Sometimes “Homemade” Isn’t Worth It
Researchers at North Carolina State University recently released some results that I find a bit obvious: home-cooked meals aren’t always the best thing for the family. Cooking at home tends to cause more work and pressure for the mother rather than the father, and when the family does come together to eat, it isn’t always a pleasurable experience. Time is valuable, and if that time is spent preparing meals that won’t be appreciated, why not spend that time doing other things that have more value? I do cook at home a lot, but if I don’t have time to cook or if would cause me more stress to throw together something just kind of “eh,” it’s okay to get takeout.
Besides takeout, good protein options, like baked chicken, can be found at the grocery store. Just add some frozen vegetables, salad, and canned biscuits on the side. The grocery store is often overlooked as a place to get something already prepared, but just getting that one central item can make it easy to think of side items that you already have at home or can easily pick up at the store. This tends to be cheaper than getting entire meals as takeout.
Some restaurants offer weekly meal packages that may be worthwhile for your family. You pick up the food at the beginning of the week, and a menu tells you what items to heat up each evening. Monday’s dinner may be a brisket, and Tuesday’s meatballs with pesto. I have noticed that most of these sorts of dinners tend to be heavier on pasta dishes than I prefer, since pastas work well for prepping days beforehand and then just reheating, so if you aren’t a big pasta lover, be sure to check out the variety of dinners if this is something you’re interested in. These dinners can be a great way to have meals that lack a lot of the preservatives that frozen meals from the grocery store may have, and they can be a lot more tasty than something you’d want to prepare yourself on a workday. I’ve been meaning to try this sort of thing, but I feel a bit guilty doing it. They seem a bit expensive, but a local restaurant offers a week’s worth of dinners for two people for $100, so $20/night. I’m torn. I can make something cheaper at home, but, yeah, it won’t taste as good. Is it worth it? I may have to try it once and find out.
