If you have a way to reheat food at work (ie microwave) maybe you could make extra at dinnertime and save a portion or two for lunches? We sometimes "make extra" by adding a bit more of the cheaper, filler ingredients (rice or noodles or potato or vegetables) without adding more meat/protein, thus getting more servings out of the meal without much added expense.
The first idea that comes to mind is one afternoon a week, say a Sunday if you're both busy during the week, where you cook and freeze a week's worth of main meals. You cook, husband (if he's that bad) doing the bits that don't require cooking ability - washing pans, labelling containers, etc
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Do you have a slow cooker/crockpot? I will make a big batch of something - chili, stew, soup, meat and veggies, etc. And then freeze it into multiple portions and those I take to work each day for lunch. They're also a great quick reheat for dinner when you don't feel like making something.
Ditto this. Slow cookers are great for making big meals with little effort. (Slow cooker meals also tend towards the bland side as well, since the cooking process damps down on spices. You can make spicy slow cooker meals, but you have to know when to add things. Anyway, point being your hubby should like them.)
Slow cookers are also great because they can be cooking away while you're at work and you get to come home to a "real" dinner without feeling like you had to do anything. (obDisclaimer: there are those who would say that leaving a slow cooker on while you're away is a potential fire hazard. Some do, some don't, up to you how you want to handle it).
this is a great idea. I personally always "mean" to do those things where you cook a bunch of meals on the weekend and freeze them, but seriously, who wants to do that with their weekend? But I use my crockpot a *lot*.
one thing that always becomes a stumbling block for me, too, is thinking of what to cook. I know it sounds small, but having to come up with the idea? sometimes it makes cooking dinner into this huge chore. I've found it helps if I make up a list of meals for the week and shop from that (using the sale flyers from the local stores as a guide, to an extent). That way I know what I have the ingredients for. Saves having to run to the store for "just one thing" -- because those trips never end up being for just that one thing, if you're me :)
Just an extra thought, but the housemate and I, when we need to cook and *really* don't want to, get talking about one of our writing projects as we get on with cooking. We can usually prod the characters into telling us *something* that we can discuss (even if it's not something worth writing down) and that keeps you distracted from the effort of making food. If you don't write, find something equally distracting to discuss with husband as food is prepared, perhaps?
For the shopping trips, I've known people who swear by taking only a small amount of cash, no other form of payment, to the grocery store; that way you _can't_ go over your budget.
(I don't do this myself, mainly because I generally hate having cash; it takes extra effort for me to track since I don't get a monthly statement to remind me of any transaction I forgot to record, and if someone steals it from me, it's gone. But for normal people who'd balk at using plastic to pay for a $1.25 purchase, it might work well.)
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Slow cookers are also great because they can be cooking away while you're at work and you get to come home to a "real" dinner without feeling like you had to do anything. (obDisclaimer: there are those who would say that leaving a slow cooker on while you're away is a potential fire hazard. Some do, some don't, up to you how you want to handle it).
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one thing that always becomes a stumbling block for me, too, is thinking of what to cook. I know it sounds small, but having to come up with the idea? sometimes it makes cooking dinner into this huge chore. I've found it helps if I make up a list of meals for the week and shop from that (using the sale flyers from the local stores as a guide, to an extent). That way I know what I have the ingredients for. Saves having to run to the store for "just one thing" -- because those trips never end up being for just that one thing, if you're me :)
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We don't have one of those, no.
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(I don't do this myself, mainly because I generally hate having cash; it takes extra effort for me to track since I don't get a monthly statement to remind me of any transaction I forgot to record, and if someone steals it from me, it's gone. But for normal people who'd balk at using plastic to pay for a $1.25 purchase, it might work well.)
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