My name is Barb, and I'm a recovering Take-Out-aholic

baseddon

I'm a 8-5 working mom with two toddlers and a husband with the same shift as me. We would come home exhausted and find any reason to get take-out. And it would be anything with a drive-thru window.

We are trying to rectify that now. Any tips for staying disciplined and motivated? I want the money back in my pocket and I want the bad nutrition out the door!

kd_mazur

If the reason you are eating out so much is because of convenience maybe meal planning will work for you. If the meals are ready in the refrigerator or freezer and all you have to do is take them out and warm it up maybe that would help.
I plan 2 weeks of meals on the Saturday before I hit the grocery store and then I am sure I have everything I will need.

cessi0909

Hello! Working mom of 3 here and I know your struggle. I don't like takeout for a couple of reasons, 1. The cost and 2. I think I make better food

So I recommend you plan, plan, plan. I use the crock pot and instant pot, also do meal prep that I have stuff ready in the freezer (I've done the Wildtree meals a few times) and will also have something ready in the fridge I just pop into the oven. I keep frozen vegetables on hand in steam bags and have different rices available to cook. Whole Foods makes an amazing fruit salad that I like to buy so I have a good mix of fruit on hand, they also have pre-sliced vegetable mixes that make it easy.

emylou00

Same here, we've gone from takeaway 4+nights a weeks to once a week. So I can still look forward to the Friday night treat, schedule in extra exercise or lower calorie breakfast to make room in my calories for it and order a lower calorie meal.

During the week we now plan meals and buy ingredients on Sundays, all our week day meals are either slow cooker or <30mins to cook then one of us will do the dishes and deal with kids while the other cooks/prepares dinner. We will often have leftovers the next day too which is even easier. We also bulk cook a vat of basic bolognese and freeze in portions which can become spag bol/chilli/lasagne quickly for those nights we just can't face cooking whatever we had planned.

emylou00

I've also found the longer we do the healthy eating thing the more energy we have and less inclined to flop onto the sofa exhausted at 6pm