I'm curious as to how you can eat out 3x/day while gluten free!

start out super easy.. spaghetti with meatballs and a veggie, one of those add a meat meals, for glutten free ideas, trader joe's might have more options for fast ideas (so "semi-homemade"). I do plan ahead and freeze leftovers for quick meals in later weeks (such as taco meat already cooked- that's easy to put together). Salmon in the oven is super easy too.. But start out with a few semi home-made ones and then one that all you do is add something and it's a meal.. eventually you'll get used to this and want to add more recipes..

Anonymous wrote:Sit down, plan out meals for a week, make a grocery list and go shopping. THe first few weeks it sucks. The next few weeks it gets better. AFter that you will wonder why eating out ever seemed easy. It can be so much nicer for your kids to be able to play and/or do homework while dinner gets ready. And you can pack up food for lunches while you clean up dinner.

+1. This is the only thing that's worked for me. And you will save SO MUCH money. It does suck at first, but it improves!

I meal plan for the week including lunches, make a list of ingredients for my meals plus fruit and breakfast stuff, and order online from Harris Teeter Express Lane. Not spending my Sunday grocery shopping is amazing, and I really do get a sense of calm and organization from planning ahead.

Good luck OP!

Sit down, plan out meals for a week, make a grocery list and go shopping. THe first few weeks it sucks. The next few weeks it gets better. AFter that you will wonder why eating out ever seemed easy. It can be so much nicer for your kids to be able to play and/or do homework while dinner gets ready. And you can pack up food for lunches while you clean up dinner.

Here's what I have done to meal plan.

Pick five or six categories of foods:

Chicken
Seafood
Pasta
Fast Food (burgers, burritos, pizza, etc.)
Soup
Big Weekend Meal (Pot Roast)

Make sure most of these things are super simple except perhaps the big Weekend Meal. Make sure one or two are crockpot meals.

Shop for everything on Sunday.

I have three kids and have been forced to cook for years. I like simple meals but I also like to eat whole foods so it is hard to come up with stuff that is healthy, quick, easy, etc.

You need to get organized:

- Choose a day for grocery shopping, and do not skip this day. The rare times I am too tired to do groceries, I am miserable the rest of the week because I hate to shop after work.

- Prep As much as you can on Sundays. for example: I make stir fried rice during the week, so I cook my rice in advance, sometimes I steam a bag of frozen veggies and marinate meat in soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic, all in advance.

- Find 5 easy recipes that you can cook in 30-45 minutes. I like this combination: one starch, one protein (roasted or in a skillet), and one or two veggies, the combinations are endless.

- I like to reproduce a good meal I ate at a restaurant, I also make my version of Chipotle.

- Pick what/how many meals you going to eat out and stick to the plan.

Blue Apron. It changed our lives.
https://www.blueapron.com/

Meal plan, keep it realistic, keep it simple, it's just dinner - nothing wrong with scrambled eggs, cheese quesadillas, fruit and cut up veggies

When I plan ahead, I like to grill or make a bunch of chicken breasts or thighs on Sunday, and then reinvent them each night. Chicken with quinoa and broccoli, chicken tacos, chicken with pasta, soup, then last night is whatever is still in the fridge that you don't mind eating. Or breakfast for dinner. Have some healthy(ish) frozen stuff available like sweet potato fries, frozen veg, Applegate nuggets, etc. for when you really just cannot be bothered to cook.

Eat out cheaper. Pho -- my family of 4 gets out of there for $35 with tip. Pupusas are even cheaper.

Prep every Sunday.

Use your crock pot.

Take a Saturday or Sunday and make a bunch of freezer meals.

You could start with a service like blue apron to get you used to cooking, and once you had gained confidence you could start making food from scratch.

We were the same way. I do cook but I keep a wide variety of trader joes frozen items for nights when the temptation to order in or go out strikes.

Besides the gluten free part , I am in the same boat!!!! I would love some advice as well!

We’ve had a rough time for the last several years and we formed some bad habits. We eat out about 9 out of 10 meals (literally!) and it’s wreaking havoc on our lives, especially financially. We desperately want to make changes but we’re at a loss for how to start cooking/eating at home. Can you offer some very practical and simple advice on how to get started with cooking for ourselves? We are gluten free, have a picky toddler, and want to rely less heavily on meat while still keeping meal planning and prep manageable. Is that possible? We feel so overwhelmed!