how much do you spend each month on eating out?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,
I've been looking at ways to trim our budget lately. I noticed this past month we spent around $285 on eating out, for my husband, self and toddler son. We tend to eat out much more now than in the past...as a way to save our sanity (gets us out of the house and we look forward to it). We typically eat at inexpensive places like Panera, Corner Bakery, Subway, Chipotle, etc. The other things that adds to this $285 figure of course, is buying lunches during the day, when we haven't had time to pack in advance or there's nothing to eat in the house (we both work full time). We don't typically spend too much more in the way of entertainment. I'm just wondering if this eating out figure is around average or excessive?
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We out lunches and only eat out maybe once or twice a month, Thai and a pizza so...$50 maybe?

[Anonymous]

Sorry I meant to say we pack our lunches at home.

[Anonymous]

I eat lunch out every single day. So that's $8-14. Plus I usually spend $4.50-$6.50 on breakfast each morning on the way to work. I eat dinner out probably about half the week. So we're spending an obscene amount on food eaten out. It's indulgent.

[Anonymous]

I'd say $50 or less. We don't eat out much and always pack lunches. If in a pinch, we'll do a frozen meal for lunch but leftovers or sandwiches are typical.

$285 sounds excessive.

[Anonymous]

One or two restaurant meals for a family of 4 per month.
So... $60 to $120/month?

We pack lunches and cook from scratch. Grocery shopping (Whole Foods) is $600 to 700 a month.

[Anonymous]

We easily spend $300 a month on eating out for the same size family.

[Anonymous]

About $320 per month, just what we eat on the weekends.

[Anonymous]

I'm too ashamed to calculate. We probably collectively spend approx $20/day on weekdays at lunch alone....excluding dinners that is probably at a minimum of $400 and I have not even gotten into dinner.

I gotta go now and bury my head in the sand again...

[Anonymous]

It's just my husband and me, no kids. This is just for dinners because we keep a lot of our money separate so I don't know what he spends on his own lunches (I pack mine).

We spend about $700-800 per month at restaurants. We eat out Fri, Sat, Sun, and one weeknight. I cook once, he cooks once, and we scrounge on the remaining night. We loathe cooking.

This usually includes one huge event (i.e., a family member's birthday or a crab feast) that costs $150-200. Otherwise, it's mostly Chipotle or Thai prices. Maybe a couple nicer $80 meals. But it doesn't feel extravagant, which is depressing because apparently it is.

[Anonymous]

Um, a lot. Two adults and a toddler. We eat out every Friday (just our thing we like to do) and that's typically around $50. Usually grab lunch out Saturday while running around, or order pizza on Saturday to watch football with. I try to cook Sunday-Thursday but sometimes get lazy or cave when DH says he doesn't want what I'd planned (like tonight) and we go out. Unfortunately, I cannot convince DH to pack lunches for work- he likes to get out of the office and get a break, an I can't really fault him for that. So, in sum, WAY TOO MUCH.

[Anonymous]

Same situation as PP regarding my husband buying lunch typically every day. I pack lunches for our toddler and myself most days (we eat lunch out maybe one day a week-- I work part time). We all eat dinner out maybe once every week or two, but we order pizza or Chinese probably once a week on average. So, in short: We spend a lot, I guess. We can afford it, but it still sounds like a lot.

[Anonymous]

We spend about 1k a month if you include drinks out.

[Anonymous]

We probably average $200/mo out for our family of 5, but it varies considerably from month to month. DH will buy lunch once a week and we have Chinese delivered about every 6 weeks. We take the kids out somewhere casual (McDonalds, Hard Times, maybe Clydes) every other month, although that goes up if we're travelling. DH and I try to go out on our own for a nice meal every few months.

I've found that with three small children, eating in restaurants is not at all relaxing! And I get annoyed at the amount of food they throw away. So, we eat at home a lot as a family and save our restaurant dollars for those who appreciate it more -- DH and me! And the babysitter, of course.

[Anonymous]

400 a month for the three of us I'd say. We eat out at a semi-nice pace every Friday.