Challenge the first: Cook dinner every night for a month

[jamethiel]

Take-away and eating out costs a lot more. We've all got busy lives and finding the time and energy to prepare every meal is really difficult.

For a month, I'm going to make an effort to cook every single night. I have flatmates and we share the cooking so it's easier for me than for some. Still, it's going to require some planning and preparation. Who's with me? Comment if you want to take the challenge!

Needless to say, your commitment to this can absolutely vary. I am giving myself a pass for nights I have gigs and can't eat dinner beforehand. I can't really take a boxed meal to a gig! Also, it doesn't apply when I'm out on a date. You may decide that there is one night a week where friends come over and you have takeaway. It's all good!

What this challenge is aiming to prevent are those times when it's been a day from hell and you come home and look at the ingredients you have and you go "... stuff it. I'm getting take-away."

It'll require a bit of prep. You'll need to do your shopping a week in advance, which means planning your menu. I'll do a post on that on Friday and we'll be starting the actual challenge on Monday.

Of course, if your pay cycle doesn't synch with the challenge, feel free to pick it up at a later date.

Comments

[jumpuphigh]

I'd be all over this challenge except I started doing this a while back. What I need to do, though, is start trying new recipes regularly. So, to play along, my challenge will be to add one new recipe per week.

[jamethiel]

Absolutely not a problem! I'll be doing a recipe post each week where people can share their recipes.

[landshark]

I really need to do this since I'm not working and my money is getting dangerously low.

Question: Why do we have to shop a week in advance?

[killing_rose]

I know for me, if I shop on say, Friday, for the week of cooking that starts on Sunday, it forces me to already have a menu for the next week planned. It keeps me from living on Indian food when I'm exhausted.

[jamethiel]

It's a YMMV thing. I've found that it's best for me and these are the reasons why.

There are all kinds of studies done about impulse buying. Essentially it boils down to "When we are tired and hungry, we buy more." What I'm aiming to do here, at least for staples is have your menu with the majority of ingredients already at your home. You may need to do a fruit and veg run midweek and of course there's milk and other perishables but I've done the figures on myself and my spending at the supermarket goes WAY down with a weekly shop. While I do still buy the extra bar of chocolate, I'm only in there once a week so I only buy one extra bar of chocolate. As opposed to the 4 or five I'd buy if it was a nightly shop. So that's $8 weekly saved right there.

The other reason is time. For me, the time taken to get to a supermarket is significant. It's ten minutes drive each way. Half an hour each way if I take public transport and I don't always have a car. The act of shopping, especially if I have a menu and a list planned in advance, actually takes less time. So while the shop itself may take half an hour as opposed to 10 minutes, but when you add the half hour each way travel time onto that, it becomes a huge timesaver to do the majority of my shopping in one hit.

If you're really disciplined and you can do your shopping after work very quickly for that night's dinner and it DOESN'T take you more time and you're not going to give into temptation and just go "You know what? I'm just going to have beer and cornchips for dinner" (... not that I've ever done that *is classy*) then feel free to do your shop nightly. Or if you just don't have the storage in your fridge. But for me, weekly shops are a huge money and time saver.

[landshark]

Ok yeah that all makes sense. When I read through the post the first time and saw cooking, my brain automatically filed this challenge under homeeconomics101 and it seemed unusual.

But thanks for explaining--those are some good points.

:D

[jumpuphigh]

I can answer this. Running out to shop every couple of days really increases your spending. You end up not just buying the ingredients you need but "oh, I want some ice cream" and "let me get some snacks" and before you know it, you've blown your budget.

I have two separate stores that I go to regularly and they carry different things. I hit each of them with a list once a month. Then, about halfway through the month, I hit someplace for another batch of fresh fruits and veggies. It has decreased my spending an incredible amount.

[killing_rose]

I'm a college student with really *fun* food allergies, so I do this as often as humanly possible. However, given that I have two weeks of spring break starting Friday night, it challenges me to do this while cooking for...5 people, at minimum. (It's so much easier when there's one of you; you can make a basic recipe on Sunday and adapt it until Wednesday, and do it again on Friday or Saturday.)

Question: If we're doing a weekly recipe post, do you also want the menus that we're planning for the following week? It might help inspire others.

[jamethiel]

My household's got five people in it! We share out the cooking. Three of us share the cooking, doing two nights each and the last night of the week rotates. (One of the people is a child, and the other just gets home from work too damn late for the rest of us to eat, so)

Buy a crockpot! A crockpot will be your SAVIOUR with large amounts of people to feed. And most of my recipes will be geared towards large numbers. What are your allergies? I'll see what I can come up with.

[killing_rose]

Excluding my sister-in-law, it's just not *safe* to let the others cook. (One thinks that cream of mushroom soup should be added to rice to make a complete meal. Another still asks me how to cut potatoes. The third's a pyromaniac who burns food.) So when I'm home, there's two of sharing the cooking.

I have a crockpot at home; I just haven't gotten a chance to play with it. (Clearly, this will be my test.) Dairy (casein), gluten (celiac, not technically an allergy), and soy. Then there's the wheat sensitivity of SIL, my sister's pine nut allergy, and the fact that everyone works better if we're eating meat. (Yay for the genetic gift of strange form of anemia.)

[jamethiel]

Eek! Those are some very good reasons to cook right there! I share your casein allergy (I think. They wanted to do more tests and I went "Does it change the treatment (ie. avoidance)? No? Awesome, I decline to be stuck with needles then.")

Can you have polenta, or is it off the list? I have an italian casserole recipe that will make your eyes roll back, it's so good.

[killing_rose]

Funny, that's what I said. "We know it exists. We don't need to figure out how bad it is. Unless you come up with a way that doesn't involve the sharp objects."

