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The no-eating-out challenge

Hi all! Well, yes I know. It's been a long time. I'm not even going to try to make excuses. I just haven't been able to blog like I wanted to. But I'm back. Hopefully. LOL

Anyway, the last few weeks we've been eating out too much. It's just habit. A bad habit most of the time! And too convenient. Stop and get pizza on the way home from Tae Kwon Do. Stop and pick up burgers on the way home from piano. Have D stop and get burritos on his way home from work. The thing is, we're all kind of burned out on eating out. Even Sean has said he'd rather just go home and have ramen noodles. One of his favorite things, lmao. But Saturday was when it really hit us. Both boys have been sick over the past week. D and I were both exhausted. We were all hungry. And the food network had been running BBQ episodes all day. BBQ! That sounds good! Let's go pick up some! So, I went to a place we hadn't tried before...had to drive across town to get there (on the upside, Kade did get a nap on the way, lol) and then spent way more than I had expected. Got home, ate, and it was just okay. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what we were hoping for. Plus, a lot of it went to waste, to be honest. We were full, but left unsatisfied.

So Sunday I went to the grocery store. Bought steaks for supper, and other stuff as well. Our (home cooked) steak dinner was much, much better than the takeout we'd had the day before, and much cheaper to boot! Now, I realize this is not a new concept, and not new to me either. But sometimes we just get in the habit of eating out, and forget how good and economical home cooked meals really are! So, D and I basically challenged each other to see if we could keep from eating out all week. That goes for him too, not just me! I made sure that was part of the deal...because he eats out almost every day for lunch! He diligently packed his lunch this morning. I'm so proud. Sean takes his lunch every day anyway, so that's nothing new for him (he's at camp this week). The hard part for me is not stopping for tea or coffee. If you add it up, I actually do that a little too often, lol. So, I pulled my iced tea maker out yesterday and made a whole pitcher of sweet tea (one of my addictions) and it was actually some of the best tea I'd had lately, lol. And I didn't stop at Starbucks after dropping Sean off this morning.

I'm just rambling now...sorry. :) I do that, didn't you know? Anyway, it will be interesting to see how we do this week. Now...off to figure out the meals for the rest of the week!!

Oh, and don't worry Christi -- this doesn't mean we can't do our lunches when you're up for it! We just said no eating out this week...after that we're just cutting back, lol.

Comments

Christi said…
You picked a good week to not eat out, I won't be tempting you. Even though, a cookie and some tea sounds really good right about NOW! lol
Donna said…
I just googled "no eating out" and came across your blog entry. Seeing everyone else's blogs about the same thing...not eating out...makes me realize that I'm not alone in getting sick of eating out. I have challenged myself to not eat out for 365 days, which at first seemed impossible, but I'm two weeks in and loving it so far. Your recipes look so delicious and I'm looking forward to trying some of them out! :)

Cheers,

Donna

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