So far this week, even though I made the extra payment to that Old Navy balance, and we are still on track, we failed miserably with not eating at home.
I didn’t grocery shop (even though I work at a grocery store) so when it came to making dinners and having stuff for lunches and breakfasts I failed. Then when we were hungry instead of making something or warming something up, we went through the drive thru. Yuck. It sucks going through the drive-thru. I always feel like crap after going through the drive-thru. Greasy fries and burgers do not make me feel good.
Then another food fail was tonight when we went out to celebrate that the Hubbs got yet another side gig. We ate dinner at a local restaurant and were sorely disappointed by the food and the price was ridiculous for just the two of us.
Now I have to say I am extremely hard to please when I go out to eat. I pretty much regret it every time because I know I can make better food for about a 10th of the price I pay out, but my husband always says I didn’t have to cook it so just enjoy it.
Not tonight. I don’t consider myself old but now I am sounding like an old fart because I just can’t believe what things cost! I get it. I am in retail too. I know everything is going up in price but seriously for $60 I expect something to be at least eye appealing. Six small scallops with a small bowl of white rice that was so over cooked it was mush and a piece of lettuce with an old fashioned spiced apple ring and a sliver of lemon is not worth $25. Soup and salad were also included.
Buyer’s remorse. Sixty dollars is gone out of my wallet when I could have purchased almost a full weeks of groceries for us with that money.
I have 80 weeks of blog posts to write and I was totally going to talk about food at some point in the future but after this incident I need to talk about it much sooner.
This is a problem I know we all have. And I know retailers completely take advantage of us tired, overworked, stressed out moms and dads and strip us of our hard earned cash because we just want someone else to cook for once.
We failed with food this week. We will be better next week. I promise. Carry on. -MM
The Professional Domestic 
I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. Sometimes we all need days and weeks off. And I would say I don’t consider myself old either, but I’m always amazed at how much food out costs. I’m sure they make a considerable margin on it given how much I would spend on it if I made it at home!
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Definitely sounds like you need to fill up your cart at the grocery store, to keep food bills down next week.
I think food is one of the rare areas where it is possible to make a difference with the weekly budget, if you can cut down on meat and have more dishes like pasta, rice, lentils or veggies. I actually find I don’t enjoy eating out anymore because I know what the bill is going to be and can’t help thinking I could have filled the fridge for a week for what it costs to eat out. The fact I’m gluten free also means I have very little choice in restaurants on the rare occasion we do go out, so we make sure to cook from scratch every day at home.
Assuming you have a freezer – I would suggest you try and cook in bulk, so you can freeze certain dishes, that way, when you really don’t feel like cooking, you can defrost one of your own home-made meals.
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Definitely Claire, I was so much more organized when I wasn’t so busy with civic responsibilities and working so many hours. Plus always working Saturdays and mostly Sundays leaves me with not really having a good schedule of when to grocery shop. I know it seems silly but after I am done in the bakery I just want to go home and not spend an extra half hour grocery shopping. Plus on my days off I dont want to spend them back at the grocery store shopping lol! I just need a new job Monday through Friday haha!
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Ouch! Make next week a really good one! One of the things that I have done is to have a few meals in the freezer for crazy weeks. Some of our favorites are meatloaf, green chile beef burritos and enchiladas. When I make meatloaf, I just do two and put one in the freezer (baked). The enchilada sauce is left over. I freeze the bits and take them out when I need a quick meal. Next week will be better, 😘.
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I feel your pain. Eating out has been one of my family’s biggest downfalls. Every once in a while might be ok, but we’ve gone multiple nights in weeks past just grabbing takeout because it was easier. It adds up quick! As mentioned in an earlier comments we’re trying to get plans together on Sundays and cooking in bulk so there’s always leftovers or something in the freezer ready to pop in the oven.
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Some day I feel quite tired and busy. I have started to cut some veges whenever I’ve got spare time, season it just with salt, keeping it in the fridge. This little steps saves my time and helps me to cook at home more often. Love, Ellie
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