Time was, not that long ago, when Clif and I ate out on a regular basis. During the week, I cooked dinner, but on the weekends we would eat out at least twice and sometimes more. We did this for a variety of reasons. As a food writer, I liked to check out various restaurants, and even though we limited our culinary adventures to an hour or so from Winthrop, Portland was included in our food travels. We would eat out socially, with friends and family. Finally, we ate out for the sheer fun of it.

But then the Great Recession happened. The salary went down, and the cost of food and fuel went up. Suddenly, it seemed that lunch prices had jumped to dinner prices, and dinner prices had correspondingly increased. In Maine, before the Great Recession, lunch was always well under $10, even in decent restaurants. Now, $12 and $15 are the norm. This means that lunch, including a soft drink and a tip, can easily come to a third and sometimes even half of our weekly grocery budget. (I do realize that fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s or Burger King are significantly cheaper, but the food is of such poor quality that it still feels like a waste of money to eat at one of those chains.)

So we had to ask ourselves, is the price of going out to eat worth it? With some reluctance—we did enjoy eating out—we had to concluded it was not worth the money to eat in restaurants, and we have cut way, way back. While I am not a great chef, I am a decent home cook, and the meals I prepare are tasty, nutritious, and much, much less expensive than even lunch at a restaurant. Pasta dishes, soup, bean dishes, chicken in a Crock-Pot—I vary our meals so that in any given month there aren’t many repeats.

Nowadays, when I cook, I always plan on having leftovers, which means I only actually cook a few meals each week. (Thanks, Shari Burke, for encouraging this!) This week, for example, I had leftover cranberry chutney from a potluck at the home of our friends Margy and Steve. On Sunday, I put four large chicken breasts in a Crock-Pot, smeared the leftover chutney on the chicken, and let it all cook on high for about four hours. I served this with rice and corn, and there was plenty of leftover chicken and a tangy sauce from the drippings and chutney. The next night, we had wraps using the rice, some of the chicken, and the sauce. Still, there was enough for another meal, but on the third day, for variation, I made a pasta dish with broccoli, garlic, oregano, red peppers, chicken sausage, and a lovely lemon olive oil. Naturally, I made enough of the pasta dish for leftovers.

Occasionally, perhaps twice a month, we still do eat out. Most of the time it is when we meet friends, and we keep it inexpensive by going to a pizza place or to a Mexican restaurant, where we reluctantly pass on the Margaritas.

Would we eat out more if our budget suddenly increased? Perhaps a little, but only once a week because there is one other very good reason to eat mostly at home—the health benefits of home-cooked meals. From portion size to ingredients to the amount of salt I use, very few restaurants can match, health wise, what I cook from scratch.

So from now on, at home we will mostly eat, regardless of our salary.