eating a home more/cooking tips?

tra_la_la · January 2012

One of our 2012 goals to cook at home and eat in more. We were doing really good until september and then it just went down hill. We have been eating out 2-4 times a week and with my job ending it is killing us. With the amount we spent in 2011 we could have paid off my car. Indifferent

The biggest problem for us is convience. It has been so much easier to drive to chipotle after a long day than spend an hour (or more) cooking. Though it is kind of embarassing when the Chipotle lady know your toddler by name. Embarrassed

I have no idea how to cut down prep time or the best way to minimize the amout of time spent cooking. Any tips or quick recipes? Anyone tried freezer meals?

chelbell326 · January 2012

I totally understand! We eat out entirely way too much as well and this is one of our goals as well for the new year. I'm trying to do more prep work on the weekends (chopping veggies, precooking rice, etc) I'm also really trying to meal plan & use proteins twice if I possibly can so that the second night there is less prep time since the protein is already cooked (does that make sense?) We are also doing 1 meatless meal per week and I am using our crockpot (I hae 3, all different sizes) more frequently so that dinner is ready when I get home and there is no excuse to go out to eat if food is already ready & smells yummy.

sara_c · January 2012

My secret is to always have ingredients on hand for a quick dinner that doesn't require much prep work.

Things like premade meatballs and salmon burgers from Costco (neither need prior defrosting). Doing things like breakfast for dinner- it doesn't take long to make omelets and toast. That's my go to when I've got nothing else.

For things that do require longer prep, I often double the recipe and freeze half. All soups, chilis are great for that. Also casseroles and lasgana freeze really well.

Use your crockpot. Salsa chicken in the crockpot takes two minutes. I put in my chicken breasts frozen, so again no need to remember to thaw them out.

I think you can be resourceful if you limit yourself to once a week out to dinner and don't budge on that. Even if you do grilled cheese and a salad or soup. It's cheaper than eating out.

DruidPrincess · January 2012

One thing that helped us enormously was getting a rice cooker. There are so many things you can make from different ethnic food varieties: burritos, stir-fry, sushi, casseroles, quesadillas, and so on.

We also really like those Birds Eye frozen veggies you can nuke/steam in the microwave for 5 minutes - they taste great and make a quick and somewhat nutritious side.

MWiley0225 · January 2012

I prep our fruits veggies and meat when we shop.I also use my crock pot 2-3 times a week year round. have you tried googling 30 min meals.. Theres a ton of recipes and easy shortcuts. I also cook twice the amt we need and freeze one so I always have 1-2 weeks worth of dinners in the freezer that I can pull out and reheat..pm if you want any other ideas. Hope that helped and good luck. That was our goal last year so we had that issue before. I think we all have at some point

swinsto3 · January 2012

We used to eat out a ton - now that we are both out of work it's been our single biggest shift. For me, meal planning is crucial. I plan out the week's menus based on what's on sale & what I have in the house. I can follow a recipe, but am not a particularly good cook when left to my own devices, so everything is pretty easy.

I do a few freezer meals consistently: chicken cordon bleu casserole, sausage & spinach stuffed shells, enchiladas, broccoli cheese & chicken w/ rice. I also freeze a couple different proteins (raw) in marinade, so they can be taken out in the morning and are ready to go by evening: honey garlic chicken, sweet & sour steaks, blackberry chicken. I can send you the recipes for all of them - they use a number of similar ingredients, so it makes it a little easier to put together.

I'm trying to use my crock pot more - I'm hoping the new one I got for Christmas is better then my old one, so that will help.

It's really hard, and I miss going out to eat, I'm not going to lie. We were going out like you guys, 3 or 4 nights a week, and now if we go once a month it's a splurge. It's not fun, but it can be done!

todds_wife · January 2012

I have to say, I pre cook A LOT of stuff and freeze it - sometimes whole meals (ie, if I make a casserole, I make an extra and freeze it,) or just grilling a BUNCH of chicken breasts on the George Foreman or browning a GIANT amount of ground turkey - then I portion and freeze so it is very easy to use, just defrost and go.