Polenta is on the list. (I even have some. I have *no idea* what I'm doing with it--I give myself one "it looks interesting" foodstuff a month. This one was two months ago...)

[jamethiel]

Polenta is great! Polenta dumplings. OM NOM NOM

[exhausted_pigeon]

I find cooking it and then serving it with mushrooms fried with garlic and some balsamic vinegar works?

(or putting chilli on it.)

[inkstone]

Omigosh, can we (and by we, I really mean me) ask for crockpot recipes? My mother just gave me a crockpot as a housewarming present but as my cooking knowledge tends to be limited to stir fry, I could really use some help in learning how to use one effectively.

[jamethiel]

ABSOLUTELY. I have the world's BEST baked bean recipe. It works out as the same price per serve as ye generic tinned baked beans, and contains stuff like ham hock and maple syrup! It is so yummy!

[inkstone]

\o/

[landshark]

There is a comm for that! crock_o_dial

I've recently started experimenting with the crock pot--I mostly just make BBQ beef in mine :D

[inkstone]

I saw! I joined! But I need all the help I can get. XD

I'm hoping to find some good stew recipes!

[bewize]

There is a comm on DW just for crockpot recipes! Check it out: crock_o_dial!

[rivenwanderer]

Sounds good! My 6-person house has a great cooking rotation already, so I'll probably just try to help out by posting recipes. I may try to work on bringing leftovers or other grocery-based lunches in to work this month--I spend way too much on lunch. Going out with coworkers is a good social thing on some days, but when we get lunch separately there's no reason to spend upwards of $7 on food when my groceries and leftovers are more than adequate.

[jamethiel]

Lunch is the other thing I'm going to do. I don't even have any excuse--it gets made for me each night! It's just that kebabs are tastier.

[bewize]

I think this is a great idea! I'm definitiely willing to jump in here. I'm also excited because this coincides with my "I'm going to eat healthier if it kills me!" plan.

Can I ask that recipes be posted prior to the shopping date? I'd love to have some menus put together by then!

[jamethiel]

It is honestly amazing how much better eating at home and eating a LOT of veges will make you feel. I will plan out my menu tonight and write out the shopping list as I'm doing so! I'll try to type up the recipes this weekend. Which because I'm a day ahead will give you a bit of time to do the shopping.

See below for "Tuna and Lemon Pasta" which I have on Monday nights.

[martyna]

I'm a newbie when it comes to cooking. Or at least I feel so, since I'd manage some spaghetti and wipe up some tomato sauce with stuff, but anything beyond this... For several reasons -including the financial one- I'd like to change our way of eating (that is mine and the one of my bf). I won't participate in your challenge, but will try to figure out how to find something nice to cook at least 2 evenings/week. Just need enough confidence to start this out! :x

PS

[martyna]

Anyone wanting to share very easy recipes with me, feel free to do so.

Re: PS

[jamethiel]

Well, i would have starved years ago without this recipe:

Tuna and Lemon Pasta

Ingredients
A large bunch of curly parsley (You need about two large handfuls/two heaped cups of parsley)
4-6 garlic cloves
A medium can of tuna. It can be in oil or springwater. Oil is tastier, springwater is healthier)
Fresh lemon juice, 2-4 tablespoons (or a lemon, juiced)
Olive Oil
Parmesan if desired
Fusilli (or other pasta) for two
Salt
1. Boil the water for the pasta. Add salt (a tablespoon or so) and olive oil ( a couple of tablespoons( to prevent it sticking
2. Drain the tuna
3. Rinse and chop the parsley leaves. Don't chop it too fine--it will turn to dust. I usually find that using the knife to chop 1-1.5 cm apart is adequate. (That's 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch)
4. Put the pasta on to cook
5. Peel and really finely chop the garlic.
6. Heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan.
7. Add the garlic. Stir for 30 seconds, until the aroma rises. Add the tuna. Cook for about a minute--you only want it heated through, NOT twice cooked. Use the spoon to break up any chunks.
8. Add the parsley. Stir for a minute, only until combined. Again, you don't want to cook it. It turns bitter.
9. Remove from the heat and set aside until the pasta's ready.
10. Drain the pasta when cooked. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and toss through. Add the tuna mix and toss it through. Pour over lemon juice.
11. Garnish with Parmesan if desired. Serve

Give it a try! I'd be interested to know what you think.

[jamethiel]

Not a problem! I learned to cook with confidence when I was around 24 or so, so I'm happy to help someone go through the same process.

[viklikesfic]

I like it! I'll admit though that literally cooking every night would produce more food than I could eat in a year. For me it has to be more like cook twice a week, which is enough food for a week's lunches and dinners. I'm not at a financial place where I can afford restaurants anyway, which I assume is the purpose of the challenge (to avoid them). But I will try to do a modified version by avoiding grabbing any snacks when I'm out of the house, which is what I really need to do.

[jamethiel]

*facepalms* I just reread the entry, and wow, that wasn't clear at all! You're totally right! The aim is to not buy take-away food/snacks for a month. For myself, part of the challenge will be actually EATING the salad I bring for lunch. And limiting choc chip hot cross buns to once a week.

(I just phrased it that way because I live in a big household. So someone needs to cook, every single night or there will be a LOT of people going hungry)

[viklikesfic]

Yeah, definitely! Right now I'm not working (hence the needing to join this comm!) but when I do work I am such a vending machine slave. The healthy food I bring never makes it into my tummy. But this challenge works well for me right now b/c I had a bit of an ice cream binge and ice cream is $4.25 for a little tub and just, no.

[mererid]

Count me in. :) I manage to do a pretty good job of meal planning and cooking on weeknights, but this challenge will help me stay motivated on the weekends when I'm more tempted to splurge on fast/convenient foods. Which will better for my health in addition to my pocketbook. :D