Getting Our Needs Met

Believe it or not, I actually prayed for a husband that loved to eat!! I had been around some guys from time to time who did not eat that much and I didn't want to ever be in the position to eat MORE than my husband. Needless to say, God answered my prayers over and abundantly in so many areas...but for now we're talking about the area of big appetites! There is not one thing I make for B that he does not like. His love language is "Acts Of Service" and that translates more often than not into "Dinner On The Table". He absolutely loves when I cook. Since I am going on three months of being back into the work routine, I can definitely say that it's hard to cook every night. On the nights that I work, we're just doing well if we find something at the house to eat.


We've gotten into a routine of putting something in the crock-pot on Monday mornings so that dinner will be ready when both of us get home from our long Mondays. The other week, Brandon did a huge Costco run. We love having a full refrigerator and freezer - and fortunately we have been able to freeze a lot of the meats and items that we knew we wouldn't be eaten all of right away. 


With this wonderfully busy time of year upon us, we find ourselves a lot of nights just needing to eat dinner...get something quick, affordable, and not have to clean dishes afterwards. A recent scenario looked a lot like this:

Chipotle Dinner On The Couch!

B: What do you want to do for dinner tonight, babe?
W: Hmmm...what about CHUY's??!
B: Umm...I was thinking more like Chipotle or something...
W: Well, I do love Chipotle but I just had that yesterday for lunch...
B: We could use our gift card to Cheesecake Factory.
W: Yah, I was thinking about that, too...but that's more of a "nice night on the town type of meal"..
B: True
W: And tonight is really just about getting our needs met!
B: [As B's eyes pop out of his head]...Whoaaaaa baby! Go update my Facebook status or something with the fact that you just said that!! Babe, you're really getting it!

This is a real-life scenario! B was out like a light at 8:04pm!!

You see, it has taken some time...and we have learned to meet in the middle...but there are some nights where we are both so exhausted that the thought of getting the meat out of the freezer, thawing the meat, cooking dinner, eating dinner, doing the dishes, and so forth...takes way too much energy than what we have left in us after a long day. Some evenings we are looking for something quick (yet still more healthy than other quick spots)...so our go-to spot is Chipotle. It is fresh, filling, quick, 5 minutes from our house, and the two of us can eat for less than $13...total!! Now that's a deal. I'll tell ya the truth - I haven't always been one for the "we just need to get our needs met" routine. For so long, if we were going to eat out...I wanted to go somewhere cute, local, with a touch of ambiance! Now I'm just thankful to get fed and, but, quick and not have to do any prep work or dishes. 


And on the nights we can, we both opt for the home cooked meal at the house. Until we have a maid (ha!)...we've come to terms that this is not able to happen every night of the week!!!


Closing statement from the man of the house: “Simply put...food is fuel. As Americans, we tend to focus on the experience and enjoyment of it way too much...when in fact, the thing that matters most is getting our needs met!! The hard part is, as working Americans, this isn't always easy...especially when you're trying to eat healthy. It's good to have Whit thinking that way now. And trust me, I'm all about good food and having a great experience...but real life scenarios involve time, budget, work, and being tired!! When these factors come into play, Chipotle is there!!! By all means, if you are reading this and have any other suggestions of places that fall into the category that we've put Chipotle in...don't hesitate to share. Again...the three factors are 1) getting full, 2) eating decently healthy food, 3) affordability."