weeks and everyone brings their own stuff. Usually we just get pizza or something but this time I want to pack it from home. It will have to be something that can be kept cold because we have soccer games out of town before that then going straight to the reunion.

Hummm thats a tough one. Maybe you could make a turkey and use the leftovers for the picnic, cold turkey a cold salad and cranberry sauce? Just a thought. Just think of what you like to eat cold and go from there

 

[CherylA]

Does anyone have any good ideas for picnic food besides cold sandwiches? We may be going to a family reunion in a few weeks and everyone brings their own stuff. Usually we just get pizza or something but this time I want to pack it from home. It will have to be something that can be kept cold because we have soccer games out of town before that then going straight to the reunion.

Well if you liked doing cold pizza just make homemade pizza and bring that chilled. Cold pasta salads also work well. My favorite is a Mediteranian style lunch, some decent cheese, good loaf of artisan bread, olives maybe some sundried tomatos. Goes great with a glass of wine but it's super yummy even if you're drinking it with a diet coke. My kids like it too but they like it with chunks of mild cheddar cheese and regular canned black olives while I prefer a fresh mozzerella and kalamata olives.

 

[figment3258]

Nice i love it!

 

[Darcy03231]

I know the week is almost over - but here's the menu:

Sunday - Chicken Tortilla Soup in the crock pot with a tossed salad
Monday - Left-over soup and salad
Tuesday - Breakfast for dinner - eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and home fried potatoes
Wednesday - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, tossed salad
Thursday - This was supposed to be beef stroganoff in the crock pot over egg noodles with fresh broccoli & salad, but I forgot to plug the crock pot in (its been a bad week for me and electronics). We ended up going out for Mexican (and I had a large margarita!)
Friday - Homemade subs
Saturday - Grilled chicken, rice, summer vegetable mix, and salad

 

[figment3258]

Well i hope everyone is doing alright !

For us we are doing great! I had my cousin over last night and we had spaghetti and sauce and i went to Trader joes for some more fruit and picked up a wonderful whole wheat beget it was so good! I have also made rice krispie treats for a snack this week. I like making little snacks instead of buying a big box of junk food.

Friday-home made pizza and a salad with a Disney movie
Saturday-Either pancakes or mac and cheese whatever the kids want
Sunday-Either pancakes or mac and cheese and to the supermarket we go

So far we are on day 13/30 of no eating out!
And bonus i have lost 3lbs! Only 17 more to go!