For some people, like my mom, this one is ridiculous.  To her, the thought of eating out so often just doesn’t make sense.  Why would you go out when it can be cheaper and faster to just make food at home?  Well, because I’ve never done it consistently so I have neither the habit nor the natural ability to throw together a meal.  And I’ve always had a lot of excuses.  I work late.  I work hard.  I’m pregnant.  I’m tired.  I didn’t plan.  I don’t know what to make.  My husband doesn’t mind.  But the truth is we both grew up in homes where our mothers cooked us meals from scratch almost every night.  We’d go out on Saturdays but pretty much every other night my mom made us food.  And often lunch on the weekends and weekdays too.  But for whatever reason, I became dependent on picking up food or eating out.  My husband and I used to eat out a lot.  It was fun trying new restaurants.  It was easy to pick food up on the way home and eat while watching an episode or two (or three) of our favorite shows.  And we felt we could afford it so why not?  I guess I always made a few meals at home but was never consistent with it.  I want to change that.

I want to change because we eat unhealthily and we gain weight when we eat out.  I want to change because my husband deserves better.  I want to change because I want to instill healthy eating habits in my daughter.  I want to change because I feel proud of myself when I know I’ve made a good meal.  I want to change because putting food on the table for my family is my responsibility and it IS a joy and yet I treat it like a challenging chore.  So I’m working on it, one week at a time.  My goal for the rest of 2011 is to make a homemade dinner for my family at least four nights a week.  It sounds lame but it’s a start.

When I started writing this post, I started looking for stats to make myself feel better.  I couldn’t be the only one, right?  Well it turns out that by and large, Americans do eat at home with their families.  Granted, the trend is increasing to have take-out, frozen and pre-prepared foods than fresh meals, but people eat at home.  So why can’t we?

So far, in the month and a half that I’ve been writing this blog, we’ve been successful – five weeks in a row where we’ve had 4-6 meals at home each week and we’re on track for this week too.  If I can be consistent with this, then in 2012, I’ll try to up it to 5 nights a week and then I’ll be satisfied.  I’ll continue to update in the weekly meal planning and weekly update posts.