How I Got Un-Addicted to Restaurants
20th April 2008
Restaurants used to be my weakness. I needed one night out per week to “set my mind right.” DH would ask if we could pack a picnic lunch (to cut down on sodas, sides, etc. at the restaurant) and just get the main dish from the restaurant. No, I liked the fact that they were serving me and that I didn’t have any dishes to wash.
I’ve done a full 180 from then. Now, occasionally, we get a little mood where we want to go out to eat. I immediately get in the right mindset and say, “Wait a minute. You want to go out to eat. What is it that you want to eat?” We used to fight each weekend about where the “meal out” would be. DH would always say it was too expensive for the food choices. Then again, DH is a health nut, so he’d always be analyzing our food choices - too fatty or too sugary.
Now, I just ask what exactly the person want to eat for their “special meal” for the weekend. If they wanted to go out for Mexican, we make Mexican. If they wanted to go out for a steak, we make/marinate awesome steaks. If they wanted to go out for Italian, we make awesome spaghetti and dim the lights with candles and Italian music (try pandora.com) and try baking homemade bread.
The point is that we don’t have the 30 minute drive into and from town. We’re saving money on gas. We don’t have to shell out as much on the food (sodas cost nothing if I get them with CVS bucks, whereas a fountain drink from the restaurant can cost upwards of $1!). We can try new recipes. DS helps out - he’s learning life skills on how to cook.
The food is sometimes better. Sometimes it’s not. The point is, it’s a better choice for our family, all around.
Does your family go out to eat still? Often? How have you been battling rising food costs?
April 20th, 2008 at 11:29 am
For me it was the bars and clubs because all my friends like to go out at night. I don’t mind a nice restaurant every now and then but going out to a place when it is nothing but drinking and dancing all the time is tough to appreciate when I can’t hear the music and no one can hear me when I talk even though I can lipread them just fine.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
[…] Dollar Frugal echoed my sentiments perfectly when she talked about How I Got Un-addicted to Restaurants. During my 20s, it was about going out with my friends to the bars and clubs which was all right at the time but the scene got old real fast when I realized I could lipread everyone over the loud music and no one could hear me when I tried talking to them. Even now in my 30s, although I do go out once in a while, this scene still has not changed. […]
April 20th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
My boyfriend and I have gotten into the restaurant habit lately. Its just easier after a long day of work. Its a habit we’ve agreed to cut down on. As a compromise, I’m going to cook a nice meal similar to what you’ve described every other week, then he’ll take me out every other week. Best of both worlds
By the way, you’ve been tagged for a meme.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Mark - some of my best customers were deaf when I worked the bar scene! That was years ago, but they were always so nice - good tippers too! Now that I’m older, I prefer a quiet small party to a club or bar anyway. I think you do, too.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
My boyfriend and I still go out to eat several times a week. It’s easier than grocery shopping and cooking. We also spend time talking and catching up on our week over food and wine. It’s so relaxing.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Ahh Restaurants… If there was one place that could entice my wife and I to spend money, it was restaurants. The thought of not having to come up with something to make, cooking it, and cleaning up after ourselves was far too tempting for us on many occasions. That coupled with the lack of time and general sloth that comes after a hard days’ work made it even more difficult. To this day, we struggle with the urges to eat out more often, but…
The one thing that has helped us more than anything else was spending time coming up with some real “staple” meals. It’s great to try new and fancy recipes from time to time, but the important part for us was coming up with meals that have minimal prep/cook time and that we both enjoy enough to eat them often.
The reccurring theme we found when really thinking about why we were so inclined to eat out was that it can be a daunting task to actually plan meals and stock the house accordingly when you don’t have a large base of agreed upon meals to pull from. Once we had our base number of meals that we enjoyed regularly, filling in the gaps with new things to try is much more easy and we can plan to try them on nights when we know that time isn’t as much of an issue.
Two other big factors in “making the switch” for us were using a calendar on our fridge to plan our meals for the week. The meal we don’t plan for is the meal we will be more tempted to not make for ourselves. The second is we make sure to keep our freezers stocked with meats and vegetables. Educated grocery shopping is another subject altogether, nonetheless it’s easy to plan for a steak dinner when you have $4.99/lb porterhouse cuts in the feezer ready to be defrosted for tomorrow nights meal.
I am not saying that we have the same thing every Monday, Tuesday, etc…, but we do have enough variety
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 am
@moving - of course it’s easier! That’s why it costs so much to our budget!
@Ralph - you make excellent points here. I’d love to see some examples of your agreed-upon meals that both you and DW like.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
@Brooke: Some of our “staple” meals include:
Steak, Chicken, or Pork on the grill, seasoned, not seasoned, or BBQ’d.
Baked Herb Chicken (This recipe is my favorite. We’ll buy a whole fryer chicken on sale at $49 cents a pound and bake the chicken for the first meal. The leftover chicken then makes for a great chicken and rice dish for another meal or two!)
Crock-pot Pot Roast (Tons of leftovers)
Crock-pot Pulled Pork (Tons of leftovers)
Crock-pot Puerco Asado (Tons of leftovers)
Chicken or Steak Stirfry
Chicken or Steak Fajitas
Potato Chip Baked Chicken (We’re having this tonight, great use of potato chips that are getting old/stale)
Honey Curry Chicken w/ black beans and rice (Tons of leftovers)
Parmesan Chicken
Fried Pork Chops (We don’t do this one that often as my wife only likes it so-so, but I grew up with a Southern Mom who loved fried pork chops)
Those are the meals that come to mind right now. We also keep quickie “fill in” meals on hand for nights when we know that we’ll be short on time. We stock up on them when they’re on sale, so we don’t end up paying a premium price for more prepared foods. Some of those are frozen pizzas, breaded fish filets, and chicken/turkey pot pies.
I’d love to hear about some other quick and nourishing meals that others eat regularly.