Photo by Adonyi Gu00e1bor on Pexels.com 
Photo by Vidal Balielo Jr. on Pexels.com
Date Night!!! You know it is so important but there are different seasons of your life where you need/want/prefer to have those date nights at home rather than going out for your date. You might need to scale back financially in order to meet goals, childcare might be an issue, you may have food allergy issues, the list could go on and on. Before I continue, let me say that going out to eat is amazing and such a treat BUT it costs!! It can be expensive (going out to eat is at least 5 times more expensive than eating at home) and take up more time than eating a great meal at home! My husband and I have more home dates than out dates for sure, so when we do go out it is such a treat and sometimes we splurge. We save for it ahead of time so it is not a strain on our budget.
Anyway, you can create a very nice atmosphere at home by making a nice meal (or even just a snack and tea or coffee) for you and your date – this could be a spouse, child, friend, or family member. Whoever you are trying to spend intentional time with will enjoy this! At this point in my life I have a toddler so meeting a friend for coffee is not really practical but having that friend over to have coffee with me is!
Here is a meal idea that I wanted to share for a home date night….you can use your slow cooker and prep the side dishes ahead of time to make clean up even faster!
Smoked Onion and Mushroom Ham with side dishes
Recipe:
- 1 1/2 lb sliced ham – I had frozen ham in the freezer that I put in the slow cooker frozen
- 1/3 c broth or 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 pkg of mushrooms
- 2 onions, sliced
- salt, pepper, garlic and 1 tsp of smoked paprika
Place all ingredients in the slow cooker in the order listed. Cook on low for 6 hours. (it is smelling amazing in my kitchen right now!!)
Side dishes – roasted vegetables and greens salad. Cut up your vegetables for roasting early in the day. Place in roasting pan. Add olive oil and seasoning and stir. Cover with foil or lid and keep in the fridge until you are ready to roast. Add salad to round out the meal. You can serve fruit as a dessert or make something else that you love…like brownies or cake!!
Enjoy this meal and be proud of yourself for saving so much money and a lot of time yet still enjoying the person or people that you are with – get creative and save money! You can do this! I would love to hear what date night ideas you have. This is just one…there are so many more.
Check out my YouTube channel for some videos on making broth in your slow cooker!
Here is a link to Dave Ramsey’s money saving ideas on dates, I just had to share because I thought they were pretty good and gave some actual dollar amounts for the money you would save. https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/cheap-date-night-ideas
Creative Frugality 