Confessions:::Gina

Well, I have had a super busy week, and have some confessions.  I ate out twice in two weeks for work-related things. I forget that a local breastfeeding coalition meets at restaurants, and my "boss" wanted to go out to talk over work things. So, basically, I'm updating my caveats to include things that are tax-deductible. I'm sorry, but it just has to be this way. At least the whole family isn't included in these outings, and I'm trying to be both frugal and healthy in my choices. Sorry.

Pizza:::Gina

As has been mentioned on this blog before, watching Super Size Me last summer really motivated some change in our family. We all knew fast food was bad before watching that, but somehow we didn't really get how bad it is until then.

Anyway, once we saw that, our fast food consumption dramatically fell off (but our healthier eating-out choices picked up, so...). One thing we never could quite shake, though, were pizza nights. With $5-6 large pizzas around here, it was so often a temptation too strong to resist.

When the boys found out we'd be doing this challenge they were mostly dismayed at the thought of doing without pizza. In our more frugal days, we made plenty of homemade pizza, so we all knew it could be done. It was just a matter of doing it. Which we did tonight. (Actually, I had some issues and they ended up being calzones, but...you get the point, lol.)

And, a la Tightwad Gazette, I quadrupled the dough recipe and froze three balls of dough, so we can do it again weekly all month if we so choose.

Involving the Kids:::Gina

Last night, Quinn took this book to bed with him.

He woke up determined to make pancakes for breakfast (even though he is, without fail, the last person up).

I'm not a big fan of big-production breakfasts, but he learned a lot doing this. Hopefully it won't be long before I have to have zero involvement (I already made him do all the dishes, lol). Though I preach involving the kids in household tasks, in reality I would much rather just do it quickly and efficiently. But, ultimately, if I can have three or four meal-preparers in the house, it's far more likely we'll eat in instead of going out because I'm too tired or busy to cook.

They were a big hit--enjoyed by all (except mom, who is determined to go no-carb until she gets the holiday weight off).

My Own Confession:::Gina

Okay, I can't let Lisa be the only one to confess today. So, I'd arranged last month for a friend and fellow childbirth educator to observe one of my December classes, but wouldn't you know we'd had a horrible snowstorm that day and she wasn't able to make it. I'd promised a Starbucks treat if she'd bring herself into town to do this for me, and so when we rescheduled for today, I couldn't very well withhold her treat, now, could I?

So, I took my friend to Starbucks. I'd pretty much decided plain coffee would be an allowable thing for me to get since I am often up late and long, and sometimes the families whose births we attend are :::gasp::: non-coffee drinkers! But, I kind of HAD to get a baked good today so that my friend wouldn't be self-conscious ordering. So, there ya go. I got plain coffee and a piece of gingerbread.

Mea culpa.

Planned Leftovers:::Gina

Planned leftovers seem like a pretty basic concept in meal planning, but I think it can be more complicated than it sounds for a variety of reasons. Quickly, the concept is to cook extra so that you have leftovers. Here are some roadblocks to this idea, though:

• Someone in the house (while I would never presume to point fingers, this person often goes by a title that starts with a "D" and rhymes with bad) refuses to eat leftovers. The best way to counter that is to "morph" the original dish into other incarnations. Think roast turkey into turkey soup, turkey salad, turkey casserole, etc. Another tactic is to never utter the "L word." They probably can't tell, anyway.
• People snack on foods that are awaiting another fate and/or take them for lunch. Obviously, this is simply a matter of letting people know what your plans are. Intentionally using leftovers for lunches is another way to implement planned leftovers.
• Food goes bad before you get around to using it. This is clearly just another matter of planning, and if you use a meal planning technique, it's easily avoided.

Here are some other ideas for how to implement this:

Home Sanctuary

Roast Chicken Ideas (can just as easily be implemented for your own at-home roasted chicken)

Chaos in the Kitchen (she has several posts that start off with "Planned Leftovers")

Recipezaar

Family Education

Good Neighbors:::Gina

One idea, that isn't so much of an idea as an observation I suppose, is to have a buddy to undertake any kind of food-based challenge with. A couple of years ago, Miche and I did a Once-a-Month-Cooking day (which was infinitely more fun with two), after which we each had a month's worth of entrees in our freezers.

My sister watches my kids about once a week, during which she is often tempted to take them out for fast food. I proposed that instead of doing that, she make lunch for them, in exchange for which I'll cook her dinner one night. That saves me from feeling obligated to send money for her, and probably keeps her from eating out one night each week, as well.

Tonight, Jenn (one of A Year Without Eating Out's contributors, knew I was going to be tired and sorely tempted to eat out after being up for a birth all night long. She offered to throw an extra pan of cornbread in the oven with her own to help with our meal for the evening. Since we always have soup nearby in some form or another, this was very helpful. Some day when she's under the weather or busy for whatever reason I'll be sure to pay it forward and take something over for her family.

 

So, consider using a buddy system if you can. If nothing else, you'll have an ear, shoulder, and smile. But you might just have dinner some night.

What's for Dinner:::Gina

Okay, I know this is a resolution for 2009, but I've been working on the blog most of the day, and am eager to get started. Tonight I have an Italian potato soup simmering and a loaf of country bread in the oven. On Christmas Eve my grandmother took us to the Olive Garden (little did I know it might be my last meal out, lol) and I had the soup and salad. This is my best reconstruction of that soup, with a few modifications. It's simmering now and I just sampled it. I'd say so far, so good. I guess I'll commit and write a recipe here:

Italian Potato Soup

1# ground beef, buffalo, or sausage (I suspect sausage would be the best, but I didn't have any on hand)
1/2 a large onion, finely chopped
1 large baking potato, quartered lengthwise and then thinly sliced
1 can white beans (dried, cooked, and frozen beans would be the most frugal choice)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Approx 2 teaspoons each dried basil and oregano
Approx 1 t dried fennel seeds
Approx 3 C milk
1 bunch kale, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Basically, I just browned the beef and onion, adding the garlic when it was almost done. I added spices while this was browning and then added the potato and beans. Cover with milk and bring to a simmer. Simmer about 30 minutes, add kale, and simmer another 5 or so.

The bread is a variation of this recipe, with whole wheat (white wheat) flour instead, and a little cornmeal thrown in because I ran out of flour after last week's baking frenzy.



Wrap up analysis...

Kids factor: Accepted very well. Liam hemmed and hawed a bit, but that was because he had a snack about 5 minutes before dinner. Grrrr... I tried to get them to rate it, but Quinn was the only one who got the concept of that really, and he gave it a 9, which is probably an exaggeration. He can be very ingratiating.

Cost factor: Honestly, I don't know what a half-gallon of organic milk runs these days, but I used about 2/3 of one, so I'll guess that's in the neighborhood of $2. $2 on the beef, $1 for the kale and beans, $0.25 for the onion and probably $1 for bread fixin's and maybe another $0.50 worth of spices. So a grand total of $6.75 and it made about 10 servings.

Health factor: I'm not a huge fan of dairy, I used beef instead of buffalo, and potatoes are questionable at best. Still, it was 2% milk, no "extra" fats, and did contain kale. So, fairly healthy, but not extraordinarily.

The Challenge

Welcome to A Year Without Eating Out. Because of the need to tighten belts and budgets, a group of friends is answering the challenge to go a full year (each with her own "free pass") without eating out. Stay tuned for tips, ideas, and inspiration that you can use in your own homes for 2009.