05/25/2012: A new plan

I thought I wasn't gonna blog today, hence the "have a good weekend" send off at the end of yesterday's blog - which apparently no one has read.  My blogs don't seem to show up in reader anymore unless I do a silly little trick.  Anywho, but here I am, blogging again, because I'm excited.


Background:  We eat out a lot.  5 times a week or so, for dinner alone.  2 times a week or so for lunch.  1 time a week or so for breakfast.  We are "better" with breakfast as most days we drink our smoothies that we make at home with an occasional treat breakfast.  Lunch I tend to bring to work every day but Husby much prefers to eat out.  Dinner...well, by dinner time, just seems we are shot, or we forgot to get something out of the freezer, or...a whole plethora of dumb and lame excuses.


So why am I excited?


We spend a shit-ton on eating out.  Way too damned much.  Don't even factor in that minuscule factor of healthy eating into the equation, just focus on friggin cost.  It's crazy 'spensive.


We are trying to diaper and feed twins.  My boobies didn't work well enough so breast-feeding didn't pan out which leaves us with formula.  They were on a special formula given that they were preemies for the longest time.  It's only in the last month that we've gotten ourselves to regular formula and it's still 'spensive.  Diapers is 'spensive.  And I won't even factor in the cost of daycare.  While it still makes sense for me to work, me not working is a long way off in the cost vs. income debate, it's 'spensive.  As Husby put it, paying for twins in daycare is a beach house mortgage payment for us.  Damn.


I bet you still wanna know why I'm excited.


Cause we're gonna try something.

We are going to challenge ourselves to eat at home for all meals for an entire month!

I'm so excited.


Now we talk about that minuscule factor of health.  I'm a good cook.  I don't mean like, Damn Gina, she's awesome.  I mean like I cook good foods.  Real food.  Very little out of a can or a box or processed.  When I cook at home, you can be sure that the tomato sauce we are using for our pasta is something I made with tomatoes and basil from our garden, for example. I cook up a big ol' batch and freeze it in individual serving size baggies so we have a quick easy meal during the week.  Brown up a little ground beef and wah-lah.  Our pasta would be our downfall there as I don't make my own.  But pasta tends to not usually be over-processed anyway, so long as you get good stuff.  Add to that, when I cook at home, I don't eat a shit-ton of pasta like you get served at restaurants.


I'm so excited!


Real food.  Way less fat.  Simple.


And money in the checking account!


I'm so excited!  


This also means routine.  I thrive when I have a good routine.  My husby does, too, although he claims to hate routines.  He will do all he can to avoid a routine but once on one, he thrives and says 'well damn, now I get to do all I want to do'.  Do you know how hard it is to play with beautifuls, work out, chillax, watch some drama show of the day on the tv, AND eat out?  It doesn't work!


I swear, how did I not think of this before this morning?


There I was in the shower and I said well hell.  There it is.


And I suggested it to Husby sure he'd shoot it down.  And he did.  He loves him some eating out.  But then I pointed out the bennies.  I pointed out how we are always whining about not being able to do this or that in a normal evening and the average we spend each month on eating out and how that translates into fewer vacations.  And then I threw the whammy down - our health.  It's horrid right now.  And he said, 'well, ah, hmm'.  And I said 'you know we have to try this'.  And he agreed.


After a month of detoxing and breaking habits and setting routines and all the good that will come of this we can then add back in our once a week.  On a weekend.  A treat should be just that. A treat.  It should not be a standard!


I'm so excited!


What's even more awesome.  Nope, not waiting until June 1.  We are starting today.  (As I eat out for lunch because we ran out of lunch meat yesterday and won't be able to get to the grocery store until this evening.  But my cafeteria-like-thing at work is pretty good food.  Good being not processed, real, grown naturally, food.  And I can choose wisely and do so cheaply.)


Isn't it amazing that good, real food also tends to be much cheaper?


Speaking of which, if you live in Colorado, California, Arizona or Texas, have you come across a Sprouts yet?  Man I love that store!  Good veggies and fruits and way cheaper!  We were in one in Austin this past weekend and I so wish we had one closer to home.  I'm making all the beautifuls baby foods and have become uber cognizant of veggie and fruit prices.  Still cheaper to make my own than buy the processed-doesn't-taste-like-the-food-it-claims-to-be jar food...but cheaper than cheap works for me, especially if the quality is still there, which it is, at Sprouts.


Now I'm rambling.  So very excited!


And now I mean it.  Have a great, relaxing, kick off the summer weekend - and please remember what this extended weekend is really about!