[USER]

Hi all! How often do you cook at home and do take out? I eat left overs but it’s usually the same meals. I started doing ingredient prepping to lessen the cooking time.

I’m thinking about making freezer meals to give myself a break.

Any tips would help, thanks!

[Linda]

I love my freezer!
I always cook lots of things (chili, pasta sauce, soups) in a big pot and freeze enough for 4-5 more meals.

You can even do roasted chicken breasts and veggies – veg enough for 2 meals, but do enough chicken for 4-5, freeze the extras.

Make 16 burgers at a time, freeze in meal size portions.

[Larsen]

I’m a horrible cook. Anything I attempt to make ends in failure and wasted time/money. I eat out a lot.

I also eat a lot of salads and cereal. Not together, of course.

[Shelley]

Anonymous member 736 I hate cooking so everything I make is fast and easy.

I bet you just need to try earier recipes.

[Renee]

We only do take out 1-2 times a month, but that’s getting less, it’s too expensive to eat out.

I cook most nights and we eat leftover food.

[Sheila]

Due to food allergies, we rarely eat out. I usually cook a meal to feed 4-6 (there’s only 2 of us) and make frozen dinners for another day.

[Annette]

I don’t eat out at all anymore. I found heaps of freezer friendly recipes online.

And now that the fresh veggies are coming out I add those into my meals.

[Nola]

we (2 adult household) eat homemade meals for almost every meal everyday. We probably eat takeout one time a month and sometimes we each buy a lunch or something like a soda or ice cream cone.

at our place, we have a different dinner for monday through thursday and leftovers are packed up for lunches.

Friday is always the same (nachos; I make “nacho bits” in batches and freeze to make sure it’s super simple).

Saturday and Sunday we eat whatever is left or eat something simple out of what we have around. I buy groceries on Sunday and then we do it again.

If you’re new to eating out of the store, remember: convenience items at the grocery store are expensive compared to buying ingredients and making it yourself, but they are also almost always cheaper than buying food at a restaurant!!

So, give yourself some grace and don’t try to make every single thing from scratch.

It’s OK to buy spaghetti sauce in the jar, boxed mac and cheese, frozen lasagnas/pizzas, pre chopped veggies etc.

of course, freezing your own is even cheaper! There are always going to be days when you just don’t have it in you, this Thursday I personally wasn’t feeling well to do the dinner I had planned so we had frozen fried rice out of a bag I bought at the store.

[Dennise]

I often cook, eat that night, my husband might eat leftovers the next day but if I can cook the next day I try to freeze the leftovers for a more hectic day.

We often have a freezer full.

[Jackie]

I keep precooked homemade mini meatloaves in the freezer. Thaw, warm, add a microwaved baked potato and a frozen veg and your meal is on the table in less than 15 minutes.

I also keep pre cooked homemade meatballs in the freezer.

You can do any kind of ground meat, chicken, lamb, etc. I flavor for different ethnic cuisines.

So Asian to add to lo mein, Greek with lemon rice or couscous, Italian, or Swedish with pasta.

[Karen]

Cook once, eat twice. Make a casserole but make two pans. Freeze the second one.

If done a few times you end up with a little stock in the freezer.

[Author]

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