Post Your Wins

[disneysteve]

We eat out too much. Last week was particularly bad. My wife and I went out to dinner with friends twice. The 3 of us ordered in 1 night and went out another night. Then I had leftovers from those meals for lunch on 3 other days. So a total of 7 out of 14 meals (not counting breakfast as that's always made at home) came from restaurants. I told DW we had to rein it in.

Sunday night we made pizza.
Monday night we made tacos.
Tuesday night was a little disjointed and we all did our own thing, but at home.
Wednesday night we had ravioli and grilled veggies.
Tonight we're making stuffed mushrooms.
Every day we've made lunch at home.
That's 5 days so far with zero restaurant meals.

I like eating out and I'm not trying to stop entirely, but a couple of times a week is fine. Maybe we'll go out for dinner as a family on Saturday as we like to do that. And DW and I usually do lunch out one day.

But I count it as a win that we've gone 5 days in a row without eating out. And financially speaking it is a win as eating out is expensive. It's also generally not as good for us too.

[crazyliblady]

We eat out too much. Last week was particularly bad. My wife and I went out to dinner with friends twice. The 3 of us ordered in 1 night and went out another night. Then I had leftovers from those meals for lunch on 3 other days. So a total of 7 out of 14 meals (not counting breakfast as that's always made at home) came from restaurants. I told DW we had to rein it in.

Sunday night we made pizza.
Monday night we made tacos.
Tuesday night was a little disjointed and we all did our own thing, but at home.
Wednesday night we had ravioli and grilled veggies.
Tonight we're making stuffed mushrooms.
Every day we've made lunch at home.
That's 5 days so far with zero restaurant meals.

I like eating out and I'm not trying to stop entirely, but a couple of times a week is fine. Maybe we'll go out for dinner as a family on Saturday as we like to do that. And DW and I usually do lunch out one day.

But I count it as a win that we've gone 5 days in a row without eating out. And financially speaking it is a win as eating out is expensive. It's also generally not as good for us too.

I personally don't have a problem with people who eat out a lot. But I think many people who do that are also in debt and eating out is expensive and not always healthy. I personally eat out very little, but it's more of a personaly choice due to food allergies and sensitivities. I also has some debt, so I can't really rationalize it very often. Pat yourself on the back that you made several meals out eating out. That's awesome!

[Fishindude77]

We've been living off the land lately; garden beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, etc. Picked a bunch of wild blackberries and made a couple pies and tarts.
Also working down a freezer full of good venison, fish and pork. Bought ten dozen sweet corn the other day and processed it all for the freezer.

[disneysteve]

Bought ten dozen sweet corn the other day and processed it all for the freezer.

We've tried that in the past and just didn't enjoy it out of the freezer. It's never as good as fresh.

[crazyliblady]

I bought 2 winter sweaters at a yard sale the other day. I really like them and they are nicer than ones I had in the closet. My rule is that whenever I get new or new-to-me stuff in my clothing, I have to either trash or donate an equal amount so that my closet does not get crowded. I am donating the sweaters I got rid of and also a pair of pants and 2 pairs of shoes that I don't really like.

[Fishindude77]

We've tried that in the past and just didn't enjoy it out of the freezer. It's never as good as fresh.

Guess it depends on what you start with. Ours is locally grown stuff.
We blanch it, cool it, cut off the cobb, then seal it up in freezer bags.

Use it for soups, stews or just plain corn. Best corn you are going to get this winter, remains super sweet and far better than anything you can get out of season, at the store in a bag or can.
I've had some of this stuff in the freezer for as long as two years and it's still really good.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Does it stay crispy? All the frozen corn I've tried gets chewy and loses its crispy texture (ie, KFC frozen corn on the cob). The kernels gets soft and blah.

[Fishindude77]

Does it stay crispy? All the frozen corn I've tried gets chewy and loses its crispy texture (ie, KFC frozen corn on the cob). The kernels gets soft and blah.

All I can tell you is that it is far better than any processed corn you are going to buy at the store .... or KFC.

If they grow good sweet corn around you, do a cheap experiment and try it on a few dozen ears.

Drop shucked, clean ears into boiling water, Water will stop boiling when cool corn is introduced. When it comes back to boil in a couple minutes remove the corn.
Place the hot ears in a large container of chilled water to cool and get to a temperature you can handle.
Stand ears on end on a cutting board and cut off the kernels with a sharp knife.
Put the kernels in good quart vac seal bags, squeeze most all of the air out, flatten and stack in the freezer.

I suspect what makes it better is:
* Starting out with a high quality sweet corn to begin with.
* Not being cooked so hot or so long as they would have to at a USDA factory.

[disneysteve]

All I can tell you is that it is far better than any processed corn you are going to buy at the store .... or KFC.

Stand ears on end on a cutting board and cut off the kernels with a sharp knife.

Okay, you're talking about freezing the loose corn and using it in soup or stew. That makes sense. I was talking about keeping it whole and having "fresh" frozen corn on the cob. We've tried it. It doesn't work. The corn doesn't stay crisp.

[bjl584]

Okay, you're talking about freezing the loose corn and using it in soup or stew. That makes sense. I was talking about keeping it whole and having "fresh" frozen corn on the cob. We've tried it. It doesn't work. The corn doesn't stay crisp.

Take it off the cob and pressure can it. It will last for years and will stay fairly crunchy. You just loose the experience of having it on the cob

[disneysteve]

Take it off the cob and pressure can it. It will last for years and will stay fairly crunchy. You just loose the experience of having it on the cob

I can go to the store and buy a $0.59 can for that. Way less work.

[disneysteve]

We eat out too much. Last week was particularly bad. My wife and I went out to dinner with friends twice. The 3 of us ordered in 1 night and went out another night. Then I had leftovers from those meals for lunch on 3 other days. So a total of 7 out of 14 meals (not counting breakfast as that's always made at home) came from restaurants. I told DW we had to rein it in.

Sunday night we made pizza.
Monday night we made tacos.
Tuesday night was a little disjointed and we all did our own thing, but at home.
Wednesday night we had ravioli and grilled veggies.
Tonight we're making stuffed mushrooms.
Every day we've made lunch at home.
That's 5 days so far with zero restaurant meals.

Still sticking with this.
Friday we did French toast.
Saturday we got Panera.
Sunday we had pizza again.
Monday we had quesadillas.
Tuesday we had ravioli again.
Tonight we're getting Chinese food for my mom's birthday.

DW and I went out to lunch on Monday and got good salads and had the leftovers for lunch on Tuesday. All other lunches were made at home.

So not restaurant-free, but definitely better. And better choices when we did dine out.

The best part is that on 7/24 I weighed 192.0. Yesterday, 8/1, I weighed 190.4. So I'm down 1.6 pounds in 8 days thanks to this. That's the best motivation to keep at it. And I'm sure the credit card bill will be smaller this month, too.

[jenn_jenn]

We had what felt like a $900 win yesterday.

I needed to buy our flights for Thanksgiving. I remembered that we had a companion pass to use and then found a $200 airline credit we had forgotten about.

So we got two first class tickets (normal price currently would have been ~$1400) for $500. Score!

And I actually got us to plan ahead this time. Usually we are booking holiday flights at the last minute and prices are crazy high so I was doubly stoked about this.

[bjl584]

I did a side job installing a new kitchen faucet for someone today. Made $50 and got a free lunch.

[james.hendrickson]

So, this morning I got off my duff and started the day with a run. Thats a win. And, as a bonus I found like $1.05 in change on the street. Thats a great way to start the day!