I end up doing the pre cooking either on weekends during nap time, or on week nights while we are watching TV.

Actually, there is a lot of this happening in the post I am working on for ED&BK, since it is a "Make Ahead Monday" post - but that doesn't help since it isn't finished yet. ETA Now it is. (Doing that stuff took me less than 1/2 hour, except cooking the chicken, but that was on the GF Grill, so I wasn't babysitting it, and I did like 4 batches so I am good to go for a bit.)

I look for weeknight dinners to take me no longer than 20 minutes to prepare, unless it is something I can walk away from - ie something in the oven cooking its self.

ETA - Ditto meal plan - I HAVE TO know what I am making - there is no way I could come home and then start thinking about that - I want to see the whole week (or more) on a list in front of me, and I usually have an alternate on hand, be it tossing a thin crust pizza on the grill to have with salad, or having stuff for soup and grilled sammies - I write the alternate on the bottom of my list, so I can see it all. No thinking required when I come home from work. (It also helps save the moolah to meal plan - less wasted food, you can take advantage of sales and plan your meals around them, and if all is planned out, then you won't be so likely to hit the drive through so you don't have to think about it at all.)

ashleyanny · January 2012

We had a big problem with this before we changed to our gluten free diet but for about 6 months prior, we cut down a lot.

Somethings I did was have stuff made ahead more or less. We subbed DH's love of Chipotle by making it at home - - quickly. If we made chicken or steak one night, I would make extra and freeze it so I could reheat it in a skillet, and then I would make up some instant rice and heat up black beans. We'd make up our own burritos and cook, eat, clean was less that 30 minutes.

Now that we can't eat out much I do a lot of crockpot meals in the winter so I can dump stuff in during the morning before I leave or over my lunch break. We also only cook meet twice a week and once it's cooked we freeze it to cut down on cook time. Because of our diet, we stick with a meat & veggie dinner with sometimes a gluten free grain so it's pretty easy to manage.

A&AHutch · January 2012

Two words: Meal Plan

You can either be flexible and decide what to eat that day or be strict and plan Monday -meatless, Tuesday-fish, etc, which might be better for someone who would rather eat out. Planning helps so much because there is never the question "what do you want for dinner?" so you can't get to the "Let's just eat out." Also since it's just the three of you make twice what you'll eat for dinner and freeze it, then on a day you REALLY want to eat out you can "eat out" of your freezer instead.

Kmac-06 · January 2012

Everyone has great tips, we do a combo of all of them.

1. Meal plan - if you know what you are going to eat each night, it is easier to stick to the plan. Also you can think ahead and if anything needs prepping you can do it on the weekend or the night before.

2. Make double and freeze - we usually cook one thing on the weekend that we plan to eat twice, and then we freeze the leftovers. Yesterday DH made meatballs and we spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. We will eat it again on Tuesday and we have 3 more meals in the freezer.

The rest of our meals for the week will come from stuff we froze in previous weeks, like soup, chili, lasagna, etc.

Pesky · January 2012

Ditto the meal plan. It is kind of a pain but saves you $$ in wasted groceries and plus allows you plan around ease of menu. Fish, for example, is super easy to prep and fast to cook. Sauteed spinach is easy too -- fresh baby spinach, olive oil and top with a little sea salt or feta after it has cooked to wilted. I will say that generally we are cooking for about 30 minutes before dinner is ready. Anything else we eye to prep beforehand or use the crockpot. Consider healthier options like large dinner salads that are easy prep. Grill chicken breasts and throw on a few extra (FYI, grilling is a quick cooking method so keep that one in mind) and use the extra for salads or chicken quesadillas or the like. Also, meal prep is planning around your eating time. If you are grilling chicken (which will take about 10 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of the breasts (which is why I cut mine in half width-wise)) but you know the roast green beans take 20 minutes in the oven, get the green beans in first. I find it is easier to stagger things in terms of cooking time so I'm not tending multiple pots at once.

