That's another expense that's not doing us any favors, despite my love of a warm, fresh, meal in the middle of the day.
Depending on how affordable it is, you can trade things off: My husband gets his solid meal at work (which is about the same price as cooking food ourselves, sometimes cheaper) and eats sandwiches and the like at home. I cook something for myself. It works well because the husband appreciates the reinforcement of a good meal at work and we each have multiple food allergies so this makes planning meals a lot simpler. :)
So if your husband can develop his kitchen skill set a bit more, or is one of those people who can live on sandwiches (with some meat and fresh veggies on them, natch) that could be something that might work. :)
I'm the husband, and I frequently do live on sandwiches.
I'm actually not quite as bad as she's made out - I survived, more or less, by myself for two years. It's just that our new flat lacks a grill, and most of the stuff I like to make is grilled (I won't fry things). We do now have a grill (thanks to my mother), but the small nasty kitchen isn't letting us set it up.
I might actually try clearing space tonight so I can grill some mini-burgers (also thanks to my mother).
Cool. If you don't like frying and you can't get the grill set up, find some recipes for steamed and poached stuff. Soups are also good and can be made without either frying pan or grill. www.recipesource.com is a good starting place.
There are Lidls here, and they're actually better than the ones I'm used to back home. I, weird as it might seem, won't go into the Lidl in Greenock (my home town) because it is the most depressing place I've ever seen in my entire life. The cancer ward at the hospital was more cheerful. It was full of dour-faced, pale people shuffling around under insanely harsh lighting, with people on the registers who looked like they were planning to kill themselves with the next frozen chicken that passed by them.
A good way to deal w/ the spicy/bland issue is to take boneless, skinless cuts of chicken and prepare them ahead of time according to the way either of you wants it. I've found using spice/seasoning mixes, such as greek seasoning, poultry seasoning, etc, is a fast, easy way to add spice to bland chicken. And for your husband, just marinate it in Worshestire-sauce, or BBQ-sauce diluted w/ water, whatever.
Then you can refrigerate it/freeze it and reheat it later.
Be realistic about what you will and won't do. If the thought of chopping salad after work or dealing with a whole chicken is so much of a chore in your mind that you'll end up calling for take away at the drop of a pin, you'll have actually wasted money because you bought food you won't eat and the usual stuff on top of it.
It's far better to buy things you will use than things you won't. Yes, bagged salad can be more expensive than buying all the veggies separately and unprepped, but if you'll actually eat the bagged salad while the unprepped veggies rot in your crisper, guess what was the better use of your money
( ... )
Be realistic about what you will and won't do. If the thought of chopping salad after work or dealing with a whole chicken is so much of a chore in your mind that you'll end up calling for take away at the drop of a pin, you'll have actually wasted money because you bought food you won't eat and the usual stuff on top of it. This is often my trouble - I buy and then never make or prepare or want the food I buy. My solution is to buy less actually - 3 or 4 meals at a time
( ... )
It's far better to buy things you will use than things you won't. Yes, bagged salad can be more expensive than buying all the veggies separately and unprepped, but if you'll actually eat the bagged salad while the unprepped veggies rot in your crisper, guess what was the better use of your money?
Yes, this was something it took me a while to figure out, but now, I just buy the blasted bagged salad. Actually, at $1.69 for a pound of salad, versus $1.59 for a head of lettuce, I don't guess I'm really spending more.
And, store brand salad tastes just as good as Dole salad; I mean, hell, it's LETTUCE and some decorative shreds of carrot, not rocket science.
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Depending on how affordable it is, you can trade things off: My husband gets his solid meal at work (which is about the same price as cooking food ourselves, sometimes cheaper) and eats sandwiches and the like at home. I cook something for myself. It works well because the husband appreciates the reinforcement of a good meal at work and we each have multiple food allergies so this makes planning meals a lot simpler. :)
So if your husband can develop his kitchen skill set a bit more, or is one of those people who can live on sandwiches (with some meat and fresh veggies on them, natch) that could be something that might work. :)
Reply
I'm actually not quite as bad as she's made out - I survived, more or less, by myself for two years. It's just that our new flat lacks a grill, and most of the stuff I like to make is grilled (I won't fry things). We do now have a grill (thanks to my mother), but the small nasty kitchen isn't letting us set it up.
I might actually try clearing space tonight so I can grill some mini-burgers (also thanks to my mother).
Reply
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I'm with the others on cooking huge batches of stuff and then reheating as needed, that's what I do myself.
Reply
There are Lidls here, and they're actually better than the ones I'm used to back home. I, weird as it might seem, won't go into the Lidl in Greenock (my home town) because it is the most depressing place I've ever seen in my entire life. The cancer ward at the hospital was more cheerful. It was full of dour-faced, pale people shuffling around under insanely harsh lighting, with people on the registers who looked like they were planning to kill themselves with the next frozen chicken that passed by them.
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Then you can refrigerate it/freeze it and reheat it later.
Reply
It's far better to buy things you will use than things you won't. Yes, bagged salad can be more expensive than buying all the veggies separately and unprepped, but if you'll actually eat the bagged salad while the unprepped veggies rot in your crisper, guess what was the better use of your money ( ... )
Reply
This is often my trouble - I buy and then never make or prepare or want the food I buy. My solution is to buy less actually - 3 or 4 meals at a time ( ... )
Reply
Yes, this was something it took me a while to figure out, but now, I just buy the blasted bagged salad. Actually, at $1.69 for a pound of salad, versus $1.59 for a head of lettuce, I don't guess I'm really spending more.
And, store brand salad tastes just as good as Dole salad; I mean, hell, it's LETTUCE and some decorative shreds of carrot, not rocket science.
Reply
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