Ramping up cooking at home!

I admit that I really tend to get lazy when it comes to cooking at home. I know it is the frugal, and probably healthier, thing to do. I find that since I am a Project Manager and travel fairly often I feel "too tired" to cook a lot of the time. I am now working on changing that attitude. It is going to take some time and determiniation on my part but I believe I can pull it off.

Game plan: Aside from really good specials (dollar taco night!) I plan to cook at home a lot more when I am here. I am going to do a little more meal planning and I have a couple of very important cooking tools coming from Amazon.com: A cast iron skillet and Santoku knife. I have been wanting these for years and finally bit the bullet. They are on the way!

My next step is to do some recipe researching and get a few good recipes saved for each type of meat I typically eat. This way I have ammo ready for when there are good sales. I have a variety of options and don't have to feel that I have to make spaghetti again because I have only one recipe that involves ground beef. I am also going to start experimenting more often and try to stay motivated.

I also want to dabble in baked goods a little. I especially like cookies and want to try out some recipes I found recently. Instead of eating out one weekend I want to make stuff at home and see how I do versus the restaurants. If I find I can make things good myself then why go out?

I am also trying to enforce some more self-imposed rules. First I need to separate my grocery and dining out budget so I can keep better track. Once I figure out those numbers I can move forward with training myself to think more about cooking and less about my favorite place down the street. I also need to train myself to think it will spoil if I don't eat it so I don't waste more money.

It is going to be a long yet worthwhile process to do this. I really do like cooking and need to do it more so I can become good at it.