At The Beginning...

Here we sit at 8:01 pm on New Year's Eve, 2010. "We" are Lonnie & Stephanie. Married, with one son and another kid on the way. In case you haven't read our "About Us" sidebar, here's a little run down of what we're doing in 2011.

We have always known that we spent too much money on eating out at restaurants. It doesn't seem like much at the time, but $15 here and $20 there adds up pretty quickly. After doing the math, we figured out that we were spending around $300/month on eating out. OUCH. We knew that something had to be done. We had discussed going "cold-turkey" and not eating out at all. That option had one big problem, though. One big 5-year-old problem. Our son, Jack. Jack has autism and is very routine-oriented. He thrives on a schedule and on knowing what's coming next. For the past 3-ish years, we have been going to a local pizza buffet every Tuesday night. It's "kid's night" and they have macaroni and cheese (one of the 10 foods he'll eat) and they also show a movie on a big screen. We knew that we would face major opposition if we took away Tuesday nights. So, we decided to keep them. Even if we are going to the pizza buffet once a week, we are still saving large amounts of money throughout the week/month/year. Oh, by the way, that $300/month figure did not include our weekly trips to the pizza place. Again, ouch.

So, we are eating at home six days a week. This is a huge step for us. One of main difficulties is that we spend most of our days at home. Lonnie works from home and Stephanie is a stay at home mom. Our son goes to school just in the afternoon. So, by the time 5:00 pm rolls around, we are all ready to get out of the house. Just to get out - to do something - anything. We are going to have to find some coping techniques. Some creative ways to get out of the house that don't involve spending money on mediocre food.

Another challenge is that Stephanie is pregnant. Like, craving hamburgers and french fries and Chinese food and ice cream and more hamburgers, pregnant. Sometimes these cravings can't be ignored. Our goal is to try to re-create restaurant meals at home when the need arises - but if there is a craving that can't be met by homemade food, then there might be exceptions to the rule.

This blog will be a place where we will share recipes, challenges, successes and the hilarity that is sure to ensue. We both have a love of food and are excited (as well as scared) to take this journey. It's about time we had some discipline. We are happy to have this place of accountability. Thanks for joining us!