To Cook or Not to Cook? That is the question.

I confess, I've fallen into a habit of getting takeout more often now.

Before we moved into the house, living at our tiny apartment was simple.  I cooked all the time and we would occasionally treat ourselves to eating out or ordering pizza.  For our first night of living in the new house, we bought takeout to treat ourselves after moving.  Things were busy for the two of us--I had work 9am-5pm and my boyfriend had work 4:30pm-2am.  There was a lot more prep needed in the morning or at night to prep breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all (including my 3 cats and dog!).  So then, it became more of a habit to order takeout when we had a lot less time to unwind.

Personally, I really love cooking.  I wish I could spend all day cooking, perfecting a recipe.  (Hello, Barefoot Contessa.)  I talked about this with my boyfriend when he asked me to pack two dinners for him since he often got hungry at work because of the way his hours are.  I told him how if I didn't work, I would gladly spend more time to prep delicious meals for him.  And we agreed that, in the future, when he could support it, I would get to stay at home.  Perhaps I exhausted myself covering everything when he was unemployed, but it really felt reassuring that he supported me and we came to the mutual decision to work towards that.

But for now, I cook when I can.  If I'm not sick or lacking sleep, I spend almost my whole morning from 7 until I head out to prep food.  Prior to 7, I prep the fur babies' food.  I don't spend any time watching TV in the morning anymore.  All I do is get up, feed the pets, eat a quick breakfast, cook, and get ready for work.  And in the evenings, I am usually tired and just want to unwind.  So if it's cooking, I try to do something fast or easy that I can let sit on the stove for a while.  And when we want to, we don't feel guilty for choosing takeout over a home-cooked meal.  We enjoy what we can. :)