Let's Eat at Home for a Year

Ok - so I am going to make a commitment to not eat out at restaurants for a year.

What has happened to prompt this?

We had our house remodeled and they basically shut down my kitchen for over 3 months. I really got out of the habit of cooking. BAD. We ate out for every meal for 3 MONTHS! It got terribly expensive. and we got fat. and by 'we' I mean 'me'. I gained all the weight back that I lost. I am soooo ticked off by this.

So - rather than whine and moan about it. I am going to do something about it. I am going to become more active in the creation of my food. That means that I have to set some rules for myself.

1) No eating out at restaurants (this includes fast food).

2)No TV dinners

3)No 'instant' food

1)No eating out at restaurants (including fast food)

This seems to be pretty self explanatory. I will not be going out to eat at all. I will not be bringing anything home to eat from a restaurant. I won't order out pizza. I won't go through a drive through. I won't be eating at a ballpark, amusement park, theater, or any place that I have to pay for the food and they hand it to me prepared.

2)No TV dinners

This one is pretty simple as well. I cannot eat TV dinners. Not a problem. The problem comes when the definition of what constitutes a TV dinner. I am going to say it is any complete prepared meal that has only to be heated before it can be eaten.

My DIL asked me if I was going to include boxed meals in this definition. That makes things more interesting. I don't usually use boxed meals. But I do use boxed macaroni and cheese sometimes. I often use dried pasta. Can I use the pasta that is in the refrigerated section? Do I have to make my own pasta? What about bread? Do I have to make my own bread or can I buy it? This is going to be a little tougher for me. If the item in question is considered a meal on it's own once it has been only heated - then I cannot use it. If it has to have other things added to it to be considered a meal, then it will be acceptable. Again - I may have to adjust this rule as I go along. I will be trying to get further down to the roots of meals as the days go on... So, for the first three months I can use the prepared components for meals to create a meal. I will adjust this rule later.

3) No 'instant' or 'junk' food

This is where things got a little dicey. What constitutes instant food? I needed to expand it to include 'junk' food. I am going to define it as anything that can be eaten without any other preparation. I do not have to wash it, heat it, freeze it or take any other step before I consume it. Therefore - no candy bars, ice cream bars, chips, dips, or any other 'junk' food.

Fruit is an instant food in many cases - but it is not 'junk' food. Nuts are instant food, but I do not consider them 'junk'. If it is coming to me in it's natural state and people have not had to alter it for me to consume it, then it is not 'junk' and I can eat it. Sadly, this also means I will not be getting to eat Snow Cones this summer. Or any iced drink. When the Big Texan and I go on trips - I will have to get my water and drinks from the grocery store and then take them with us. Basically I cannot get food from a convenience store. I may as well stay out of convenience stores.

I am not going to be militant about this - I am going to adjust this to a livable lifestyle choice for me - but I am going to take this seriously. We are going on a trip in October and I am going to Sock Summit - so I have to make special arrangements for when I am not in the same state as my kitchen.

*Added Rule*
If it is for business - you are exempt from the restaurant rule (we don't need to jeopardize our living) but you still need to eat healthy and try to find the simplest healthy item possible.

I have already started. I am currently doing a fast (with Dr supervision) for the next 10 days. So I don't have to worry about anything until June 16. But the countdown has begun and I have sworn off restaurants for the next year beginning June 6.

Here we go!