Why We Stopped Eating Out & 3 Way’s We’ve Course Corrected
Ok…to be quite frank, I freaking love eating out. As a busy mom of 4 littles and someone who runs a full design to build business….eating out is. my. jam! But when tax season rolled around and we began looking at all the numbers we were SHOCKED to see we had spent over $6K ALONE eating out over the course of ONE year! Like what!? That’s a nice vacation budget right there!
We knew something had to change, and we knew WE had to make that change! Eating out is a convenience right? It takes all the guess work out of meal prep and time spent in the kitchen but to be honest, neither Guy or I had been liking how were feeling from all the high carb, high sodium, high sugar foods we had been consuming. While it felt good in the moment our bodies AND our checking account were suffering far greater than we could stand to face.
PLUS….we began to notice something in our kids that we couldn’t STAND!! They constantly wanted to eat out too! Their nagging and overall entitlement to eat out whenever we left the house was straight up maddening. We were honestly just so sick of the toxic cycle we were continuing to subject ourselves to. So we made a BIG shift in our mindset and in our planning! Here’s what we did!
The biggest and the BEST thing we did was….
Changed the role of meal planner & maker. For so long (and to no offense of Guy or others that choose to have this role in their home) I was the “official homemaker” so I cooked all the meals, cleaned the house, did all things kids, etc. But when our business really began to pick up this role was almost impossible to sustain on my own. Our default became: when things got too busy, we would just eat out.
The second biggest thing we did was….
Committed to a plan. Guy is not someone who has had much experience in the kitchen but after a long conversation we both committed to making this a dual effort.
We used our Menards rebate money and got ourselves a flat top grill & smoker. We decided that 2-3 nights a week Guy would cook and 3 nights a week I would cook. We committed to experimenting and using trial and error to see what our family liked best (meal wise) and decided we would rotate those meals weekly. Guy has since grown so much in the cooking/grilling department and actually enjoys trying new recipes out now!
The third thing we did was…
Gave ourself (and our kids) permission to not have a plan. What I mean is, we decided that one night a week we would have a “grab & growl” night where they could have whatever they wanted; cereal, bagel, salad, literally whatever they could grab with their own two hands with little to no preparation involved. Funny enough, our kids have loved this night of the week THE MOST!
Something about giving ourselves permission to have a night off just freed us up so much and took the pressure off to always have a plan.
Obviously this doesn’t work for every family but this is what has worked for us. And it has set healthy boundaries for both us and our kids as well.
Check out one of our favorite recipes that has been passed down by 3 generations of women in my family!
CHICKEN DEVON - A FAMILY RECIPE
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Onion (diced)
4 TBS Butter
1 Can Cream of Chicken
1 Can Cream of Mushroom
1 Cup of Sour Cream
1/2 Cup of Milk
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
3-4 Chicken Breasts
2-4 Cups of Rice
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large sauce pan sautee your onions in butter (on low heat) until soft. Add in your cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup. Stir together. Next stir in your sour cream until mixed. Add your milk and salt & pepper. Let sit on low heat until your sauce comes to a small rolling bubble. Remove from heat.
Place your uncooked chicken in 9x13 pan. Pour your sauce on top of your chicken and cook covered for 1 hour. Then uncover your chicken and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
Prepare your rice. Once cooked, pour your sauce and chicken over rice and ENJOY!
