eating out too much! help!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Caoineag

Believe me, some recipes are flawed to begin with and that doesn't help beginner cooks at all.

This is true. One thing to keep in mind - baking is more of a science and it is important to follow recipes pretty closely. Cooking is more of an art. I use cooking recipes more as a suggestion of how to put things together in an interesting way, not as a strict list of measurements and ingredients that must be followed exactly. I very rarely actually follow a recipe exactly when I cook. I'll reduce the fat content, skip the salt, substitute ingredients that we like for ones we don't like, etc.

[pearlieq]

If it's any consolation, I'm a pretty good cook and I still eat out way too much!

I think the trick for you might be to lower your expectations, initially. Let's just start with getting you to eat at home, even if you're not cooking from scratch.

There's a bunch of pre-made frozen family size meals. Stouffers makes them, Lean Cuisine has some, there's tons. They cost between $5 - $10 each and will give you at least 4 hearty helpings. Go to the store and pick 2 or 3 that look good to you. At dinner time that night, when the urge to get fast food strikes, pop it into the microwave. Voila! Dinner, and probably lunch for another day, done for just a few dollars and a few seconds of work.

Once you get used to that, you can try venturing into the semi-homemade territory where you start with store bought ingredients and do a bit of the work yourself. There's a good cookbook called A Man, A Can, A Plan that has wonderful, step-by-step instructions for making simple meals starting with store bought ingredients.

Once you're comfortable there, you can branch off into cooking on your own. But start slow. Ease into it. You'll do fine!

Link to book: Amazon.com: A Man, a Can, a Plan: 50 Tasty Meals You Can Nuke in No Time: David Joachim,The Editors of Men's Health: Books

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by pearlieq

If it's any consolation, I'm a pretty good cook and I still eat out way too much!

Actually, I think the fact that my wife and I are good cooks raises our costs when we eat out. Since we cook well at home, we don't want to eat crap when we go out. We want something at least as good or better than what we can do ourselves at home. So we don't go to fast food places or casual chain restaurants like Chili's and Applebee's. We go to nice restaurants where dinner for 2 might be $50 or more.

[M-squared]

Actually, I think the fact that my wife and I are good cooks raises our costs when we eat out. Since we cook well at home, we don't want to eat crap when we go out. We want something at least as good or better than what we can do ourselves at home. So we don't go to fast food places or casual chain restaurants like Chili's and Applebee's. We go to nice restaurants where dinner for 2 might be $50 or more.

Um, yep. but then, having two small kids pretty much guarantees that we only rarely go out to eat. Like this past weekend, we had a free babysitter so we decided to go to the fancy "anniversary place" $105 and the best meal that I've had since the last time we went there 18 months ago later...

Seriously though, a good thing to do would be to make sure that you have the basics stocked in your pantry. Make a shopping list with dinner for the week in mind. If you have a pound of ground beef and a package of hamburger buns, you are set to make burgers in about 15 minutes. It couldn't be easier to shape hamburger patties and slap them in a pan. Put a slice of cheese on top and you are golden. If you buy a head of lettuce and some fresh veggies in season once a week, you can have a side salad with any meal.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Once you start you get into a routine. At least that's what happened to us. We have a set of maybe 20 meals we make pretty regularly. From there I just pick and choose for the week.

DH refuses to eat frozen food so once a month cooking is out. He doesn't even like once a week cooking. So DAILY I have to cook or he does.

But we make a meal and usually since it's just 2 of us, we end up having leftovers.

[cschin4]

Nobody is born knowing how to cook. You teach yourself through trial and error just like you learn everything else in life.
I like simple cooking. I don't make fancy sauces or use strange or unusual spices unless I am a mood to experiment. Go the library or get on line and get some free recipies. Stick to foods that you already know that you like. And, don't get hung up on trying to make things from scratch.
My lasagna recipie came of the Prego label. Simple and easy. Many foods have recipes on the labels as well.
If you like pasta, you can boil the noodle and toss with sauce. To jazz it up, I brown some ground hamburger with onion and green pepper and put on the sauce. Makes the meal tasty and feels more substantial. Or, I buy frozen meatballs and heat the sauce in a pan with the frozen meatballs. And, I buy a loaf of frozen garlic bread and bake. Just follow the instructions, it isn't difficult. And, you will burn and ruin some dinners along the way. I have tossed a few meals myself and just ordered out.
Another tasty simple meal. I get a thawed turkey breast at the meat section (not frozen). I place in a baking dish with salt, pepper and toss in an onion. Then, I take the celery leaves off of my celery stalk and lay on the turkey. Add some water and some chicken bouillon. Bake for about 40 min. You can use a meat thermometer to help you get more comfortable with cooking times. There is a tendency to want to overcook meat and it gets tough. To complete the turkey dinner I make instant mashed potatoes, stove top stuffing, and buy a can of gravy until you learn to make gravy yourself.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

DH refuses to eat frozen food

I just don't get folks like this, though to be fair, I find that many people don't know how to properly reheat stuff. Some thing can be microwaved. Others are best reheated in the oven. Certain things are best warmed in a pot or pan on the stovetop and still others freshen up best if you steam them. Do it the wrong way and you can turn a perfectly good meal into unattractive mush or dried out garbage.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Uh, he was raised by a mother who did not EVER make leftovers. He is used to be spoiled. His mom worked full time and cooked every night. I hate the fact she is a great cook.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

Uh, he was raised by a mother who did not EVER make leftovers. He is used to be spoiled. His mom worked full time and cooked every night. I hate the fact she is a great cook.

