This weeks, we are saving on Saturday by cooking.  Our schedule during the week and many weekends are very hectic, which in the past has lead to us eating out. I really do enjoy eating out however, my budget does not. I started tracking our eating out expenses back in June. I will admit up front that I have been extremely surprised by the amount that I discovered over the last 5 months. One of the most shocking aspects was that prior to Matt’s permanent job change in 2010, we ate out double what we do not if not triple. I know we have reduced our eating out tremendously so the numbers were a serious surprise.  During June, July and August, I simply tracked the amount but over the past 2 months, I am working on reducing the amount.  One of the huge purpose of cooking today was to provide options that are quick and easy for those crazy days when we need to eat on the run.

First thing this morning we complete our menu planning, this forced us to look at the week’s schedule and make some decisions. Today, Matt is work at a college football game, he needed to drive 30 minutes and arrive by 9:30, he will not be returning home till around 6 this evening. He decided to pack a protein bar to eat on the drive and also packed a “lunch” that he will be eating on the way home. This will eliminate a trip through the drive thru.  The next decision we had to make was how many times can we afford to eat out?  We have 3 evening this week that are going to be really busy so if we don’t plan than we have spent over $100 in eating out in one week. We decided that we would only eat out of Thursday.  After some thinking and checking of the freezer, for one evening I will be making Hamburger Helper with pre-cooked beef and the other hectic evening will mean cowboy beans in the crock pot.

Now to the cooking, this morning we had a huge “country breakfast”. I have in the crockpot “Ranch BBQ chicken legs” and sweet potatoes baking in the oven for lunch. Lily has also made an orange mandarin salad.  My goal for today is to have breakfast and lunch for tomorrow (Sunday) prepared today as well so that we can heat and eat.  So far, I have peanut butter bars in the freezer for desert. I have used up the rest of potatoes purchased in September to make mashed potatoes that will be heated for lunch tomorrow in addition to freezing 2 other containers that we can use in the future. I will be making the meat loaf and sitting in the fridge along with a squash casserole. The only thing left will be the cranberry sauce that cooks in the small crockpot tomorrow.  Before calling it a day, I will make apple pie baked oatmeal for breakfast in the morning. You probably notice that we will have a lot of “side dishes” left which we have planned to heat and use during the week to make dinner much easier to prepare in less than an hour.  After much trial and error, for use have a lot of sides dishes and prepared ingredients such as cooked ground beef or chicken works better than have entire meals frozen for use. What helps you resist the drive thru?