RoxBride · January 2012

I'm all about cook once, eat twice of three times.

So, grill chicken. Eat it one night. Then make extra, have it on salads the next night, and 3 days later as chicken salad.

So easy.

Same with flank steak. Cook some up and eat it one night. Then on a salad, then in fajitas.

We also do simple meals twice a week - ham, crackers, cheese and fruit salad. Takes 10 minutes tops to prep.

We also do things like tuna sandwiches that everyone loves even if it isn't fancy. I try and make big pots of soup on the weekend, freeze, add a grilled cheese and great dinner, super fast.

Psalm_23 · January 2012

Ditto all the "Meal Plan" suggestions.

I sit down with my coffee on Saturday morning and pull out a few cookbooks (and/or computer with new recipes I want to try) and some paper (this paper has been on the fridge all week to add things like "garlic" or "toothpaste" or other things we're almost out of). Then I plan the meals I want to make and write the rest of the grocery list based on the meals. Finally I add breakfast and lunch "fillers" (we always do leftovers + fruit + veggie + yogurt).

Also, the crockpot is your friend! I will make a large batch of marinara in the crockpot and then freeze portions big enough for one pound of pasta. The 6 qt corkcpot usually make enough for 4 pounds. So we have one the night I make it, and I have 3 more for an easy go-to meal.

I love to make soups in the winter, and they always tend to make tons and tons of leftovers. We made this soup a couple weeks ago, it was super easy and really good!

azuremama · January 2012

I'm also one who likes to make enough to eat for two nights at least. Sometimes that just means I make enough for two nights, or sometimes it's doing like Rox said and making a lot of chicken at one time. Flank steak from costco is awesome because we can eat it for 2-3 nights. I also freeze it in a ziploc with marinade so it's all ready to go.

I think besides meal planning, the best thing to do is to have a couple of "go-to" meals that you usually have ingredients for and don't take long to cook. For us, that's tacos, pasta with meat sauce, breakfast for dinner, grilled sandwiches, or soup and salad. I usually think it's easier and quicker to make up this stuff than to go out.

goldenjes · January 2012

You've already gotten a lot of good suggestions. I have a couple of questions...

Are you OK eating leftovers? If so, the suggestions to double-up on cooking work great.

Are there things you LIKE to cook? If so, I'd start your meal plan with that and fill in with easy meals and even some no-cook nights (in my house, that's bagged salad & rotisserie chicken)

After I was laid off, I borrowed the $5 Dinner cookbook from the library. They have easy meals (most of which my kids were OK with) and she even has filled out calendars to do things like Rox suggested -- chicken the first night, use leftover chicken for later meals, etc.

I also write our meals on the calendar and circle what people really liked. When making the plan for the next couple weeks, those will probably return.

smilelari · January 2012

I cook 3-4 times a week and make enough that every other night we have leftovers from the night before.

I plan for all my meals on the weekend and shop every Sunday, list in hand

I don't make anything that takes longer than 30 minutes to get to the table

I make a lot of crockpot meals.

This week's dinners:

crockpot french dips

crockpot cilantro lime chicken

ravioli lasagna

freezer meal (left over from maternity leave)

I can link to recipes later

d&jb52407 · January 2012

I try to defrost and prep meat on Sundays. If I have browned and seasoned ground meat for mexican or italian on any given night and just have the other items needed to complete the meal available. pre-cook chicken breasts and if I do pork it's usually crocked. Having the meat cooked and pre-heatable is a big help for me. I also don't micro-plan, if I know what I have available I can be flexible during the week and if I'm in the mood for tacos rather than spaghetti it doesn't wreck my program.

I love this post, it's been very helpful for me to get better at planning too.

Jeep Doll · January 2012

My quickie meal is stir fry... cut up the raw chicken and toss it in with some frozen veggies. I use bottle sauce that we love, or home made peanut sauce if we have the time to make it. Boil some rice noodles and we have a meal. Very fast.

