Eating out is killing us
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Anonymous
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We too have spent too much on eating out. Recently we've been trying to cut back. Here are the things we're doing in case this helps:
1. Make your own pizza night instead of ordering pizza. We buy the Boboli or similar premade crusts, add jarred tomato sauce, shredded bag mozzarella and toppings. Saves us close to $40 if we're having several pies delivered. 2. Eating out no more than one dinner a week, and using coupons where possible. Limit the amount of alcohol we order out. DH and I love wine, but it adds up quickly. Drink more at home. 3. Cheap, easy to assemble meals during the week. Some we like are pasta with sauce and frozen chicken or meatballs, or just chopped meat in the sauce that I can thaw in the microwave. 4. Breakfast for dinner -- eggs, pancakes, etc. 5. Trips to the whole foods salad bar. A splurge, but still cheaper than dining out. Rotisserie chicken from WF, ditto. 6. Meatless mondays -- vegetarian pasta or chili, etc. Make on the weekend and do a double batch to eat later in the week or freeze. Ditto on soups. Hope this is a good starter. |
Anonymous
| Start by ordering less when going out. You probably don't need it anyway. Like splitting an appetizer. No dessert. Less alcohol which adds up. And yes meal plan and cook more even if it's simple. Breakfast for dinner is fast and cheap and you can change it up, scrambled or poached eggs, French toast, breakfast burritos with chicken sausage etc. |
Anonymous
| Op please tell me what delivery service you use. I have cancer and am looking for a meal delivery service |
Anonymous
| Crock pot cooking on Sunday helps us to get ahead with lunches for the week. I'm happy to eat the same lunch 2-3 days in a row but if your husband wants variety it's a bit trickier. How about trying for a fancier dinner out every other week and something more simple in the $20/person range the other weekends? |
Anonymous
If you're using a meal service, that means you are NOT cooking on weeknights. Cut that shizz out like yesterday. I'm not sure why you don't know how to get your dh on board. Show him the numbers and shock him too! |
Anonymous
If you are local, try Bluebird Dinners. They deliver fully prepared meals. Take care of yourself. |
Anonymous
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So you are saying...
Meal delivery + pizza every Friday + lunches at work + eating out Saturday and Sunday = $1600 Plus you grocery shop? Or you don't really grocery shop because of the meal delivery? How much are groceries? |
Anonymous
| OP, when we were trying to cut the spend at restaurants, we agreed to plan something for Saturday night that was a decent dinner - a bit more extravagant than we would do during the week. We'd shop for that and throw in a good bottle of wine and a dessert and we'd still come out way ahead of eating out. Bonus that we'd get to eat it at home and then watch a movie together. |
Anonymous
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OP here
I really appreciate the comments. DH and I both work full time. All the meal planning, shopping and cooking falls on me. After cooking Sunday through Thursday, by Friday I'm just over it. I usually order a pizza/salad on Friday which runs about $30. We then went over the cliff and started eating out too much the rest of the weekend. We have 2 kids age 3 and 4.5. PP, I just finished treatment for breast cancer. Hugs to you. I certainly empathize. I used Bluebird dinners...really excellent! I started using the meal service when I was going through treatment. I worked full time through treatment and doing the meal delivery really helped. Now that I'm done with treatment I just need to go back to cooking again. We didn't eat out the his much/spend so much on prepared meals before my diagnosis. I'd really like to get DH to get into grilling. That's a way he can contribute at least on the weekends (he gets home too late during the week to help cook on weekdays.) Oh, and the $200 DH spends at the office cafe is on top of the $1600..,,it wasn't part of the $1600...,, |
Anonymous
OP here.... Not true. I was doing 2 dinners and 2 lunch salads per week via Bluebird Dinners. It ran about $100/week. Then I'd cook from scratch the other three nights. Typical meals include steak/brussel sprouts/couscous or pesto pasta with roasted broccoli or haddock,roasted carrots and sweet potatoes. (Lol...we love roasted veggies) |
Anonymous
Pp, you might want to try Schwans. They were featured on Top Chef a few years back and I looked into them for my dad. I didn't end up trying them, so no personal review, but they seemed like a good option. http://www.schwans.com/landing/?id=new-customer-thirty&cmsContentSts=I&cms&kwid=search-Google-remarketing-text-Brand&cid=search |
Anonymous
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OP again....
The $1600 = meal delivery + eating out. Groceries were an additional $500/month. |
Anonymous
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If that isn't including lunches at work I'm honestly having a hard time figuring out how you could possibly have those numbers. You say meal delivery is $100 a week, so about $450 a month. Plus $30 for a pizza on Friday. Even rounding up you are at $500. You cook three nights a week, two nights are delivery meals, and one meal is pizza. Lunches are all not included in this amount (unless you're eating gourmet meals while your husband is at work?)
So, between Saturday and Sunday, you spend $1100 eating out for 4 of you?! And two are toddlers?! HOW? Do you eat out all three meals every day? Do you buy Kobe beef? Are you raging alcoholics? Are you just trolling? |
Anonymous
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Sorry, 3 nights of cooking plus one pizza plus 2 meal deliveries is 6 dinners accounted for.
Leaving ONE extra day. What do you buy?! Please give us an average week/weekend of what you purchase out. |
Anonymous
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So.... $1600 - $400 (meal delivery) - $150 (pizza) = 1050 / 4 Saturday's = $250 for dinner every Saturday.
Is that what you are saying? |