In Part 2 of the Date Night on a Budget Series, we draw inspiration from MasterChef for fun and budget friendly Date Night Ideas, that are focused on food.
Confession time: My husband and I rarely have date nights. We dislike the faff of organising a baby-sitter to go out (in fact we don’t even like going out to restaurants).
What we normally do is slump on the couch and watch whatever series we have been into.
Enter: Masterchef.
Masterchef Australia is THE BEST version of this franchise, and I think that fact is pretty settled.
Hubby and I were addicted to it, and when a new season starts, you can betcha bottom dollar we will be watching every episode.
It is just such a lovely, wholesome, yet encouraging and inspiring show. We always come away asking “What would YOU do?” and “What’s your favourite…da,da,da”.
And the best part: We BOTH love it.
Why not try it at home?
Our love of Masterchef accelerated our thirst for food, and trying new things. We started thinking, “why not do some of these challenges at home?
So, we did.
By all means, you could watch the series as part of your Date Night and be perfectly happy. But, it IS fun to actually do the challenges, yourself!
Date Night is inevitably going to revolve around food, at some point of the night. Why not make it the main thing? Cooking challenges are a great way to turn a chore that is sometimes boring and annoying, into something fun for you both to do.
Both of you get the chance to be creative, learn new skills, and try out new cuisines together. Plus, you get to enjoy eating excellent and “new” food.
Here’s how it can work so you can turn it into a competition for you both to participate in.
You’re in charge of main, and he, dessert. Or vice versa. You both have an hour, maximum to cook your course (unless it is a more specific time challenge).
Remember, the more challenging it is, the more fun the date it will be.
12 Masterchef Challenge Ideas: (But Don’t Stop there!)
1. Choose a Letter.
Main AND Dessert have to start with this one letter. You could start at A, and move alphabetically through all the letters.
2. Choose an Ingredient.
Main AND Dessert have to hero this ingredient.
3. Mystery Box.
Spouse 1 chooses 4 or 5 ingredients from the pantry that Spouse 2 MUST cook with, along with a small number of basic ingredients (oil, salt, pepper, flour, sugar).
4. Cuisine Night.
Each course MUST belong to a particular cuisine. This theme could keep you going for ages. Think Italian night, Mexican night, Indian night, South East Asian Night…you name it!
The more obscure and unfamiliar the cuisine, the more exciting the challenge!
5. Time Challenge.
60 mins, 40, 30, 20, 10. The shorter your challenge, the sooner you get to eat!
6. Time Auction.
A variation on the above challenge. The nicer the ingredient you choose to use, the less time you get to cook.
7. Pressure Test.
You have to make something really technical in an allotted timeframe.
8. Blind Relay.
Spouse 1 cooks for the first ten minutes. Spouse 2 cooks for the next 10, and plates up. No swap over communication, Spouse 2 picks up simply where Spouse 1 left off and has to figure out the dish that is being created.
It will be interesting to see how different (or similar) the final dish is from the one envisaged!
9. Invention Test.
Not just any ingredient : a wacky one such as paua, duck fat, lambs brains. Dare to be bold!
10. Colour Challenge.
Spouse 1 secretly picks a colour. The meal you make needs to hero that colour. Spouse 2 has to guess which colour you chose. Then swap over for dessert (spouse 2 now in charge of cooking).
11. Taste Test.
You both cook something with exactly 15 ingredients in two courses – main and dessert. Spouse 2 guesses the 15 ingredients in Main, and Spouse 1 guesses the 15 ingredients in dessert. Spouse with the most correct guesses wins.
12. Come Dine with Me.
This is my OTHER favourite cooking competition show. I have linked here to a brief overview of what the show is about if you haven’t seen it before). It is so hilarious seeing all sorts of people from different walks of life spending a week of evenings together. Eating, laughing, and being entertained – it looks like SO much fun!!
You could TOTALLY do this with your possie of friends. Take turns hosting “Come Dine With Me” nights across a week.
Each night must have a theme to dress up for and entertainment. Decide on a maximum budget and however many other rules as you like!
Argh, I just want to have another cooking challenge night! What one are you going to do first?
What food-related date night ideas would you add to this list? Comment below!
