We have all been there. Long day. Longer week. The absolute last thing you want to do when you finally make it through the door is figure out dinner. This is where my husband and I always give in. Take out. Our local Thai place has fantastic curry and its conveniently within walking distance. While wonderful to indulge in occasionally, we were finding the ease of getting this delicious meal was starting to become a bad habit. When we took a closer look at our finances, we realized just how much we were spending a month on our Thai Curry! In a search for ways to save, let’s tackle reducing our take out.
The most straightforward way for us to do this is to replace the take-out with a home-made meal. Typically we order take out when we have had a long day and don’t really feel like cooking, so making a curry in bulk and freezing portions makes the most sense. We would like this to be cost effective, but using fresh ingredients. I think this tactic could be used for a number of take out dishes.
I recently listened to Wendy Wood, writer of Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick, say that the easiest way to beat a bad habit was to make something else even more convenient and rewarding. The best way form a new one was to remove all barriers, make the experience ‘friction-less’ and to add instantaneous rewards linked with the new behavior. So how can I make our new curry experience easier than take-out and more rewarding?
Let’s see how we can apply behavior science putting an end to our Take-Out Addiction
- Remove barriers: An easy recipe that can either be accomplished in less than 20 minutes (the time it takes to get Take-out) or better yet can be reheated. We want to use fresh ingredients, so we went with make this ahead and freeze for when we really don’t want to cook. We can try to make it easier with a few Trader Joe’s short cuts and our instant pot.
- Make the new experience more rewarding: Can we make a curry that is even more tasty than our local spot? A tall order. I do think we have a shot at making the chicken juicier in our Instant Pot, we will try our best to get close with the flavor. Lowering the cost is the intent of this exercise, so I think that falls in this category. Our typical order amount is $35 for 2 curries, cost per serving $17.50. Surely we can do better.
Time to make some curry! Our tools to make this easy: We started with an instant pot chicken thigh recipe and found a Trader Joe’s green curry simmer sauce as a starting point. We often find our selves modifying or fortifying Trader Joe’s basics for tasty, quick and inexpensive meals. In the instant pot, we added fresh ginger, onion and coconut milk to the simmer sauce along with bone-in, skin removed, chicken thighs (cheapest cut and my favorite). While the chicken cooked, we sautéd onions, garlic, mushrooms, green peppers, peas and green beans to add to the chicken. Cook rice in the instant pot or separately on the stove. Separate and freeze for those weary-work-week evenings!
So how did we do?
- Remove Barriers? The recipe still takes some work, but start to finish took us 45 minutes of active work and 3 pots. Not bad if you are cooking ahead. One batch makes 8 servings. The frozen portions work very well, its there at the end of long day. Aaaaand we didn’t have to leave the house when we want curry. IF you wanted to make it easier you could get boneless chicken. I think the bone-in adds flavor, but taking the meat off the bone did take a good chunk of the time. Also to make less pots, you could cook the vegetables in the instant pot on simmer after the chicken is done.
- More rewarding? The chicken is definitely a step up and we able to load it up with more veg. Knowing that we are saving helps also. The whole thing cost $26.19, cost per serving $3.27! I think we could get lower by using frozen veggies, but I am happy with where we are.
For you green curry take-out addicts who frequent Trader Joe’s and own an instant pot, here is the recipe:
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 green peppers, sliced into bite size 1 inch long pieces
1 pack of sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
+If you are going to sauté the veg separately, these all go in first. Salt and pepper to taste before adding to curry.
1 pack of fresh peas, frozen works also
1 pack of green beans, cut in half
+Can be steamed lightly ahead of adding it to the curry
1 lb. bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
2 Green Curry Simmer Sauces
1 tsp of fresh grated ginger
1 can of coconut milk
+In instant pot: Cook on high temp and pressure for 16 minutes (or poultry setting for 16 minutes) . Let the pressure release naturally. Remove the chicken and remove the meat from the bone, shred with a fork. Put the meat back in the curry, add the vegetables. Simmer for a few minutes until everything is back up to temperature. Salt and pepper to taste.
2 cups of jasmine rice, dry
+Instant pot: 2 c. jasmine rice, 2 c. water, 8 minutes high temp, high pressure
+It may be tempting to put the vegetables in with the meat to cook, but do not do this, you will have a pile of mush in the end.