I like to freeze chicken pot pie and chili as well as my favorite Safeway Select soups.

We also buy pesto at Costco, divide it up in freezer bags. We thaw some in the morning when we want to make pasta or pizza with pesto.

I also have a ton of already chopped veggies in the freezer... bell peppers, snap peas, green beans, onions. You could buy these in bags or do the prep yourself. These have helped cut down prep time a ton... used for the stir fry, tacos, veggies sides, etc.

AugustBrideCO · January 2012

We aren't perfect about not eating out, but have gotten waaaaay better. I usually plan 3-4 meals for the week, and like others said, we have leftovers or make something else with the same things the next night. We're having tacos tomorrow, then taco salads with the leftovers on Wednesday. I made chili this weekend, and we'll usually have that for 2 dinners before we get sick of it, and maybe a lunch as well (or we can freeze the leftovers in portions that are perfect to grab for lunch). We always do a big salad at least one night with whatever we have around (leftover lunch meat, avocado, leftover chicken breasts etc).

Another easy thing is to get some small rolls at the store (King's Hawaiian or similar). I'll make grilled sandwiches with ham, cheese, and Italian seasonings one night, mini burgers the next night, and dh will make sandwiches with the extras for lunch.

If I don't meal plan, then DH calls and says, "What do you want for dinner?" and I say, "I dunno, what do you want?" and he says, "I dunno, what do you want?" and a few more sentences later, we're getting takeout. If I plan meals and buy the groceries, then we feel like we have to eat at home or the groceries will go to waste. We also plan ahead to eat out on the weekend for our splurge meal, so we know that if we eat healthy food at home M-F then we'll be able to go out on Saturday.

MrsSwanie · January 2012

This is a huge thing that my DH and I are working on this year. It is so easy for us to just get take out instead of cooking after work. Then, I don't have leftovers for lunch and go out for lunch too.

We started meal planning 3 weeks ago and it has helped SO much. We haven't eaten out at all except for on New Years Eve. That is HUGE progress for us.

My DH will not eat leftovers very well. So I usually eat the leftovers for lunch but cook something new each night. I have been using my crock pot a lot. If I can, I will prep the night before so that it is ready to go when I get off of work. I also keep the ingredients for some super quick, easy meals on hand for those extra busy nights.

tra_la_la · January 2012

Thanks everyone. I think it is just overwheming to start but hopefully we will get a better handle on this. We do eat leftovers but for the most part they turn into my lunch if we have them. I have been meal planning for about a year but I usually don't buy my produce at my big shopping trip so we forget it by the time we need it. Or we are just too lazy and tired by the time DH gets home to do anything.

Swinsto- I have the chicken cordon bleu cass recipe but if I could get the others that would be great.

Smilelari- can I get the ravioli lasagna and the cilantro lime chicken please!

Lynn07 · January 2012

I know I'm late, and you've gotten a lot of good suggestions, but I just thought I'd let you know what has also worked for me:

1. Have you thought about a meal prep place? Places like Supper Solutions or Dream Dinners? Basically, you choose meals off of their monthly menu, go in for 1-2hrs, and walk away with a bunch of meals that are ready to put in the freezer (I usually do 8-12 small entrees that feed 3 people each). On Sunday, I pick 2 and put them in the fridge to thaw. Then I just have to throw that on the stove/in the oven when I'm ready to eat it (most meals take about 15 min to make), and just add a side (usually steamed veggies).

Which leads me to...

2. These bags:

http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/ZipSteamMicrowaveCookingBags.aspx?SizeName=Medium

They make it so easy to have some veggies with my meal without the prep work. If I'm short on time, I just put in some frozen veggies and they come out tasting fresh. If I have a little time, I throw in some fresh cut veggies (but they also work great with things like baby carrots, too, which you may already have on hand). Another good thing about them is you can steam chicken in them too, so I'll steam some to use in stews, burritos, etc. sometimes, too.

eating a home more/cooking tips?

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