Does he consider anything not served as soon as it is made to be a leftover, or just things that were served once and the extra was put in the fridge or freezer to be eaten later? For example, can you make a pot of soup and freeze it in single serve containers? Or would he consider those "leftovers"?

[Snave]

When my wife and I were first married, we tried to make one new meal a week. We would look on the internet or in her magazines such as Good Houskeeping, etc... and try to find something we thought we could make. After a few months, we had 8-10 dishes that we had tried. Couple that with the old standby of pasta, pizza night, etc... and we now have plenty of ideas for the week. That would be my advice. Don't try to do everything at once. Go to some of the sites that people have mentioned and pick out a few recipes you both might like. Then, just start to incorporate them. Another good idea is to ask friends/co-workers what some of their favorite dinner recipes are. You can probbaly get some good ideas from them as well.

[littlemama]

Do you have a slow cooker? If not, it would be a really good investment. Go to recipezaar.com or allrecipes.com and search for crockpot or slow cooker recipes. Look at your stores weekly sale ads and try to plan meals around that.

Here's a VERY SIMPLE recipe I did yesterday, and it turned out awesome:

4 lb. rump roast
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can (10 1/2 oz.) condensed french onion soup
1/2 cup chopped onion

Mix soups and onions in a medium bowl. Place roast on slow cooker and pour soup mixture over top. Cover and cook on low 10 hours. That's it!
The meat becomes so tender you can shred it with a fork. This would be good served over rice (Try Success brand-it's easy) or egg noodles.

This must be cooked on low. On high it gets tough. And remember, don't peek. It takes awhile for the slow cooker to get back up to temp.

Enjoy, and good luck.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Yes, he also does not eat leftovers more than 1 meal. He actually prefers to not eat leftovers for lunch, but I said tough. He says why do you have to make a enough for leftovers? Instead just cook it fresh every time. So if you make spaghetti and have enough for two meals, he'd prefer you cook both times fresh. NOT once.

And yes frozen food like soup is a no-go. He'll never eat it. He can taste ice crystals in everything. Ice cream has to be fresh, usually we go out because we don't eat it fast enough. So if it's been sitting more than a week he complains of ice crystals.

Or meat, he prefers we don't freeze meat because it tastes freezer burn. I've tried vaccum sealing, double bagging, etc. And yes he can tell the difference, I've done taste tests of ice cream and meat. I couldn't believe someone could be so anal.

Our roommate is like me we don't care and can't tell. It's only my husband. Same reason why he hates frozen veggies. UGH.

So I get down on my knees if there are things he'll stand frozen, mostly fish.

[FrugalFish]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

So if you make spaghetti and have enough for two meals, he'd prefer you cook both times fresh. NOT once.

Your DH would starve at our house- pickiness is not allowed here. We could not afford to be so fussy.

Was he raised this way? To eat only fresh food on a daily basis? Or is this a reaction to how he was raised? If I were in your shoes, he'd have no choice but to become the cook of the house. I would not tolerate having to shop for, maintain, and make fresh food on a daily basis. You're a better woman than I!

[cschin4]

Some people just do not like leftovers. I personally do not like leftovers either. So, instead of taking the stance of trying to push these on people, just admit what you and your family like and don't like and plan accordingly. I cook smaller amounts and I cook more often. But, I prepare simple, fresh meals. None of us likes leftovers so why fight City Hall?
If we couldn't afford anything else, then fine. But we can and I can plan the smaller meals with less waste and less leftovers.

[gamecock43]

OMG if i could get my Thai food cravings under control I would be a far richer woman. Food is my #1 spending weakness, and many of my friends have agreed. good luck. And pasta is you're $$ pal. I am a vegetarian, so that cuts down my eating bills alot.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I have no idea. I grew up with once a week cooking literally. My mom would make one crappy meal a week and I'd be happy to eat. It really sucked too. So a pot of spaghetti for 3 lasted basically 7 days. Or she'd buy a couple of pizzas but we'd have to freeze because we ate so slow.

I don't know why my DH hates leftovers. He just does. So I make portions that last 1 day and cook again. This week, we've eaten pork tonkatsu (2x nights cooked fresh mon and tues), last night chicken quesidillas, tonight chicken casserole, tomorrow will be either veggie lasanga or meat lasanga.

I didn't even think he was picky, it's something I've become accustomed too. Until people think we're weird for cooking every night.

[aurielle]

Here's a quick easy meal. DH calls it 'pollo loco'. Pick up one of those pre-cooked whole chickens they sell at the deli section in the grocery store, a package of flour tortillas, a jar of salsa, and a package of shredded cheddar or mexican mix cheese on the way home from work. When you get home from work and are ready for dinner, pull some meat off of the chicken. Place the meat on a couple of tortillas and sprinkle some cheese on it. Microwave for a minute or two (depending on your microwave) or just watch it while its in the microwave until the cheese is just melted. Take it out, pour some salsa on top. Roll them up and eat. I like to top mine with some chopped onion and sour cream. You will have chicken meat left which you can use for lunch or dinner the next day. Either a chicken sandwich, or make a simple salad and put the chicken on top, or more 'pollo loco'.