"Saving" money by eating out less

[Anonymous]

At the beginning of June I resolved to reduce our food costs but eating out less and cooking dinner at home using fresh ingredients every day. For the first month we dramatically reduced our eating out costs. BUT even though it seemed like the grocery bills were modest (individually), overall our monthly food cost is about the same because the total grocery bill more than made up for the reduced eating out bill. We are vegetarian so don't buy expensive meats, and generally don't buy anything extravagant (shop at Harris teeter and occasionally Trader Joe's). Even though I've been watching the weekly grocery bill carefully and it seems reasonable, there are always expensive extras that add up to another $10-15 here and there e.g. toilet paper, kitchen rolls, olive oil, cat litter etc. so a $70 a week bill will turn into a $120 a week, plus an extra trip here and there which adds another $100 or so. Somehow we don't seem to be saving money. Sure, we're eating a lot better and wasting less food, but does it make sense to just go back to eating out regularly if the costs are the same? What would you do?

[Anonymous]

I'd shop better. For a vegetarian, your costs seems slightly high to me. I think you could do about 20% better by shopping sales, advance planning meals, and using coupons and shopping strategies for incidentals.

There will be people ho say coupons don't help fresh eating vegetarians ,but if you're spending that much "extra" on cat litter and toilet paper etc, that's where I'd focus couponing energy. Clip Sunday coupons and watch sales, and get in a buying cycle (so cat litter goes on sale evey 6 weeks or so at Target - buy enough when it is on sale to last til the next sale. Shampoo (or whatever - toilet paper, paper towels)will be on a different schedule, so while it may at first seems like you are spending more by buying two containers of cat litter, it will balance out over time.

Harris Teeter is an overall expensive grocery store- higher prices across the board than other stores. But, I've found that if you shop sales, it evens out.

I'd also get into Target shopping. I just recently learned that while there is a Target Red card that is a credit card (which I did not want), there is another version that is a debit card that comes directly out of your checking account. Plus you get 5% off. So that is an easy, no brainer way to save 5% every time.

[Anonymous]

I don't think you're shopping as wisely as you could be. Also, you should get rid of the cat. No more cat food OR cat litter. Plus, less cleaning supplies to clean up cat hairs. Win-win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the beginning of June I resolved to reduce our food costs but eating out less and cooking dinner at home using fresh ingredients every day. For the first month we dramatically reduced our eating out costs. BUT even though it seemed like the grocery bills were modest (individually), overall our monthly food cost is about the same because the total grocery bill more than made up for the reduced eating out bill. We are vegetarian so don't buy expensive meats, and generally don't buy anything extravagant (shop at Harris teeter and occasionally Trader Joe's). Even though I've been watching the weekly grocery bill carefully and it seems reasonable, there are always expensive extras that add up to another $10-15 here and there e.g. toilet paper, kitchen rolls, olive oil, cat litter etc. so a $70 a week bill will turn into a $120 a week, plus an extra trip here and there which adds another $100 or so. Somehow we don't seem to be saving money. Sure, we're eating a lot better and wasting less food, but does it make sense to just go back to eating out regularly if the costs are the same? What would you do?

The question though is when you are comparing to your previous spending, were you including the extra groceries (e.g. TP, cat litter, kitchen rolls) separately from the food? You should be comparing food costs before and after without including the household supplies. Olive oil counts, but the rest are household supplies that you would/should be buying either way. I've found that when our family of four goes out, we spend between $25-40 for a single meal. When we eat at home, $75 of groceries will last us 2-3 days (average 2 meals a day, so 4 meals). So for $75 for two meals or four meals? I can definitely see the difference.

[Anonymous]

For us eating out is significantly more expensive than eating in!

We are not vegetarian but eat mostly organic at home. I shop at Whole Foods, and buy grains in their bulk bins. When tea, jam, etc go on sale I buy 6 or 12 or whatever the case is to get the case discount plus the sale price. I have a flexible meal plan to take advantage of all the good sale prices I encounter weekly. I try to only go once a week, and if I forget something, we go without - this cuts down on all the little extras that I am tempted to buy whenever I make a trip there!

The most important economical adjustment you can make is to buy as least processed/packaged and as much in season as possible. No pre-packaged or pre-cooked snacks and meals, they cost the earth. Always pay attention to the price by weight! Example: crackers can be really expensive compared to bread. We do not buy them regularly anymore.

For 2 adults and 2 children (3 and 8) I spend about $700/month on groceries and bathroom items.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The question though is when you are comparing to your previous spending, were you including the extra groceries (e.g. TP, cat litter, kitchen rolls) separately from the food? You should be comparing food costs before and after without including the household supplies. Olive oil counts, but the rest are household supplies that you would/should be buying either way. I've found that when our family of four goes out, we spend between $25-40 for a single meal. When we eat at home, $75 of groceries will last us 2-3 days (average 2 meals a day, so 4 meals). So for $75 for two meals or four meals? I can definitely see the difference.

