Dear Aimee,
I am a wife and mother of three. We eat out so much. I know that if we ate at home more often that we could save big bucks. I work and when I get home I’m just too tired. Any tips for how we can get back to the dinner table and stop spending so much money eating out? ~Whining and Dining in Weatherford, OK
Whining and Dining,
We are kindred spirits! The restaurant owners in town are
some of my top friends on Facebook. Despite how far a woman’s role has evolved, one thing remains the same. Who
is it that the family always turns to for a hot pot of porridge? Mom. Yes, there are pizza nights, Chinese food nights, and Mexican restaurant nights, but unless I am lying in bed contagious I always provide. This mild Magierocophobia (clinical fear of cooking) is a widespread ailment these days. Why the big hang up? Well, it’s definitely not due to a lack of know-how. I could list enough names to fill a Bunco room of very capable women.
Meaning they could kick off their heels, load a rifle, grab a bow, or bait a hook. Shoot, catch, or snare
whatever game happens to be in season. Then trek back to their shiny SUV and retrieve a respectable pocket
knife from their Louis Vuitton. Proceed to feather, gut, dress, or filet their game which they later serve by
candlelight with a perfectly paired wine! There are some very competent, capable, and stylish women out here. So if it’s not the know-how keeping us from the kitchen, maybe it’s our expectations. Many of us grew up around women that served a full meal three times a day. Cooking is a side of beef, a dozen or so accompaniment dishes, homemade bread, and a sufficiently fattening dessert. However today’s schedules don’t always allow for that full Sunday spread. Trying to cook like Julia, run a home like Martha, and have an empire like Oprah will
only leave you with a complex identity crisis. It is okay, actually it’s even natural, to just be mediocre in some
areas of your life. So what if Hamburger Helper is gourmet in your house? There are far worse things in life. From one culinary challenged chef to another, here is my best offering. Rekindle your love affair with the age-old
friend of the working woman…the Crock Pot.
There is a great Facebook page called Crockin’ Girls. Like the page, and you will have access to hundreds of Sunday dinner worthy recipes that literally cook themselves. I am rarely speechless. But I have no words to
describe the feeling of walking in after a long hard day, and being greeted by the intoxicating aroma that echoes the come-hither phrase we all love to hear…”Dinner’s ready!”
The Plain Wife by Aimee Jones 
Now that there’s a bit of a chill in the air I’ve once again started using my trusty crockpot. It is a wonderful thing to pile in a short list of ingredients and later observe its transformation into a fabulously smelling, satisfying meal!
Pinterest is another good place to search for recipes!
Lindsay
As whining and dinning in Weatherford stated, I too have a difficult time cooking a meal and not ordering or eating out. I have found that one of the best motivators for myself to “cook in” is to have a menu plan. I would love to say that I have a calendar on the refrigerator that has exactly what I will be cooking for each night of the week, but that is a little beyond my capabilities. Instead, I have a list of meals that I specifically purchased the groceries to make. Each morning I glance over the list, find what I might feel like for later that day, and take out any frozen portion to thaw, or I load up my crock pot if it is an all day cooker. By starting early, I know that when I walk in the door after school, I already have a plan for dinner, and it takes the last minute guess work out of what to cook for dinner. If I do not have a plan then I go for easy, and going for easy usually leads to eating out!
Aimee, you are doing a fabulous job. Keep up the good work!
hey aimee you doing a awsome job .in the fall and winter we use the crock pot .my family trys not to eat out to much its so hard.