The Eat In Challenge

 

Note to Self:  Do not engage toddler in conversation about bubbles before hitting the publish button on your blog, which is exactly next to the delete button.

Earlier today I deleted this post.  I had worked on it over the past two days and in one split second poof.  C'est la vie.  So here goes with round two...

Last week I came across The Week of Eating in Challenge and I would like to invite you to join me in this little adventure.  It begins next Monday, February 22 and the idea is to eat every single meal for an entire week at home, or eat food that was cooked at home.  Now this may seem daunting to some, but it is the way most people across the world eat...so it can't be that hard right?

I have a personal chef and a toddler, so needless to say we eat dinner at home almost all the time. Lunch is another story, granted we often lunch at our own restaurant 29 South which isn't really really "eating out"  as it is more like "eating work."  At least that is what I tell myself, but we do go out to brunch every Sunday.  Brunch is my favorite meal and there is nothing like enjoying it when someone else is cooking.

So why try this Eat in Challenge?  Personally, lately I have been feeling a little guilty.  Due to our lunching out so much Lil' Bit always has leftovers which in turn often are replayed for her either at dinner or the following lunch.  She often eats dinner before Chef and I, mainly because Chef is not usually home at 6 pm which is her dinner time.  While I cook a simple, yet tasty meal for Chef and I to eat at 8ish...Lil' Bit often eats leftovers with an added veg or grain.  Leftovers = microwave = yuck.

Some less personal reasons...well eating out can get a little pricey, and you have so much less control over the quality of the food you are eating.  We try to eat mostly organic at home, and to do so here in Fernandina Beach at any restaurant other than our own is next to impossible.

But more importantly, to cook and eat at home is an essential part of a nation's cultural identity.  Food is a unifying aspect of any culture, and America is quickly loosing its culinary heritage.  For generations the different culinary traditions of the various regions of this country were passed down at the stove and at the dinner table, and they are becoming obsolete.  They are being replaced with weird dinners in bags that you just pop in the microwave, or entire meals to be eaten in the front seat of your car.

As a side note:  Regularly eating meals in your car is weird unless you are homeless and you live in your car.  That is the only exception.  And on that same note...hamburgers are not snacks for crying out loud!  But I will save that rant for another blog post.

With all the modern technology to make cooking at home easier...food processors, blenders, dishwashers, spray on olive oil...the list is endless...it is amazing that today we often complain that we don't have the time or energy to cook a meal of whole foods at home.  Our grandmothers and grandfathers did it with so much less.  

So that all being said, I challenge you to eat in next week. If you go to the link above and sign up you will find all sorts of fun little tools to help, like a spreadsheet to help you compare the cost savings of your week of eating in versus a week of eating out as well as neat phone aps.

Eat in...turn on the music, pour yourself a glass of wine and relax into a recipe.  Although I would just stick to coffee or juice while making breakfast.  You can do it.  Do it for your grandma...do it for your family...do it for yourself.  If you are single, throw a potluck, invite a neighbor over, or perhaps make a date of it. There is no better way to get to know a person than a meal prepared and shared together.  

I am going to give it whirl, although my birthday is next week and for my gift Chef is giving me a day at the spa.  I may have to cheat and eat a salad in between my massage and facial.  I know...it is a rough life, but somebody has to live it.