Guest post from Julia of Swirls and Spice
After I married my husband, he suggested that I stop cooking on Sundays. This was an adjustment for me, and somewhat surprising since both of us come from families where our mothers served a traditional Sunday dinner after church.
Furthermore, cooking is one of my favorite parts of homemaking, and yielding control of the kitchen is not easy for me. However, after making this our Sunday habit, I am thankful for the blessings of rest and refreshment that have come.
Four children and several moves later, we now find ourselves in the suburbs of Chicago, where the restaurant selection is amazing and quite enticing.
However, feeding six people isn’t cheap when we are intentionally not cooking at home. Eating out four to five times a month was costing us nearly $300 — and that figure was separate from our grocery budget, which covered all of our other meals at home.
Living on one income and spending so much money on restaurant food was simply not sustainable.
After pondering our predicament, my husband came up with a cost-cutting strategy that still gives me a break from the kitchen on Sundays. We get take-out food for one meal, and heat up prepared meals for the other. The take-out food could be anything from fried rice to Papa John’s pizza; and for the other meal, we rotate between several different convenience foods like Hot Pockets and taquitos.
After taking these measures, our restaurant spending went down by half. (September’s total was just $136.)
My husband also has taken charge of microwaving or baking the food we eat on Sunday. However, our older children are also capable of following the heating directions if we ever decide to go that route.
At the end of the day, I am thankful that we get two hot meals without me working in the kitchen for the whole day. After my break, I’m recharged to plan the remaining meals for the week, which I enjoy preparing mostly from scratch with whole food ingredients.
Living debt-free doesn’t necessarily mean a family has to stop eating from restaurants. So much of developing a budget comes down to prioritizing what your values are.
By tracking our spending and planning carefully, it is possible to live inside our means and not feel guilty about taking a day off from cooking. The resulting freedom helps me to move beyond survival mode and avoid burnout as I serve my family.
Developing recipes with healthy, affordable ingredients is one of Julia’s favorite pursuits. At her blog, Swirls and Spice, you’ll find a growing collection of dairy-free recipes.
Guest says
Good post and we also have a day a week that I don’t cook. Sundays we usually have leftovers and an easy crockpot meal so it’s not a ‘stressful’ cooking day.
I’ve been struggling with something for awhile now (which usually means I need to do something about it!) and I’m curious how others may feel about this. When I was in high school, my first job was working in a grocery store and they wanted me to work on Sundays which meant I wasn’t able to go to church. Even though my department didn’t open until noon, I had to get there earlier to set up, etc. Anyway, I prayed that God would open up an opportunity for me to find a job that would still allow me to go to church and within a couple of months he did.
For YEARS I did not go to any stores, restaurants, etc. on Sundays because I remembered how broken-hearted I was at not being able to go to church. Since having kids, we’ve definitely gotten out of the habit of not going anywhere on Sundays. There’s a restaurant near our church that serves a fabulous Sunday brunch but every time we go I wonder what sort of witness we’re having showing up in our church clothes when none of the people serving us, cooking our food, etc. have been able to go. It’s doubtful all of them would want to go to church of course but what if they were able to?
Please know I am NOT criticizing your choice because we also eat out occasionally on Sundays. I would just like to hear from others (I know there are a lot of Christian readers of MSM!) how they handle this.
Guest says
^ Many churches offer services on Thursday or Saturday night in addition to an early and late service on Sunday morning. Working at a restaurant on Sunday morning at 11 is not an accurate gauge to determine that the employees weren’t able to attend church. 🙂
Candace says
We do not do any business on Sundays either- no grocery, no restaurants, no gas, nothing. It is a way to help us keep the day separate and holy. We are at church all day anyway. 🙂
Heather @ My Mothermode says
A few years ago, I decided to make Sundays the day of rest they were meant to be. More cleaning and a menu plan were done on Saturday, and we even made most Sunday mornings our total time away, at church- rather than all Sunday morning, to the in-laws, maybe commute back home, then right back to church until dinnertime.
Our budget has limited us to meals out on vacation and maybe one other time a year. So, Sunday meals are usually sandwiches with all the fixings for lunch and my husband enjoys grilling and deep-frying veggies while I pop open a bag of salad for dinner. Love it!
Rebecca says
I will admit I hate to cook, so Tuesdays & Saturdays are our “eat out” days every week. Whether that’s dining in somewhere or just picking up takeout. Aside from vacations or special circumstances, we do eat breakfast & lunch at home every day(hubby takes lunch to work). Tuesdays work for us because there are numerous restaurants here that have kids eat free that day, so it’s still frugal at this point. Saturdays are just a nice break in the weekend. Whatever works for your family & doesn’t break the bank, go for it!
Guest says
Funny – Tuesdays are often eat out night for us, too! I haven’t figured out if it’s because we’re so traumatized coming off Monday or because it’s slow – HAHA. We have a number of restaurants with kids eat free so that helps the bill tremendously!
Jennfer says
Why not have a freezer cooking session and make a bunch of casseroles or crock pot meals ahead of time? then you only need to pop it in the oven on Sundays. Or teach your children how to cook a few simple meals and have them cook for you? Or if your dh wants you to have a day off, he can pick up the slack sometimes.
Joy says
We also have a “keep it simple” tradition on Sundays. Here’s how ours goes:
BREAKFAST: I always mix up a breakfast casserole Saturday evening, and my husband bakes it Sunday morning. It is the same one every time, but with different options (changing out the sausage for ham, etc). Hubby gets the table set, makes tea, etc, while I’m getting our little children ready for church.
LUNCH: I make ahead freezer meals, and take one out for Sunday’s lunch that will either cook in the crockpot or on time-bake. We have a nice Sunday meal all ready when we come home from church.
SUPPER: We always have popcorn, crackers & cheese, and either veggie sticks, smoothies, or some other low-prep finger-foods.
These traditions have been fun and wonderful for our family.
LaDonna says
I haven’t cooked on Sundays in years. We eat out on Sunday for lunch after church (the only time for the week) and do leftovers or quick (grilled cheese,etc) meals for supper. I used to buy frozen entrees for Sunday night but I’m trying to get away from so many processed foods.
Julia says
I hear you about the processed foods! Ideally, I’d make my own convenience foods from healthy ingredients and freeze them, but I’m not there yet. I just try to cook healthy foods the other six days of the week.
Amy M says
One of my favorite no cook solutions is buy a deli sub from the grocery store. I order a foot long and that feeds my family of four for $6. I add chips and fruit to round it out. Anther idea which is a minimal cook dinner is grill cheese and tomato soup, quick and easy.
Julia says
That is such a bargain! I do like the idea of soup and sandwiches on soccer nights too.
Aileen (Aileen Cooks Blog) says
Thank you for sharing your tips. We try and stick to whole food, from scratch meals as much as possible, but sometimes I need a break, too! I like that it’s a designated day – something to look forward to. 🙂
Julia says
Yes, being intentional definitely helps us stay on track. Knowing I have a scheduled break helps me stick to a menu plan.
Ellen Russell says
I love how you guys got creative to come up with something that works for you!
My husband and kiddos have some crazy food restrictions due to their autoimmune issues. I’d been wanting to make things easier for myself on Sundays also, but we can’t eat out or do convenience foods due to those restrictions (*cries*). My solution has been to make sure I have lots of leftovers from Saturday night for lunch Sunday, and then make a crock pot simple chicken for dinner, with some simple sliced up veggies on the side.
And having everyone chip in to clean up in the kitchen has been a big help, too!
Julia says
Those are great ideas too! And probably healthier. 🙂
Jennifer says
Great ideas! Thank you for sharing!