The Art of Eating In

[rob62521]

I ran across this book, The art of eating in -- how I learned to stop spending and love the stove at our public library's bookmobile. In it, Cathy, decides to stop eating out for a year which becomes two, and cook for herself. It's an interesting read and she does include a few recipes. There are a few things I would not attempt, but, I enjoyed reading the book. She blogged about her "adventures" as well and the blog url is:

Not Eating Out in New York

One of the things she says about many folks in New York is very few cook and if they only realized how much money they could save by eating in, they would be astonished.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by rob62521

One of the things she says about many folks in New York is very few cook and if they only realized how much money they could save by eating in, they would be astonished.

We have friends who used to live in the city and they said that a big reason many New Yorkers don't cook is that their apartments are tiny and they have very little room to store food. Also, many don't have cars so they can't go do big weekly shopping trips like most of us do. They can only buy what they can carry home on the subway.

What my friend used to do, though, was just hit a couple of little neighborhood markets on her walk home from the subway station and pick up what she needed for dinner that night. Everything was fresh and she bought just enough for the one meal. It still made it way cheaper (and healthier) than eating out even though she wasn't buying bulk packages.

[rob62521]

I think your friend was wise.

The world news had a story on how much sodium is in restaurant food and how Americans are getting way too much. I believe it. I do a lot of cooking from scratch and I only use salt when I absolutely have to and I guess I'm a rarity. I see folks coming from McDonalds at lunch and they immediately salt their fries! Yikes!

[disneysteve]

I saw that news report too. It showed one entree from Olive Garden with well over 3,000 mg of salt when the recommended total daily intake is 2,000 mg.

I can't imagine salting McDonald's fries. They are so encrusted in salt when you get them I have to brush them off before I eat them (not that I get them more than 2 or 3 times a year as a special treat).

[rob62521]

I worked with a gal who added salt to her V-8 because she said she couldn't taste the salt. Hello?

I think we saw the same news report about the salt intake. Pretty scary, eh?

[ea1776]

Originally Posted by rob62521

I think your friend was wise.

The world news had a story on how much sodium is in restaurant food and how Americans are getting way too much. I believe it. I do a lot of cooking from scratch and I only use salt when I absolutely have to and I guess I'm a rarity. I see folks coming from McDonalds at lunch and they immediately salt their fries! Yikes!

ewwww. mcDonald's frieds are salty enough as it is.

[AsiaTraveler]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

What my friend used to do, though, was just hit a couple of little neighborhood markets on her walk home from the subway station and pick up what she needed for dinner that night. Everything was fresh and she bought just enough for the one meal. It still made it way cheaper (and healthier) than eating out even though she wasn't buying bulk packages.

That's the European way of doing things, so she's right on. Plus, she's helping keep local places in business. +1

[rob62521]

That's something the gal said in her book -- buying from local farmers was important to her.