We have several sets of friends who eat out more than they eat at home. I don’t fault anyone for doing whatever they want to do and doing what makes them happy. Eating at home is my favorite thing to do. There are places I like – Fogo de Chao (too far away/too expensive); Panera (Vince doesn’t like it). I used to love eating sushi but these days, I’m not sure I feel comfortable eating raw fish. Really, the problem with eating out is that we like such different things. Vince likes all you can eat and cheap. Obviously, since Fogo de Chao is at the top of my list, I’m not so concerned about cheap. I figure I cook enough that if we’re going to go out and eat a handful of times per year, cost just shouldn’t be a factor.
We do eat at the Carthage Hospital more than we eat anywhere. I like the people who work there. They know our names. Of course, the place is spotless. The food is good. There are things there that I love – chicken fried chicken, chicken fried steak; their salad bar is about the best in town and it’s $2.50.
But, as far as eating at home, today’s dinner is the type that makes me happy. Vince grilled steaks but it wasn’t the meat – it was the veggies: canned asparagus from the garden and sweet potatoes I dug a couple of weeks ago.
Just look at that purple potato. How can it not make you smile . . maybe even giggle out loud, to eat a bright purple potato?
Home is a great place to eat!
Joyce says
The purple sweet potato makes me think about Dr. Suess. I would expect purple sweet potatoes to show up in one of his books! May I ask why you are no longer feeling comfortable eating sushi? Has there been a problem with it that I missed hearing about?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
No problem but there have been so many food recalls lately, I’m being very careful what I buy. There are a lot of veggies I’m just not buying now. We’re also not buying any meats in the store so I figure if we’re going to be that careful, we might as well scratch sushi off the list.
Sibyl says
If it be purple, I’d thi nk it should taste like blueberries, or blackberries, or concord grapes. It doesn’t look like a sweet potato. I have had a problem when they do the burgandy carrots from TAMU. I am one that my food has to look like the food I eat. And as far as going out to eat–it is so expensive to go out, even with the cost of groceries as it is, I can make better tasting food than what we can get going out. It really isn’t even worth going out. I’d rather make a grilled cheese sandwich, or something similar as to spend money going out to eat. Guess the last time we actually went out to eat at a sit down place was over 4 or 5 years ago. We just fix stuff here.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Exactly how I feel (about eating at home). I love trying new and weird foods but I understand what you’re saying.
When I think that even halfway decent food out, they’re probably using seed oils and table salt where we do not use any seed oils, nor do we use table salt . . those things alone are enough to turn me off from eating out and you’re right – the cost of restaurant food is crazy, though I understand why and I feel bad for those trying to make a living in the restaurant industry.
We generally eat our big meal about 2 or 2:30 and then don’t eat again. Yesterday we had an Azure pickup at 11:45. We knew we would be there at least half an hour, and then since we were right by Aldi and Walmart, we needed a couple of things from both places. Once we got home, I needed to put away all the Azure haul, some of them had to be dumped into 5 gallon buckets with oxygen absorbers. Even though we had plenty of food in jars that we could have opened, it was easier to stop by the hospital at 11, grab a salad with grilled chicken. We did that and it was about 4 p.m. by the time we got done with the Azure haul and we knew we’d be hungry before bed time so we split a can of sardines, had a few crackers, cherry tomatoes and split an orange. We just couldn’t get everything to work with our schedule so we were fine with eating out but probably won’t do it again for at least a month.
Sandi B says
We’re with you. We really prefer our cooking to most places. We eat out more than we’d like, but it’s usually because we’re out and about and are hungry. Sometimes we just decide to go home and find something to prepare! The pantry and freezers are full, so we remind ourselves of that!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Do you feel like you’ve won a contest when you go home, don’t have a clue what you’re going to eat and quickly come up with a yummy meal that you know was more tasty and more healthy than anything you could have eaten out? I love those challenges.
Sandi B says
Yes! We congratulate ourselves, honestly!! lLOL!
montanaclarks says
While I don’t can anything but jelly I still can put together a meal very quickly from my freezers and pantry. I think Mike and Vince could be twins–give Mike a greasy hamburger and lots of fries–he’s a happy man. Like you I would prefer to spend my going out to eat dollars on a really good meal. So, we seldom eat out, maybe twice a month when we are in Billings.
Rebecca L says
I eat out pretty often, with or without my husband. I like a lot of ingredients (like on hamburgers/sandwiches or in a salad), so it can be hard to keep things is supply, and fresh, and then assemble them. My husband likes different things than I do, so eating out gives us a choice and I don’t have to prepare two meals (too often).
If you’re being more careful with food, have you returned to pasteurized milk?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Only because Vince gave up dairy for a while and the milkman had a minimum of 2 gallons per week and I couldn’t use that much without Vince drinking some. I still buy it when I pass by the dairy story and they have their sign out that shows they have it for sale – which isn’t often because I don’t go past there often. But, to answer your question, the only milk I drink is raw milk so without it, I don’t drink milk.