Blog.EmealsForYou

Saving Money by Understanding Our Eating Habits – A Semi-rant

August 7, 2008

I was stunned this morning when my wife told me she saw that Americans eat 50% of their meals outside of the home.  How can this be possible?  I decided I would take a look at this and see where we can parley this knowledge into a plan that will save our families money and also provide healthier food.  Taking into consideration the average family of four; two kids, two parents, both of whom work, the numbers are really surprising as to how few opportunities we have to gather our families around us and enjoy a good, healthy, family meal.  I have chosen my timing on this to coincide with the start of the new school year… change is good!

Breakfast is a cup of coffee for the adults and maybe, maybe a bowl of cereal for the kids; probably more like a handful of overly sweet cookies and out the door.  Lunch at school may provide proper nutrition depending on the local program and for us some form of fast food caught on the run at the office.  So now we are down to dinner.  Let’s see: soccer practice, ortho appointments, music lesson, etc. well that about shoots the week.

Where can we find the time to slow down the rat race?  First stop breakfast; I know the kids barely make it to the bus on time now.  Each year you receive a schedule of when the bus pickup is, so each year you are probably going through a time change anyway.  I suggest you move the wake-up time 20 minutes earlier, thus providing a chance for a nutritional breakfast and perhaps a quick conversation with your kids.  “Not going to happen, kids won’t get up”, are the inmates really running the asylum?  Remember the purpose here is better health; make it happen.

We probably have little control over the lunch thing at school unless you pack their lunches and then you are not sure if they are eating it all or not.  As for the adults this a key area where you can save calories and money .  By scouting out the available food outlets and using a little will power you can come up with a better plan then the same old same old at BurgerWhatever.  If they asked “would you like me to super-size you” instead of the fries would you still say yes.

Our real opportunites happen at dinner.  Sure you have a very busy schedule but with a little shuffling and a little pre-planning it may be possible to have a couple of family dinner meals per week.  Use this as a starting point and see if you can’t sneak in additonal meals.  My bet is that once you get into proper planning habits it will become second nature and your family will thrive.

Entry Filed under: Rants, Semi-Rants and Non-Rants. Tags: eating with th efamily, Family meals, good breakfast, lunch tips, Meal Planning.