Fast Food for Slow Sundays

We all want peaceful Sundays, right? So, you’ve gotten into the habit of being ready a little at a time throughout the week. You’ve planned for the unexpected. Let’s say now that you’ve gotten your family to and from church. Everybody is all loaded back in the car, on the way home. “I’m huuun–greee! What’s for lunch?” You have choices. Let me offer a solution. One that has become habit.

We used to go out for lunch on Sunday. Fast food after church. Or even a nice restaurant. Before Dave Ramsey. Before we toted two epipens. Now, we still have fast food. We just cook it slow.

A little pre-planning it all it takes.

The ability to come face to face with a piece of raw meat at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning is the hardest part. It’s worth it. Trust me on this. Because the goal is for Sunday to be the best day of the week – a day of worship and rest.

Quite by accident I settled into a routine of slow cooker favorites for Sunday lunch. You can group them into restaurant categories and rotate:

• Italian: Spinach Lasagna
• Down Home Cookin’: Cube Steak, Roast, Meatloaf
• Pick of the Chix: Stroganoff, BBQ, Cranberry, Cream Cheese
• Mexican: King Ranch Chicken or Mexican Chicken (made the night before)

Assignments for the wait staff:

While you have a captive audience and stomachs are growling, hand out assignments. But do so in a tempting way.

• “Youngest girl, you do the best job folding paper napkins and making the table so pretty. I‘d like for you to help your sister set the table as soon as we get home.”
• “Eldest boy, how handy you are with the can opener. Would you pick us out your favorite canned veggie and get it ready for us, please? Can’t wait to see what you pick!”
• You may also need an older sibling to entertain the youngest.
• Ask for a volunteer drink handler for special water. Special water is very good for everyone with Sunday lunch. It’s the ice cube that makes it special.

Cost comparison:

$35 dining out for family of seven versus $5 to $10 eating at home and having enough for leftovers. Folks, that’s a savings of up to $100 a month and $1,200 a year. I’m all for fast food the slow way.

Make Sunday the best day of the week. Save money while you’re at it.

^{13 -14}“If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there— Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.” Yes! God says so! ~ Isaiah 58:14 The Message

Even more to get you started:

• Check out this version of Sunday lunches from Preschoolers and Peace: How Can Sunday Be Restful With Little Ones?
• Doorposts’ A Day of Delight: Making Sunday the Best Day of the Week.
• Click over and join Mommy’s Kitchen as she hosts Sunday Potluck.

________________________________________________

Getting Ready for Sunday – Part Two of Fast Food for Slow Sundays – is a detailed explanation of being ready. I post easy Sunday meals and weekly meal plans on my personal Hodgepodge blog in I’m Writing My Own Cookbook.

I love the slow cooker so much I planned a month worth of crock pot meals: Month Long Slow Cooker Celebration. You can make slow cooker meals even easier with Big-Shop Cooking. Watch for future habits on family activities with the Sunday box.

What is your family’s Sunday lunch habit? How do you keep Sundays restful?

-Tricia homeschools five children from preschool to middle school. She’s forsaken life in the drive thru lane for the road home. She’s saving bucks and her sanity with the frugal recipes and sock it away strategies of her Southern roots. You can find her facing that daily dose of chaos at Hodgepodge. Tricia is a.k.a. Hodgepodgemom.