Comments on: Have it your way, they say. http://elwoodicious.com/2006/07/04/have-it-your-way-they-say/ Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. —Voltaire Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:29:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: james http://elwoodicious.com/2006/07/04/have-it-your-way-they-say/comment-page-1/#comment-1155 james Wed, 05 Jul 2006 14:22:02 +0000 http://www.elwoods.org/home/2006/07/04/have-it-your-way-they-say/#comment-1155 Ha! I suppose I should qualify that $30. The $30 covers just food for the week for the two of us (milk, eggs, butter, fruit, vegetables, meats, sweets). We have a separate budget for the pet food and other household items which are purchased on a 60 to 90 day basis--sales, coupons, and in quantity. The baby, however, will definitely result in us altering our budgets significantly. We split things up so we could better see how we spend our money--it is likely an MBA thing as I keep spreadsheets tracking all this type of stuff. The $30 is sunk into fresh vegetables and meats that are easy to prepare, out are things like artichokes or butternut squashes--unless it is the weekend or a special occasion--as they take up huge amounts of time to prep and cook. We deliberately choose menus that can be prepared and cooked around a single item with the greatest cooking time like rice (~20 minutes), baked (~50 minutes) or mashed (~30-40 minutes) potatoes. The fact that we get home close to six and have things to do about the house like walking Peri means we have a tiny window to get dinner made, a window sure to shrink further when the baby arrives. She gets bashed by the other celebrity chefs and her over use of the acronym EVOO is a tad annoying but Rachael Ray's show <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_tm/0,1976,FOOD_9997,00.html" rel="nofollow">30 Minute Meals</a> was the catalyst and inspiration for us to look at how we cook--methods, technique, and choices--so that we can best maximize our time in the kitchen. Cooking blogs like <a href="http://www.elise.com/recipes/" rel="nofollow">Simply Recipes</a> and <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/" rel="nofollow">101 Cookbooks</a> are also great inspiration for different flavors. My motto is, "Life's short, eat well." :-D Ha! I suppose I should qualify that $30. The $30 covers just food for the week for the two of us (milk, eggs, butter, fruit, vegetables, meats, sweets). We have a separate budget for the pet food and other household items which are purchased on a 60 to 90 day basis–sales, coupons, and in quantity. The baby, however, will definitely result in us altering our budgets significantly. We split things up so we could better see how we spend our money–it is likely an MBA thing as I keep spreadsheets tracking all this type of stuff.

The $30 is sunk into fresh vegetables and meats that are easy to prepare, out are things like artichokes or butternut squashes–unless it is the weekend or a special occasion–as they take up huge amounts of time to prep and cook. We deliberately choose menus that can be prepared and cooked around a single item with the greatest cooking time like rice (~20 minutes), baked (~50 minutes) or mashed (~30-40 minutes) potatoes. The fact that we get home close to six and have things to do about the house like walking Peri means we have a tiny window to get dinner made, a window sure to shrink further when the baby arrives.

She gets bashed by the other celebrity chefs and her over use of the acronym EVOO is a tad annoying but Rachael Ray’s show 30 Minute Meals was the catalyst and inspiration for us to look at how we cook–methods, technique, and choices–so that we can best maximize our time in the kitchen. Cooking blogs like Simply Recipes and 101 Cookbooks are also great inspiration for different flavors.

My motto is, “Life’s short, eat well.” :-D

]]> By: Kara http://elwoodicious.com/2006/07/04/have-it-your-way-they-say/comment-page-1/#comment-1154 Kara Wed, 05 Jul 2006 13:44:39 +0000 http://www.elwoods.org/home/2006/07/04/have-it-your-way-they-say/#comment-1154 Do you grocery shop all at once for $30 or just get what you need daily for each meal? Unfortunately, our weekly grocery budget is $100 (pet and baby stuff makes up a good portion of it!) But it's definitely the ready-to-eat, grab and go types of stuff that adds to the cost. Laziness is expensive! Do you grocery shop all at once for $30 or just get what you need daily for each meal? Unfortunately, our weekly grocery budget is $100 (pet and baby stuff makes up a good portion of it!) But it’s definitely the ready-to-eat, grab and go types of stuff that adds to the cost. Laziness is expensive!

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