Where do you eat for a family of 4 for $25-40??

Seriously. I would love to know. With just the 2 of us and a 2.5 year old, we rarely spend less than $60, usually closer to $75-$100 if we each have a drink after all tax and tip is included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The question though is when you are comparing to your previous spending, were you including the extra groceries (e.g. TP, cat litter, kitchen rolls) separately from the food? You should be comparing food costs before and after without including the household supplies. Olive oil counts, but the rest are household supplies that you would/should be buying either way. I've found that when our family of four goes out, we spend between $25-40 for a single meal. When we eat at home, $75 of groceries will last us 2-3 days (average 2 meals a day, so 4 meals). So for $75 for two meals or four meals? I can definitely see the difference.

Where do you eat for a family of 4 for $25-40??

Seriously. I would love to know. With just the 2 of us and a 2.5 year old, we rarely spend less than $60, usually closer to $75-$100 if we each have a drink after all tax and tip is included.

Seriously??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The question though is when you are comparing to your previous spending, were you including the extra groceries (e.g. TP, cat litter, kitchen rolls) separately from the food? You should be comparing food costs before and after without including the household supplies. Olive oil counts, but the rest are household supplies that you would/should be buying either way. I've found that when our family of four goes out, we spend between $25-40 for a single meal. When we eat at home, $75 of groceries will last us 2-3 days (average 2 meals a day, so 4 meals). So for $75 for two meals or four meals? I can definitely see the difference.

Where do you eat for a family of 4 for $25-40??

Seriously. I would love to know. With just the 2 of us and a 2.5 year old, we rarely spend less than $60, usually closer to $75-$100 if we each have a drink after all tax and tip is included.

+1 It's usually 4 of us (two teenagers) and the bill is usually $75-$100 unless we're talking a counter service place like 5 Guys or Chipotle.

[Anonymous]

A family of four can only eat for $25 if the food is pizza or fast food.

[Anonymous]

Even Chiptole for my family of 4 is easily 50 bucks...Heck getting ice cream can be a 25 dollar trip!!!! CRAZY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The question though is when you are comparing to your previous spending, were you including the extra groceries (e.g. TP, cat litter, kitchen rolls) separately from the food? You should be comparing food costs before and after without including the household supplies. Olive oil counts, but the rest are household supplies that you would/should be buying either way. I've found that when our family of four goes out, we spend between $25-40 for a single meal. When we eat at home, $75 of groceries will last us 2-3 days (average 2 meals a day, so 4 meals). So for $75 for two meals or four meals? I can definitely see the difference.

Where do you eat for a family of 4 for $25-40??

Seriously. I would love to know. With just the 2 of us and a 2.5 year old, we rarely spend less than $60, usually closer to $75-$100 if we each have a drink after all tax and tip is included.

Same here in NW DC/Mo Co.

[Anonymous]

All right, this thread has convinced me that our family seriously needs to cut back on restaurant meals! Tonight it's grilling at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you're shopping as wisely as you could be. Also, you should get rid of the cat. No more cat food OR cat litter. Plus, less cleaning supplies to clean up cat hairs. Win-win.

Don't you dare touch my pussy!

[Anonymous]

Are you cooking using specific recipes, where you go out and buy all the required ingredients for the specific things you want to make, or are you more of an improvisational cook who uses what is on hand?

Becoming the later made a big difference in our grocery bill. I can buy whatever is on sale in terms of produce and patch together dinners for much less than when I was trying to make specific recipes (the ingredients for which may or may not have been on sale). I'm not organized enough to do a lot of menu planning ahead of time, but we stock up on grains and beans at Costco (and some frozen seafood), have eggs and cheese in the fridge, herbs in the garden, and basic vinegars, oils and spices on-hand. I basically force myself to cook with whatever is there, and it's worked out surprisingly well and kept us from spending extra money. I do all of our shopping on the weekend, and unless we're having friends over or run out of milk, I don't let myself go back to the store until the following weekend. Those small trips add up!

If you're not used to cooking much, it might take a little while to get to the point where you can just throw things together easily, but it will come.

[Anonymous]

Do you have space to grow a garden? Like the PP I get most of my herbs from my garden. Those suckers are expensive at the grocery store. My sage tends to grow all winter long so that's nice and I've never had to replant it, so it was a one time cost of some seeds.

I also grow tomatoes, enough for us to eat while in season and in a good year enough to put up plenty of sauce to use for the whole winter. This year I planted peas, beans, and zucchini as well and the peas kept us in veggies for a couple weeks and I expect the beans to come in soon for another couple weeks worth. I have a raspberry bush and a blueberry bush and while those were fruiting had enough fruit to last us for a couple weeks as well and I made jam.