What's Faster? Eating Out or Eating at Home
I'm more guilty than anyone of this. I'm feeling crunched on time at the end of a long day, and so instead of cooking the food I have at the house, I drive somewhere for take-out so I can eat NOW.
I mean. It takes about 45 minutes to cook ground beef. 3-4 hours for a sweet potato. And on a good day, I may be finished steaming broccoli before midnight...
Wait. That's just what it FEELS like when I'm being lazy and just want someone else to cook for me. So I justify going out to eat, convincing myself it will actually be a timesaver by conflating the amount of time and energy it would actually take to make a decent and sufficient meal at home.
Let's time it out
Cooking simply at home with food you have
Heat pan (2 minutes)
Cooking beef takes the least time (8-10 minutes), chicken (14-17 minutes)
While the meat is cooking, microwave a sweet potato (7-9 minutes)
While the meat is cooking, thaw frozen veggies in hot water if no fresh veggies (2 minutes)
Once sweet potato is done, microwave veggies (2-3 minutes)
EAT (12 - 22 minutes later)
Going for take-out
Decide where you want to go (1-15 minutes)
Get your shit together to leave the house (3-5 minutes)
Drive to where restaurant (7-10 minutes)
Wait in line/order (2-3 minutes)
Wait for food (10-15 minutes)
Drive home (7-10 minutes)
EAT (30-58 minutes)
You can see that eating at home is actually far more efficient than going out when it comes to time. Plus, you're saving money, getting the exact amount of food you want, and don't need to deal with traffic or other stressors at the end of the day. Of course, sometimes you just would prefer some restaurant food instead of what you have, but don't trick yourself into thinking it's this big time-saver. Keep it simple!