No Take Out / Meals Out January

[Anonymous]

I was doing far too many takeout meals and my budget was hurting. I decided to just stop for the month of January... It’s day 17 today of no takeout and no prepared meals from the freezer either. Just home cooking. Simple dinners sometimes but all from scratch. It wasn’t as hard as I thought and has helped me stop spending so much on food.[code]

[Anonymous]

It's also more friendly on the waist!

I did this challenge last year and lost 12 pounds doing nothing more than only eating at home.

I might do it again later in March when I have no work-related travel.

But overall, it made me much more selective on when I eat out. Before doing the challenge, I ate out at least 3 days a week for lunch, maybe 1 or 2 days for breakfast, and then dinner out every Friday & Saturday night along with a random weekday night thrown in sometimes.

[Anonymous]

I almost caved last week, after a really really hard day. I went online to put in an order at a restaurant but when I went to submit it, I got a note that the restaurant was temporarily not accepting online orders! Then I called them, and they never answered the phone. They were really understaffed that night.

[Anonymous]

It's been 27 days with no takeout! I have been really cooking a lot more from scratch at home.

Last night I made a hearty chicken soup and also a beef stew to have extras to get me through the busy end of this week.

But I'm looking forward to a little take out next weekend.

[Anonymous]

how are you celebrating next week?

[Anonymous]

We all did that during the first year of the pandemic. No thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We all did that during the first year of the pandemic. No thanks!

Wow— no takeout during a whole year?? Why not? Lots of places were delivering or doing curbside pick up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how are you celebrating next week?

Honestly probably nothing. My budget really liked cooking at home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We all did that during the first year of the pandemic. No thanks!

Wow— no takeout during a whole year?? Why not? Lots of places were delivering or doing curbside pick up.

Not pp, but we used to dine out a lot but skipped takeout because of the waste. Way too much packaging for food that was never quite the right temperature or got squashed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We all did that during the first year of the pandemic. No thanks!

Wow— no takeout during a whole year?? Why not? Lots of places were delivering or doing curbside pick up.

Not pp, but we used to dine out a lot but skipped takeout because of the waste. Way too much packaging for food that was never quite the right temperature or got squashed.

Another not pp, and I find takeout/delivery the least satisfying way to eat. Few foods travel well, lots of waste generated even when one requests low waste options, and I worry that nobody is making any money once the the tech guys get their cut even after tipping appropriately.
I’ll spend money on a nice meal out, but not going to spend the same to eat cold and soggy food that was schlepped 20 blocks in 20 degrees.

[Anonymous]

Wow, not even pizza or Chinese food on a Friday night?
Those were staples in our family.
Good for you I guess!

[Anonymous]

OP here, I made it to last night, Feb. 4th, until I had my first take out of the year.

it was Thai food -- yummy --

but I got food poisoning!!

So... lesson learned I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We all did that during the first year of the pandemic. No thanks!

Wow— no takeout during a whole year?? Why not? Lots of places were delivering or doing curbside pick up.

We didn’t get takeout until after restaurant workers were able to get vaccinated. We have a restaurant worker in our household. If people had stopped ordering takeout, she could have gotten unemployment rather than going into work in unsafe conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's also more friendly on the waist!

I did this challenge last year and lost 12 pounds doing nothing more than only eating at home.

I might do it again later in March when I have no work-related travel.

But overall, it made me much more selective on when I eat out. Before doing the challenge, I ate out at least 3 days a week for lunch, maybe 1 or 2 days for breakfast, and then dinner out every Friday & Saturday night along with a random weekday night thrown in sometimes.

Only Americans would hope to lose weight by eating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I made it to last night, Feb. 4th, until I had my first take out of the year.

it was Thai food -- yummy --

but I got food poisoning!!

So... lesson learned I guess.

I bet it wasn’t food poisoning. It was your system having saltier fattier food after over a month of none. I have that happen when I eat steak sometimes because I eat it so rarely, my stomach has a hard time with it.