Eat at home

[bettyann29]

Wow.. 30 days without eating out at all.. I sure would like to try it.. I havent done it before.. we dont eat out alot, but when we do its generally $30-$70 depending on where we go or what we get..I will get my menu together for the next week tomorrow as I am about to be off to my moms.. but I am about to make macaroni with italian sausage and hamburger meat..

will report back tomorrow..

 

[LilyWDW]

Okay, so here is my current Menu for October! Hope it gives someone some ideas.

BTW, I eat out at least once a week for lunch. It's a "thing" for myself and my boyfriend. I have one day a week where I am in class from 9:45am-11:05am and then a break until my next class at 4pm-6:45pm. However, we pick cheap places to eat and spend less then $25 on lunch.

October Meal List

Week 1

Pot Roast with Potatoes, Carrots, and Onions
Chicken Lo Mein (Better Homes and Gardens) with Egg Rolls
Egg Sandwiches
Salmon Fillets over Couscous (rice for mom) and Asparagus

Week 2

Spaghetti Casserole and Garlic Bread
Pan Fried Tilapia, rice pilaf, roasted cauliflower
Soup and Grilled Cheese
Festive Pork Roast (Better Home and Gardens), Mashed Potatoes

Week 3

Shrimp Creole (Better Homes and Gardens) with Hush Puppies
Sausage and Pepper Sandwiches (Better Homes and Gardens) with Deli Salads
Cubed Steaks with Gravy and Roasted Potatoes
Fajitas with Mexican Rice

Week 4

Tuna Noodle Casserole
Oven BBQ Ribs (Better Homes and Gardens), Corn Fritter Cassarole
Freezer Meal
French Toast with Strawberries and Sausage

 

[figment3258]

Still take out free day 7 and counting. Going food shopping tomorrow will post later

 

[figment3258]

Well I still have no gone food shopping but i will later. So far we are on day 9 of no eating out at all.

Here is what i think we will be eating this week

Monday- sloppy joes
Tuesday- some kind of roast in the crock pot
Wednesday- Pancakes
Thursday- Spaghetti and sauce
Friday-Pizza and a movie
Saturday-grilled cheese and soup
Sunday- hummm?

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Does anyone have any suggestions for motivation NOT to go out to eat? For me it's pure laziness. I was doing so good for so long and then all of a sudden I got lazy again.

 

[charming23]

Does anyone have any suggestions for motivation NOT to go out to eat? For me it's pure laziness. I was doing so good for so long and then all of a sudden I got lazy again.

I try and think about the money I would save if I just ate at home and what I could put it towards like a vacation or something I want instead. I have also found that if I resist the urge and not go out I put the money I would have spent on food out directly into the savings account. It has been fun to see that account grow.


Last night we ended up over at my Aunt's for dinner. She was making huge batches of spaghetti sauce to freeze for winter and invited us over for dinner and to give us sauce to keep. It was yummy and I can't wait to use the stuff she gave us all winter long.

 

[lovehoney]

Fast food is a problem in our household when we get really busy with activities. We don't usually have a problem going out to sit down restaraunts because we have so little time. To me it takes as much time to go to the grocery store as to be waited on for a meal.

For the last 2 years we have implemented "No Fast Food February". For the whole month we are not allowed to go to any food place that has a drive-thru (pizza is also not allowed). The kids get a kick out of saying "No Fast Food February" as a kind of mantra.

 

[CherylA]

I found that I always want to make my family something healthy, and healthy can sometimes take extra time so I would get lazy and we'd grab fast food. But then I started thinking that that was even less healthy! So now I'll boil a pound of pasta and open a jar of sauce, serve it on paper plates and call it dinner when I'm in a rush. It takes less time than even going to get fast food, it's cheaper and it's even healthier and the clean up takes 2 minutes. I'm also not above throwing frozen chicken nuggets in the oven and serving that with goldfish crackers or potato chips. If I want my kids to have a veggie I thro a bowl of raw baby carrots on the table too or I'll slice up some fruit. So think super easy and paper plates. You can have dinner on the table in 15 minutes this way, it's better than eating out! Planning ahead for the week has really helped me too. I have 7 melas picked, I have all the ingredients for them in the house and the night before I just pick which one I'll make the next day. Crock pot dinners are my favorite because they are ready when I get home from work. It's like someone else cooked for me!

 

[MandM-Mom]

Well this weeks menu is going to be very simple, dh is out of town till Friday and we have lots of school activities on the calendar so here is my plan for the week...
Monday...Leftovers from Sunday roasted chicken mashed potatoes canned veggie
Tuesday...English Muffin Pizzas, tossed salad
Wednesday...Pancakes, bacon and fruit cocktail cups
Thursday...Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Friday...Grilled Ribye Steaks, Potato Wedges, Brocolli Cheese garlic bread

 

[figment3258]

Does anyone have any suggestions for motivation NOT to go out to eat? For me it's pure laziness. I was doing so good for so long and then all of a sudden I got lazy again.

For us my motivation come from a few places. Money is key. We have enough money to eat out but i would rather pay off the rest of our debt and save for Disney.
Fast food is not really a problem for us because we really try to eat healthy and organic foods.
When we do eat out we do sushi which is so expensive so it hurts the savings. i say make a challenge for yourself. I know for us we looked at our debit card statement because we always pay with our debit card and we added up all the money we spent on take out food. It was so bad! It was the plane tickets and hotel for Disney!

