The Budget Wise Make Home Cooked Meals

We've all heard it.   Cooking at home leads to healthier food, reduced food budgets and happy, perfect families.   Not cooking at home is the downfall of modern society.

Right?

Before I tell you my story, let me tell you that I was raised with home-cooked meals.  I was raised sitting around a dinner table at 5 o'clock, on the dot, with no television or radio in the room and eating a meal my mother had prepared.  I was raised without Hamburger Helper, and I was raised in an environment where going out to eat was a treat, and definitely not the norm.

Let me also tell you that I ENJOY cooking.  I like to bake, I like to cook, I love to try new recipes and I am not "afraid" that what I make will come out poorly. 

Let me also say that I don't have kids, nor am I really "all that busy," come right down to it.  I work 40 hours, I hit the gym,  I don't volunteer overly much, don't have a second job, and my social life is a rare treat!


Now, all that being said, cooking at home is a pain in the butt!!   If you don't like to cook at home or tell me you don't have the time I will NOT lecture you on making the time or making it a priority or considering your budget, because chances are I fully agree with you!

Case in point, I purchased a very lovely pork loin not too long ago, which I was very much looking forward to having.  I had visions of pork and garlic mashed potatoes and zucchini and squashed sliced thin and grilled down to tastiness.  It would be better than anything I would get in a restaurant,  it would be much cheaper AND there would be plenty of leftovers.

On the day of the planned pork loin meal, I worked my normal 8 hours, and then hit the gym, arriving home about 6:30pm, famished.  I pulled out the defrosted pork loin, turned on the oven to preheat, and then looked up how long it would need to cook.

Forty to 50 minutes.

Excuse me?!?

So, I am not going to be eating until after 7:30pm, which means it will be nearly 8pm before we're done, then we have to clean up (have I mentioned we don't have a dishwasher so "cleaning up" is a family affair of washing and drying?), THEN I will have to prepare lunches for tomorrow, clean up AGAIN from that, go unpack my gym bag and repack it for tomorrow.  It will easily be 9pm then, so it will be another day where I don't have time to even turn on the computer, let alone blog, it will be a day where I have no time to get caught up on my book-club-book.  Heck, I won't even have time to just sit on the couch and relax!  The idea of working on a grocery list or starting laundry or doing any of the varied and random projects scattered around the house won't even occur to me.

On the other hand, if I had stopped at a restaurant on the way home from the gym and grabbed takeout, we would have been eating at 6:30pm, by 7 we would have been "cleaned up" and I would probably have the meals for the next day ready to go, too.  I'd energetically get the gym bag ready for the next day, possibly throw in a load of laundry, and have time to write a quick blog and check emails before moving on to camp on the couch, in front of the television, for an hour of relaxation.

Did I mention that I pass a minimum of 15 restaurants on my way from the gym to home? A distance of less than two miles, and that's only counting restaurants I have actually eaten at and would eat at again.  The alternative route is the same distance, but hits more like 20 restaurants.  I wouldn't have to go out of my way at all!

Let me add that while I am writing to you about the pork loin, since it is fresh on my mind from this week, it is actually not as bad as nights you attempt to cook something that requires action ~ stirring and adding ingredients.  Multiple pots and pans that will need washing.  Chopping and grating and measuring.  At least the pork loin I could pop in and walk away from.

Incidentally, my solution that night was to start the pork loin, then make Tuna Helper for that night.  I was done eating by the time the pork was done.  It set, was sliced, and wrapped for lunches.

So what's to be done?

You have to find balance, based on your lifestyle.  You have to have options that require different levels of preparation, and even options that different family members can create. 

If I can keep a frozen pizza on the freezer, then I can call him from the gym and ask him to pop it in the oven and he can prep a salad to go with it.  I can walk in the door to dinner on the table.

If we're open to having "breakfast for dinner" we can quickly fry up some eggs and meat, make some toast, and be eating within minutes.

I do buy the Hamburger/Tuna & Chicken Helpers and work them in to the busy nights or the lazy nights.
I do buy things to cook on the grill because it means I can do something else while he's in charge.

On the other hand, I do cook chicken breasts purchased on sale in 10 or 20 lb batches, and we do work together to chop it into "salad" size, back it in individual portions, and freeze it for use on salads, pizzas, in soups and pastas. 

I do cook large roasts on Sunday's and freeze individual portions for lunches or lazy quick dinners at a later date. 

I do microwave frozen vegetables and rely on instant mashed potatoes and frozen french fries for quick sides. 

Many of our meals are "made" by the frozen pre-made Texas Toast garlic bread, which I can throw on the grill, in the oven, or on the cook top to quickly add to just about any meal.

There are times I think about how simple and cheap the meal I am making would be if I just made it from scratch.  But when I start thinking "if I could just have a television/computer/chair in the kitchen, I realized the value in using the Philly Cooking Creme as a pasta sauce rather than making my own is well worth it!