There is a story in the Bible (John 5) that tells about a man who couldn't walk. He had laid by a healing pool for 38 years. If he could dip in the pool when the water stirred, he would be healed. Jesus asks him what he is doing there and he says "Well, I just don't have anyone who will carry me and put me in the pool" (Poor little old me.) Jesus then asks him, "Do you really want to get healed?" This might seem to us a strange question but, as I once heard a woman speaker point out, if he really wanted to get healed wouldn't he have tried some way to inch his way over to that pool even if he could only make it a half an inch a day no matter how hard it was?
Maybe Jesus asked this question because He too thought here was is a man, like so many do these days, making excuses, being a victim and waiting for someone else to fix his problem for him. What did Jesus tell him to do? GET UP! (stand on your own two feet), TAKE UP YOUR BED (start being responsible for your own things), and WALK (become active in solving your own problems which may mean physical labor, or doing without something).
You need to be like the lame man and GET UP, TAKE UP YOUR BED and WALK. If you know you are going out to eat too much then stop saying you're a victim of these "hard economic times". Be responsible for the "bed" (or the debts that you have now) and actively start doing something about it today. It isn't as hard as you think.
I can take every excuse for eating out that I mentioned above and prove that they're not really valid.
"I don't have time." For the amount of time it takes you to drive to some place, wait for them to take your order and then wait for them to prepare your order, I can give you 10 menus or more that would take less time for you to fix at home.
"I'm too busy." If you are too busy to take time to feed your family, something that is a necessity of life, then you are too busy. I have very rarely heard anyone say that they are too busy to get their hair done, go shopping, go to sports activities, talk on the phone or spend time on the computer. You really can find the time.
If I sound like I don't have patience with that excuse, it's because I don't. I was a single mom with 2 teens, working 60 -70 hours a week, doing all my own yard work, home repairs, and on and on and guess what? Except when I was ill, I always found time to make breakfast and dinner.
"I don't know how to cook." So learn. Start simple. Even my 9 year old grandson could boil himself a hot dog. You don't have to produce a gourmet meal to make your family happy and, in most cases, they would prefer you didn't. There are simple enough instructions on the back of a package of spaghetti noodles that, once again, even a child can read and do. Warm up a jar of sauce and dinner is served. You now have 2 main dishes that take less than 10 minutes to prepare.
I understand that man can't live on hot dogs alone (although I think kids can), but don't worry -- after a week or two of simple dishes, you can move on to more complicated things like frozen French fries and frying hamburgers ;-) Plus if you really get stuck, I just happen to know of this really good cookbook called Dining on A Dime that can help you. ;-)
"It's so much easier." I guess that depends on your definition of easy. To me, going to a restaurant, sitting and listening to loud music for 30 minutes with fussy, hungry, complaining kids is not my idea of fun. Going to a drive-thru is, at times, not much better. Lately it seems as if the line of cars wraps around the whole building at every fast food joint that I drive by. I was amazed to see every restaurant's parking lot jam packed two days after Christmas. (Must be that all those people who couldn't afford Christmas had gotten a wind fall.) Sorry, once again I digress.
You may say "The restaurant where I go isn't that bad." but my point is that everything has it's drawbacks whether you stay at home to eat or go out to eat. It's just a matter of what you make up your mind to put up with. Do you want the pain of cooking or the pain of not knowing how to pay your bills.
If you are in debt, it would be wise to start putting up with a few of the drawbacks that come with eating at home. Besides, if you are really serious about saving money, there are ways to make cooking at home much easier.
- You can use convenience foods. There is nothing wrong with buying things like French bread, canned biscuits or bagged salad. Line the pans you use with foil, or use disposable pans. It's cheaper in the long run to use these than going out to eat.
- Clean up as you cook. This is very important because I notice a lot of people make a bigger mess than necessary when they cook.
- Instead of messing up the whole stove by repeatedly laying a sticky spoon on it, use a spoon holder or cup. It is a simple thing that makes clean up so much easier.
- Keep some hot soapy water in the sink while you are cooking and wash things as you finish with them.
- Don't set that carton of milk down on the counter after you pour it. While it is still in your hand put it back in the fridge.
- Keep the amount of utensils you use to a minimum. You don't need to put a lid on a pot every time you cook something.
- Don't always think gourmet. Most families are so excited to get a homemade meal that they don't care what you serve them. Besides, almost any meal can be made to look "gourmet". Fruit sliced and arranged nicely on a plate, muffins keeping warm and nestled in a napkin inside a basket or mashed potatoes mounded high with a chunk of golden butter melting down the sides all have eye appeal. All right -- I made myself hungry! Maybe it's time to quit for lunch.
- Clean up is one of the main reasons people hate to eat at home, but if you clean as you go like I mentioned earlier and everyone pitches in to help clean up after dinner, it should only take about 15 minutes to get it all put away.* It would take longer than that to drive to a fast food place and return home.
*See our article, "Dirty Dishes Cause Debt."
- Pull out those crock pots. It takes about 5 minutes to throw in a roast, potatoes and carrots. It takes the same amount of time to throw in the ingredients for chili, stew or veggie soup.
- If you are dragging the kids to an after school game: Instead of going to a fast food drive in, throw some hot dogs in a thermos and cover with boiling water. They will be cooked and ready to eat by the time you get there. How long does it really take to grab a few pieces of fruit, a bag of cleaned veggies and some chips to go with them? Maybe 2 minutes? How hard is that to cook?
You could also have sloppy joes simmering in a crock pot and pour those in the thermos for an on the run meal. To make it even easier, heat it up from a jar and then pour it in the thermos.
I don't know who set the standard that cooking a meal in 30 minutes is fast. If I took that long to cook a meal every night I would never get anything done. There are tons of meals out there that require 15 minutes or less prep time.
If you don't know where to start, then drag out our cookbook or go to our website. We have lots of ideas there to get you started. Sometimes we like to make things more complicated than they really are because that gives us a good excuse not to do them. Where there is a will there is a way.
Do you really want to get out of debt? Then GET UP, STOP CHARGING, and GET COOKING!
Read "Stop Eating Your Way Into Debt!" (Part 1)
