Dr. P and I love going out to eat. But we enjoy cooking at home just as much. Now because of our busy work schedule, we cook at home most weekdays, and go out for dinner on weekends. On a weekday, I make breakfast in the morning, and also pack lunch for both Dr. P and I. If I know Dr. P has to work late for the day, I'll prepare dinner and pack it for him in the morning as well. Otherwise, I'll make a quick meal after I get home from work. Our weekday meals are always easy and fast to make. I like to limit cooking time to about 30 minutes.
Here are Dr. P's one day meals:
Breakfast
A simple pan fried egg, Trader Joe's potatoes, donut peach from my parents backyard, and leftover bread from CPK. Simple, filling, and yummy. Probably took me 10 minutes to make this plate.
Lunch
Turkey sandwich, blueberries, and whole wheat fig newton from Sprouts. 10 minutes and lunch was packed.
Turkey Sandwich
The turkey sandwich was made with turkey breast, pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, and avocado. The whole grain breads were spread with some olive oil mayo and Dijon mustard. It was a very simple sandwich, but it was so delicious. Personally I think avocado just makes everything taste better!
Dinner
Dr. P had to stay late for work that day, so I packed his dinner for him as well. Rice, rotisserie chicken from Sprouts, and sauteed mushroom with garlic and cilantro. With a little bit of hot sauce on the side, Dr. P finished the whole thing. Another 10 minutes was spent making this dinner box.
So total time I spent on that morning was 30 minutes preparing 3 meals for my hubby. He probably would spend 3 hours and way more $$$$ if he had to drive to a restaurant, order food, eat, and go back to work. Plus it is a lot healthier when I cook for him. So are you on my side or my coworkers side? Do you cook for your husband/boyfriend? Do you prefer you wife/girlfriend to cook for you? Is it "not normal" for me to want to cook for my husband?
I do agree with you that cooking at home is cheaper and healthier. But I'm a busy working professional just like you and hardly have time to cook during weekday. So what I do is I tend to do a lot more cooking on weekends and just eat those leftovers on the following weekdays. I can eat the same thing for days without getting tired of it...my husband do tend to complain a bit about eating the same thing....that's been my biggest headache so far as to how to create more varieties of our meals...
ReplyDeleteYou can try to cook, say, a big piece of beef on the weekend.
And throughout the week, use the meat to make different dishes?
I too pack my own lunch for work. Takes about 15 minutes the night before and if you compare that to getting a $6 lunch 5 days/week, I'm saving $30/week! Enough for a nice meal out on the weekends, amiright? Your home-cooked meals look delicious. Dr. P is a very lucky man. :)
ReplyDeleteExactly! We saved time and money by packing our lunch.
Then we can use that saved money for a nice dinner out on the weekend! :-)
:)
ReplyDeleteLucky you! I wish someone can pack my lunch for me! *hint hint*
If they are comparing eating out at fast food joints and cooking at home with all organic ingredients, eating out would be cheaper. o_O Moreover, for some people who do not have much of a talent in cooking, it would take them forever to boil water, thus, it would take less time for them to just eat out.
ReplyDeleteI'm a housewife so it feels normal for me to cook my husband's lunch and dinner every weekday, usually from scratch. We go out to restaurants on weekends such that I get a couple days off and that's when I'd allow him to order deep-fried stuff which is off-limit at home. =)
If you order from value menu at fast food restaurants, it's pretty cheap.
But if you order from regular menu, it's not exactly cheap, either.
It cost about $6 or $7 for a meal now. Not to mention it's not healthy at all.
I just thought the way my coworkers think is completely wrong.
But I didn't even want to waste time to argue with them....
I love eating out, but eating out is sooo expensive and many times I feel it's not good value for the money. Since we both have busy schedules, I try to make things beforehand. Based on the advice of friends, I asked for my wedding gifts and got a 6 qt. crockpot, 3 qt. crockpot, a neuro-fuzzy Sanyo rice cooker, a Japanese pickle maker (pikusuru).
ReplyDeleteThe Sanyo rice cooker can be programmed to make rice porridge (and oatmeal), I just measure and put in the ingredients the night before, set the timer, and in the morning at 6am, it's cooked! All hubby has to do is spoon it out and eat. Very very handy for something warm in the morning!
Or dinner will be 4 cooked sausages, stirfry asparagus, and Japanese pickles. We'll eat 2 sausages + veggies for dinner. After dinner I'll boil eggs, slice the other 2 sausages, cut some fruit, and pack for breakfast. For lunch I'll pack sandwiches, leftover stirfried asparagus and homemade Japanese pickles, cut fruit, and seaweed snack, fruit & nut bars for snacks. All this is packed the night before. All hubby has to do in the morning is to make toast or frozen waffles and coffee. We both keep a gallon of water in the car and our water bottles to make sure we have enough water to drink.
If I have time in the morning, I'll cut up ingredients for a beef stew, put everything in the crockpot and set to "low heat". I'll also make rice in the Sanyo rice cooker, and let it cook when I leave. It can stay warm and soft in the rice cooker for like 3 days! No matter when hubby or I come home, dinner is done (as long as it cooks for 8 hours, it can stay warm in the crockpot for 10-12 hours without a problem.) Those bags of cole slaw make an easy veggie side.
Does anyone else make use of crockpots and rice cookers?
I love the way you plan out your meals!!
I use a rice cooker, but haven't tried the programming function yet.
I also use crockpot... I have 2... often in the winter.
Love it when I come home food is already ready, and the house always smell so good when I open the door.
I wonder if there are good slow cooker recipe suitable for summer?