7 Ways We Avoid Eating Out

November wasn't such a great month, but trust me - it is A LOT better than where we were a year ago as far as eating out.  I decided I would right this article to share ways we avoid eating out and as a reminder for myself as well.

1. The biggest help is my hubby.  He gets home before me, selects something from the freezer, pops it in a pan or the microwave and by the time I get home supper is either ready or very close to being ready.  This helps me because when I get home, its already done, I have no choice.  I love that because I was always the queen of persuasion and usually was the one to convince hubby we should go out to grab something or sit down and relax, now I don't get that chance.
2. Premake dinner from what is on sale.  I like to buy lots of one thing that is on sale or is a really good deal in a bigger quantity, make it into dinners and freeze it.  You are saving money twice here, once with the sale and once by not eating out!  Really, if you are making lasagna - what is the difference between making one or several?  I use those disposable metal take out containers for lasagnas, they can go right into the oven from the freezer.  I also use freezer bags and freeze my chili and soups flat, makes it super easy to stack and store.  I love the glass pyrex containers but I save them to take lunches in because they are too expensive (and I have too few) to get stuck in the freezer for months.
3. Buy pre packaged kits when they are on sale - you can get some really good deals for really easy meals this way.  For example, taco kits were on sale for $3.47 and they had a $6 off cheese coupon on them (when you buy the cheese and another kit).  So I bought one, then I went back and got the cheese that was on sale for $5.99 for free when I purchased another taco kit for $3.47. The taco kits are in my cupboard and I used the cheese to make and freeze lasagnas.
4. Precook meats.  Meat always seems to take the longest of anything to cook.  It's also the least fun because you can't sample it while it's cooking.  I precook my chicken breasts and my ground beef.  I can chop the chicken or add it to a premade meal like lasagna.  I also buy the large quanitites of ground beef from Costco and I cook the whole thing, cool it and freeze it in a freezer bag.  It stays crumbled when frozen so it's easy just to grab what you need (instead of a solid block of raw frozen ground beef!) and it only takes a few minutes to heat up.  Tacos in half the time.
5. Pick a meal plan.  The thing I stress the most about meal planning is pick what works the best for your family.  Our schedules change weekly, and to be honest sometimes you come home and just don't want to cook!  Hubby and I just kind of talk about dinners we will have the following week as we shop.  It gives us ideas but nothing is set in stone.  
6. Emergency Meals.  One of our biggest excuses was we have to run to *insert any place here*, lets just grab something on the way.  Well we now have emergency meals that really take 10 minutes or less to make and eat - fast food at home!  Now the lets just grab something excuse works at home.  Items on our emergency meal lists include: instant noodles, frozen dinners/lunches (store bought and home made), canned soups, granola bars, nuts, and depending on the day, sandwiches from what we have in the fridge.  These emergency lunches are great for the mornings you wake up late.
7. Find good excuses!  We all have excuse for why we eat out - it's easy, convenient, I don't have time, I'm tired, I don't feel like cooking. (For all of these excuses, refer to tip #6!)  Our excuse is our dogs. No matter what we do in a day, we have to go home and let the dogs outside to go to the bathroom! This means no matter what we need to go home.  So our excuse turned from let's grab something from a fast food place, to we have to go home so we might as well just grab something there.

Viola - little changes we have made in order to cut down our eating out.  We still have a ways to go but I think we are doing a pretty good job!