This is a Food Blog.

In the days since Christmas, we have successfully prepared most of our meals at home. True, we did rely on our old pals Zaxby’s and Whataburger for lunch on two separate occasions, but other than that, we’ve done well!

We decided to plan out two weeks’ worth of meals at a time and subsequently shop for ingredients. Having a well-stocked fridge and pantry feels pretty great; it’s comforting to think I could make practically anything we felt like having. It’s a huge difference from a year ago, when I was hoping my Ramen supply would hold out until my job started again.

One unexpected element: a feeling of isolation. I never realized how much of my social interaction is done while dining out or picking up food. Yes, I see people at work, but it’s somehow not the same. For a while, I felt closed off and lonely. When we went out, we not only spoke with other people, but we dedicated more attention to talking with each other. It makes sense; having a conversation is easier when distractions are eliminated. Since Mr. P has an unusual work schedule, he goes to sleep very early. Toiling to finish dinner at a reasonable hour while trying to unwind from my own workday didn’t leave time for much chitchat.

For a while, I just sat around feeling unhappy. Finally, the “differentness” is gone and I’m comfortable again. The bit of post-holiday depression I experienced wasn’t entirely helpful, either. Now, though, my cooking skills are actually improving. I’m getting faster at prep work, and I’m working toward washing all dishes immediately (what a time saver that is!). I’m able to do kitchen tasks and spend time with my fiancé simultaneously. Even though I’m doing more at home, I feel more relaxed. Cooking doesn’t feel like such a marathon any longer.

Since we’re cooking more often, we’ve even expanded our horizons! I’m not making the same few dishes over and over again; instead, we’re pulling new recipes from our collection of cookbooks. This is both fun and interesting.

With my free time in the evenings, I’ve started reading! Due to being immersed in scholarly books practically constantly, I haven’t read for pleasure in ages. I forgot how great it is. It’s possible to download a heap of classic novels FOR FREE on the Kindle machine, too, so I’m looking forward to delving into some of those.

Funny, we started this project in order to save money, but it seems to be positively affecting other areas, too. All this in under two weeks! Wow.

I’m looking forward to Mr. P’s designated cooking night on Saturday. He makes a mean Skyline Cheese Coney.

Mr. P and I received a SodaStream for Christmas. After doing the math, we finally decided to add one to our wedding registry. It seemed a bit of a lavish item, but it would end up saving us quite a bit of money in the long run. The more we thought about it, the more we wanted a little fizz maker. We didn’t think anyone might get it for us; rather, we thought we might save up here and there and buy it eventually.

Well! My mom actually bought us the Fizz model for Christmas. Ours is red. The gadget manages to look retro and futuristic at once, and it’s a bit larger than it seems in photos.

What fun the SodaStream is to use, though! You can customize the level of fizz, which is fantastic for me because I want my drinks as bubbly as possible, like a natural disaster in a bottle.

All of the flavors we’ve tried so far have been delicious. My favorites are Diet Pink Grapefruit (a little like Fresca) and Orange, which tastes like those sugar-crusted gummy citrus wedges. We’ve also tried Diet Cranberry Raspberry, Root Beer, Fountain Mist (tastes just like Mountain Dew!), Diet Cola, and Dr. Pete. I’ll let you guess what flavor that one echoes!

You can adjust the amount of flavoring, which is nice. None of the flavors contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, and even the non-diet flavors are much lower in calories than their store-bought counterparts. The flavors do contain Splenda, but considering I was drinking about 4 cans daily of soda sweetened with aspartame, I can work with Splenda.

You can even use Monin or Torani-type syrups to make Italian Sodas, you can add a splash of juice, or you can make plain seltzer water. Lots of versatility here!

So far, we love it! We’re already taking out exponentially less trash (our community does not offer recycling -boo). According to studies, homemade soda also costs less than ready-made soda. Annnd we have much more free space in the fridge – woohoo!

Plus, making the soda is so much fun! Hopefully the Fizz will help in our quest to save money in 2012.

What flavor should I make next? Hmmm…

(SodaStream has not paid me a cent for this write-up; I’m literally just a very excited customer.)

Christmas is over. Although I usually love the holidays, I’m kind of glad it’s time for life to return to normal.

Mr. Parker and I aren’t really resolution makers, but we did set one main goal for 2012: save more money!

We have two strategies in order to fulfill our goal: 1) Stop buying junk we don’t need, and 2) Cook more meals at home.

While Strategy 1 is going to require mostly willpower, Strategy 2 is actually going to demand planning and effort. I’d like to stick to fairly simple recipes that will yield leftovers, which will save us money by allowing us to pack the leftovers for the next day’s lunch. Why go out for burgers if you have a great, already-cooked meal waiting in the fridge, right?

We’ll also have to be better about grocery shopping. Right now, we shop when we need ingredients. We’ll need to transition into buying affordable staples once a week, and then planning meals around those ingredients.

And if there’s a night we’re simply too tired to cook? Since this should be no more than once a week to once every other week, we’ll simply go out. The planning and cooking at home should save us enough money that occasional restaurant trips are not a big deal.

We’re eager to get started, and we look forward to sharing our progress with you.

Are you making any sort of cooking-related resolutions?

Happy New Year!