I must admit that I have no hope to advise on lowering the cost of dining out because dining out means as much as the string theory does for the next person. Fortunately, I was “saved” by S, who lived with friends for a year in a car and traveled around us and Canada.
I think that's the key to making it easier to eat. This week we sat on a hill in a great kitchen so we ate every meal here. Unfortunately, when we weren't traveling we ate a lot. There are many restaurants in the 3 block area of my house. Here are some things I'm going to try:
- Prepare and pack a meal and set off to your new location. We kept stopping at the restaurant while traveling between the two.
- Plan your meal in advance. This used to be really good for me, but I got rid of my habits. Basically, I picked the menu for lunch 5 times and 5 dinners and made sure I toasted them. I've cut them across the list. The motivation for “waste ingredients” and the convenience of the plan help ensure that the food is consumed.
- Always carry something easy to prepare. I think a can of vegetable chili with pull top or something like durable is as durable as an emergency rice in case of tacos. I hope that won't happen often.
The other two sources of time out are socializing (staying with friends or being bored with DH). I really don't want to be a Killjoy who won't go out, especially for the people who are putting us in. One possible solution is to cook some meals for our hosts (we have made them a few times). Even feeding two extras is usually cheaper than eating. If I implement the idea of a meal plan, DH may be willing to stay home.
I recommend finding other activities such as walking, movie night or playing board games. It's difficult though. Since I only eat once a day, it becomes obvious that “normal” people “need” to eat and how many times “normal” life revolves around eating.
When it comes to catering planning, I never really planned anything. What I made sure, though, is that the output of each meal serves the input to the next meal very well. That way, I don't have to really worry about leftovers. This also means we rarely throw it away.
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Originally released 2010-06-24 21:59:11.
