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Like most people, one of my dreams was to have a personal cook, someone that each day when I returned home from work would have a meal hot, ready on the table for me. I could even deal with having my personal cook prepare gourmet meals for the entire week and I just heat them up each night, but this isn’t going to be happening soon. In this economy everyone is thinking of saving money and cooking light.

My wife and I use to eat out about 3 time a week, lately we’ve tried to keep it to once a week or maybe once every two weeks. For the amount of money we were spending eating out we could buy 2-3 meals and have leftovers for our “fend for yourself nights”.

Each week when I’m at my local grocery store, I notice more and more people buying the store brand of items, bulk boxes to save money and even alot of people buying cookbooks or taking cooking classes.

One way I’ve found to save a little money but you still don’t have to cook every night is pre-made meals from your local grocery store. These meals are meant to be either put into the stove or microwave and are ready within minutes. It’s a bit more expensive than eating in but you still save money by not going to a restaurant. Taking your lunch a couple days a week can also help, but always give yourself a day or so just to get away from the office.

Here are a few other sites with helpful tips for saving money by dining in.

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