Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I work 8-5 and have 2 teenagers (15 and 18). By the time I get home it's 5:30 so if there's something in the crockpot or the kids have made dinner, we eat around 6; otherwise it's 6:30 to 7-ish. I would really rather not eat that late though, since it takes up a big chunk of my evening.

Also, what someone said earlier about feeding kids...if we eat much later than 6:30 I have to fight off marauding adolescents foraging for food to keep them from starvation.

I have been making my own greek-style (drained) yogurt for quite a while now. I started out with the "mixing bowl in oven with pilot light" method, and then graduated to a Yogourmet machine. I get much MUCH more reliable results with the machine, since it keeps the temperature steady for the 8 hours or so that the yogurt incubates.

As far as starter, I currently use the commercial starter once, then some of the old batch for the next one, and so forth. You can use the previous batch 3 or 4 times, but eventually it gets contaminated with wild organisms. Then you have to start pver with either new yogurt or new starter. You can use any off-the-shelf yogurt AS LONG AS it has "contains live active cultures" on the label. If not, unsurprisingly it won't work.

Once the yogurt is finished incubating, drain it in a colander lined with cheesecloth/old linen tea towel / coffee filters / paper towels for 1 to 4 hours, depending on how thick you want it. Keeps for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

I agree with Heart of Glass, there's a range of request types. If the restaurant has fries, rice and salad as sides and you politely request to have rice instead of fries, I don't see what's the big deal. On the other hand, I completely understand that some things ARE made in advance and you can't take out what's already in there. I sometimes (politely) request reasonable substitutions, and have seldom been refused. But the civilized thing when they say "No" is to thank them anyway and not go back.

Aldi. Which, by the way, OWNS TJ's. Aldi has the basics for a damn good price, and if I want something they don't have, I go to Bloom (owned by Food Lion). Publix is good too for esoteric things. Can't afford the hype at Whole Paycheck.

However, my favorite grocery in the country is Byerly's in Minnesota.

Sims BBQ, Duncan, SC

I have to tell y'all, all this tipping at the drive-through and take-out window is making me even more glad that we eat at home all the time! I have worked in food service, and I'm a good tipper for actual table service, but I won't be tipping the person who hands me the wrong burger and no ketchup for my fries...

I shop at Aldi almost exclusively, so by definition I bag (well, box) my own groceries. And the lines are always long there on Saturday, so I pick by shortest line.

I generally bring my grocery assistant (AKA my 17 yo son), so I don't have to do a lot anyway, but when I go by myself it's still easier than trying to get the bag persons to separate the stuff the way I like it. And yeah, big things with handles like gallons of milk -- why would someone EVER put that in a bag???