My personal challenge is not to eat out for at least 30 days! We are on day 9 right now.
Keep your meals fun and easy. Plan ahead make extra and freeze. You can do it!

 

[lovehoney]

Monday - Soft tacos made with leftover bbq chicken and steak.

Tuesday -Whole Wheat Spaghetti and meat sauce (using ground turkey), garlic bread, salad

Wednesday - Chicken fajitas, refried beans, pico de gallo

Thursday- Turkey shepherd's pie (frozen from Saturday), green beans.


Friday - Baked fish, baked frozen french fries, salad

 

[tinkmom2]

This is what we have had or will have this week:

Turkey burgers and tater tots or teeter toters if you ask my DD
Lamb stew with veggies
Greek style salad with feta and olives and grilled chicken
breakfast dinner last night denver omelets with fried potatoes
chicken and shrimp Etouffee with white rice
speghetti and meat sauce

shopping day is Wednesday so I am in the process of figuring out what our menu is for the next week

 

[charming23]

We were suppossed to have pulled chicken sandwiches but someone forgot to get the chicken out of the feezer in time to cook it . So instead we had corn dogs from the freezer with sweet potato fries and applesauce. I am proud that I thought of something on the fly instead of just resorting to going out.

 

[hambirg]

I found that I always want to make my family something healthy, and healthy can sometimes take extra time so I would get lazy and we'd grab fast food. But then I started thinking that that was even less healthy! So now I'll boil a pound of pasta and open a jar of sauce, serve it on paper plates and call it dinner when I'm in a rush. It takes less time than even going to get fast food, it's cheaper and it's even healthier and the clean up takes 2 minutes. I'm also not above throwing frozen chicken nuggets in the oven and serving that with goldfish crackers or potato chips. If I want my kids to have a veggie I thro a bowl of raw baby carrots on the table too or I'll slice up some fruit. So think super easy and paper plates. You can have dinner on the table in 15 minutes this way, it's better than eating out! Planning ahead for the week has really helped me too. I have 7 melas picked, I have all the ingredients for them in the house and the night before I just pick which one I'll make the next day. Crock pot dinners are my favorite because they are ready when I get home from work. It's like someone else cooked for me!

Isn't that the truth! My DS10 has football now, so he and I are gone every night from 5-8. I was using my crockpot a lot, but it was usually done around 6 for my girls at home. BUT DS and I would be famished and hit the drive thru on the way home. So now I either start it earlier so we can eat before we leave, or I do something quick and easy before we go. . .girls can eat whenever. We had hamburger helper, corn and salad on Friday and chicken nuggets and salad tonight. Not my ideal dinners, but it still beats drive-thru! I think the thing that motivates me the most is having to throw out food. I would still shop like a storm was coming, but if we were eating out a lot, quite a bit would end up in the garbage. I would tell myself I might as well save all the time and effort of grocery shopping and put the money directly in the garbage.

 

[figment3258]

We were suppossed to have pulled chicken sandwiches but someone forgot to get the chicken out of the feezer in time to cook it . So instead we had corn dogs from the freezer with sweet potato fries and applesauce. I am proud that I thought of something on the fly instead of just resorting to going out.

Great Job!

 

[CherylA]

We were suppossed to have pulled chicken sandwiches but someone forgot to get the chicken out of the feezer in time to cook it . So instead we had corn dogs from the freezer with sweet potato fries and applesauce. I am proud that I thought of something on the fly instead of just resorting to going out.

Good work!!!! It truely doesn't matter what you get on the table anything is better for you than takeout, and cheaper too!

 

[CherylA]

Isn't that the truth! My DS10 has football now, so he and I are gone every night from 5-8. I was using my crockpot a lot, but it was usually done around 6 for my girls at home. BUT DS and I would be famished and hit the drive thru on the way home. So now I either start it earlier so we can eat before we leave, or I do something quick and easy before we go. . .girls can eat whenever. We had hamburger helper, corn and salad on Friday and chicken nuggets and salad tonight. Not my ideal dinners, but it still beats drive-thru! I think the thing that motivates me the most is having to throw out food. I would still shop like a storm was coming, but if we were eating out a lot, quite a bit would end up in the garbage. I would tell myself I might as well save all the time and effort of grocery shopping and put the money directly in the garbage.

Yup for us it's soccer and dance. On Wednesday night we have both! This Wednesday I'm doing Chili in the crockpot, thats easy to grab a bowl of whenever so it will be ready by 4pm so my mother in law and daughters can eat before dance then my husband and I will eat at 7:00 after all the running around is done!

 

[Swimnoid]

I did pretty well last week. I didnt stick exactly the menu but made different things with the same basics.

This week will be:

Tonight--pizza with dough from the deli session; first time I have seen it there.

rest of the week-
Chili
manwiches
grilled chicken salad or chicken parm
salmon

 

[*BTMRR*]

Bumping for motivation!

I'm making better choices these days! Having some meal staples around at all times--even if they're nothing fancy or ultra healthy--is such a lifesaver.
The kids had sports until late tonight, we were all famished afterward, and I *almost* caved and got takeout--but instead I remembered we had stuff at home to make club sandwiches with tomato soup, so we went home and had that on the table and ready to eat in 15 minutes. Everyone enjoyed it and we probably saved at least $20.

 

[*BTMRR*]

My meals for this week:
Crock pot BBQ beef sandwiches
Soft tacos
Stroganoff
Tuna w/pasta and veggies
Chicken in crock pot
French bread pizzas