Avoiding eating out

Spend your weekend meal prepping. Pack some granola in a little baggie, some berries, and a cup of yogurt. There's a super easy grab and go breakfast.
For lunch on my super busy days, I'll just toss a whole salad kit bag in my lunch box. The caesar lite kits are around 300 for the whole bag. Or bring a baked chicken breast on salad. Super convenient.
For dinner try to find those one pot, 5 ingredient meals. They take only long enough for the water to boil (so maybe 10 mins to cook). Or prepare yourselves something you can microwave. Chicken w/ steamed veggies is a classic.

ONUnicorn wrote: »

My husband and I eat out WAY too often. It's mostly a matter of convenience. It's not healthy for us, and it's expensive. So, what strategies do other people recommend to avoid eating out, especially on days when you aren't home?

Most weekdays we leave the house by about 8:00. Most weeknights we aren't home until 9 at the earliest, more normally 10. That makes it hard to, say, prep lunch the night before, and dinner is usually whatever we can grab on our way to wherever we're going.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are the worst. We often end up eating both lunch and dinner at either fast food or restaurants all three of those days, because we just aren't home.

Anyone have ideas?

I sympathise seeing how tight your schedule is. Seriously though, at seeing that you're exiting for work by 8am and returning at 10pm at the latest, the only window I'm seeing is that you have between 9.45pm to 11.15pm or from 10.45pm to 12.15am to decompress from the day's heavy load, prepare whatever your eating plan allows you for the next day's bites (around 250 - 300 calories per serving) as a couple, before you can wind-down well enough before bed.

Your hours are horrendous, I agree, however, focus on time management, securing a sustainable rhythm you can both accommodate.

ETA: Agree with the posters above and especially now, with the cold climes, the crockpot or the smoker are lifesavers.

Planning!

-I keep protein bars and other snacks that meet my nutritional goals in my purse.
-A small cooler to carry salads or sandwiches whenever you go out.
-We buy a rotisserie chicken every week and shred it up to eat all week long. Good cold or you can heat it up for a warm meal.
-microwave meals will also keep in coolers for the day.
-when you are home, prepare yourself pleasant meals, so that eating at home has nice connotations. This doesn't have to be elaborate. I can microwave a sweet potato and some veg while pan searing lamb chops. Dinner is ready in less than 15 minutes.
-crockpot meals for your late nights: it is easier to be satisfied with a protein bar at 6pm if you know a nice meal is waiting for you at home. Leftovers become microwave meals to take with you or cold meats for salads.
-set a weekly budget. Figure out how much you are spending on eating out, start packing your meals and put the savings into a special account with a purpose that you designate. Vacation? New wardrobe?

If all else fails, check your priorities. It sounds like you have a lot of activities after work. Are they more important than your health?

I second the crockpot suggestion however I use mine a little differently than quiksylver296. On the weekend, I cook up a pot full of chilli . I have two different chillis that I'm using right now, a spicy one and a sweet potato one for variety. I get about a dozen to fifteen 10oz meals out of the recipes each. Freeze those and I'm set for either lunch or dinner or even both if needed for weeks to come.

Of course you don't have to use chilli, that just happens to be my thing right now. I've done stew, soup, roast beef and ham in the past. The point is that one day of very light labour slow cooking gives me several days' if not weeks' worth of meals that just need to be reheated for a few minutes in the microwave.

Everyone has given you great advice.

I also eat out a lot and I started asking for a to go box right away and put half my meal away and save for lunch the next day. Saves a little money.

I’ve also started making better choices and sometimes I’ll order a side salad and share meals with my husband.

I have a crockpot and a three tier steamer. Others have talked about the crockpot. The steamer is awesome, because I can throw in meat and veg and walk away. Take a shower, do something else, and It's ready in 15-30 minutes depending on what food I've put in there. Batch cooking and freezing into single serving containers for grab and go meals. I've also heard good things about instant pots.

You could also make a game of it. Put the money you save from eating out, into a savings account and use that to reward yourselves (trip somewhere, maybe).

The other problem I've personally run into is "I'm hungry and need to eat now and I don't want to wait until I get home."

About 30 minutes before you leave work, eat something at your desk, about 100 calories. Banana, a granola bar, string cheese, beef jerky, carrots and hummus etc. That'll give you enough energy and satiety to get home and make a better decision for dinner. If you've become accustomed to eating in the car (like sneaking fries out of the bag, haha) then keep a bottle of sparkling flavored water or something else to enjoy like a diet soda.

If you want to eat home prepared food with that schedule you might need to put in a lot of work on it at least one day a week/month. You might try to reduce your eating out to dinners only and pack lunches or only 3 days a week.

You don't say if you would be able to heat food or keep food in a refrigerator. Your goal is to spend less and eat healthier. Healthier might mean eating more vegetables or it might mean you need to reduce sodium. You don't say any food preferences or food prep skill level. Recommendations are going to be pretty generic.

Meal planning for quick to prepare meals like stir fry, eggs, pasta, tacos, zucchini noodles, grilled sandwiches, small/thin cut meat or vegetables. Or plan some low prep meals like simple baked chicken breast or fish with baked potato and salad.

Look up once a month cooking or freezer meals. Cook double when you do cook so you have enough for additional meals. Soup often reheats and freezes well. Prepping some ingredients in advance like keeping cut up vegetables or cooked chicken on hand to add to meals quickly. Buy frozen vegetables or canned vegetables. Use things like canned beans.

Prepping and packing foods for the week all at once. Look up meal prepping via your favorite search engine and you can see what people do. Pack lunch as you are putting away dinner leftovers. Make simple things like sandwiches.

Slow cooker is useful. Many recipes are pretty low prep.

Use convenience foods or restaurants for at least part of your meal. Some people have frozen meals and just cook vegetables to add to it. Buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and add things to it.

Buy ready to eat foods at the grocery store while you are out- cooked meat, lunchmeat, salad, precut vegetables, cottage cheese, fruit, yogurt, deli might have prepared hot meals, hard boiled eggs, cheese, bread, nuts, tuna, peanut butter, crackers, hummus


https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10657387/healthy-fast-food/p1

I'm with MelanieCN77. I'd be proactively seeking ways to shorten my time away from home, whether it would be new jobs, jobs closer to home, or whatever needs to give.

That's no way to live.

With that said, there's always a way to make better food choices at fast food places or go to grocery stores for premade food with lower calories. There's always weekly food prep and a small cooler to take along.