Eating out is killing us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sat down last night and went through what we spent over the past month. Most things look pretty typical/normal expense-wise, but I saw that we spent $1600 on eating out! WTF!

I cook on weeknights, get a pizza delivered on Friday night and then we often eat out dinners on the weekends. A new wrinkle is that we also have been getting a meal delivery service.

This has shocked me into submission. As much as I like eating out/meal delivery, we are trying to save toward a big home improvement project and even saving half of this per month would be a big deal toward what we need to do the project.

I need to figure out how to get DH on board with eating at home much more often.

What do you think is a reasonable monthly dining out budget? Is that the best way to approach this - set an amount per month and that's it - once you reach the ceiling, you're done eating out that month?

How do most people manage these costs?

I'm also working on trying to get DH to buy less food at work and bring more from home. He spent about $200 this past month at the cafeteria at work.

Thoughts? What are other things that are easy to cut back on?

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!

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)

Of 7 nights, you cook 4. That's hardly "I cook on weeknights". You're lazy. Own it

Wow, you're a bitch. OP has 2 little kids, works full time AND has just finished cancer treatment. Give her a break

OP, cut yourself a little slack. You went through cancer treatment! Congratulations and if it takes a little pressure off, outsource away, you may just want to find a slightly cheaper way to do it. One easy and hing is to cut out the lunches and breakfasts out because those meals are easy to make.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP,
You don't have to go cold turkey; just make some reasonable changes that you can sustain.

I agree with previous posters-- your husband's lunches out aren't the problem. I wouldn't focus there.

I'm also stuck on eating 9ut so much with two little kids under the age of five... yuck! I have no interest in that. They whine, wiggle, complain, cry... or maybe not, but you're probably spending a lot for basically chicken nuggets and spending the whole time dealing with kids at the table. Not that fun and certainly not something you want to spend over $1000 per month on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Since the cancer diagnosis we have switched to eating organic. Not sure if that's helped drive up the grocery cost.

We buy lots of organic fruits/veggies each week. We eat a lot of organic dairy and meat.

I posted above that our monthly food budget was around $400, which buys most meals at home except DH eating out and weekend lunches and dinners. We also pretty much only eat organic produce, dairy, and meat. Where do you shop? I buy most things from Trader Joe's, though I buy more expensive organic dairy from elsewhere. We also don't eat red meat, so lack of steak etc might make our meat budget lower.

[Anonymous]

- Utilize the almighty crock pot.
- Cook a ton of ground meat and portion it into the freezer. Grab for taco's meat sauce, etc.
- For "take out" grab a roasted chicken (splurge on a peruvian one for $20 or grab a plain one from Costco for $5) and a side from the grocery story. Enjoy.
- Produce wise buy what's in season - It's cheaper and stays fresher longer (buying local especially)

[Anonymous]

OP - I had the same realization, our Food and Beverage Bill is routinely about $2700 a month broken out this way:
Bars: $300
Dining Out: $900
Groceries: $900
Take Out: $250
Beer and Wine: $400
And this is after we cut back. A family of 4 kids are 12 and 9. It has been getting better with me making menus, using up the things we have in the fridge, and making sure I have stuff on hand to make an "easy dinner" when I don't really feel like cooking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I had the same realization, our Food and Beverage Bill is routinely about $2700 a month broken out this way:
Bars: $300
Dining Out: $900
Groceries: $900
Take Out: $250
Beer and Wine: $400
And this is after we cut back. A family of 4 kids are 12 and 9. It has been getting better with me making menus, using up the things we have in the fridge, and making sure I have stuff on hand to make an "easy dinner" when I don't really feel like cooking.

The killer eating out is alcohol. Drop that from the tab and it's pretty reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sat down last night and went through what we spent over the past month. Most things look pretty typical/normal expense-wise, but I saw that we spent $1600 on eating out! WTF!

I cook on weeknights, get a pizza delivered on Friday night and then we often eat out dinners on the weekends.

A new wrinkle is that we also have been getting a meal delivery service.

This has shocked me into submission. As much as I like eating out/meal delivery, we are trying to save toward a big home improvement project and even saving half of this per month would be a big deal toward what we need to do the project.

I need to figure out how to get DH on board with eating at home much more often.

What do you think is a reasonable monthly dining out budget? Is that the best way to approach this - set an amount per month and that's it - once you reach the ceiling, you're done eating out that month?

How do most people manage these costs?

I'm also working on trying to get DH to buy less food at work and bring more from home. He spent about $200 this past month at the cafeteria at work.

Thoughts? What are other things that are easy to cut back on?

Yep!! we tried Post Mates once and NEVER again!! We had no idea about their "Blitz Pricing" policy - same as Uber surge pricing - and our service fee was more expensive than the actual dinner which was cold and gross by the time it arrived! First and last time.

[Anonymous]

OP, please google about the hidden dangers of crockpot cooking

I'm shocked at how many people are recommending one to a cancer patient

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, please google about the hidden dangers of crockpot cooking

I'm shocked at how many people are recommending one to a cancer patient

not OP but instead of telling us to google this, why don't you just briefly tell us why crockpot cooking is so dangerous?

[Anonymous]

I agree with the other posters about just cutting back what you order when you go out. We saved like 50 a meal by cutting out cocktails, apps, whatever. Just order the meals and enjoy the convenience.

We finally realized that we were never going to change our eating out habits, so we just adjusted what we spent and ordered when we go out.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand how it works logistically for you to be cooking weeknights and still have time to have meal delivery AND eat out to the tune of 1600 a month. Are you throwing the delivered meals out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, please google about the hidden dangers of crockpot cooking

I'm shocked at how many people are recommending one to a cancer patient

not OP but instead of telling us to google this, why don't you just briefly tell us why crockpot cooking is so dangerous?

The concern is that the ceramic liners of crock pots leach lead into food. The sources on this aren't very strong (they all seem to point back to a TV investigation in 2004; things could have changed since then) but that's the issue. Crockpot manufacturers say that their liners are lead free but the concern is that even liners that are lead safe by FDA standards could still be leaching small amounts of lead.

http://www.vhealthybyv.com/blog/danger-in-your-slow-cooker

I can't tell how much to be concerned about this. I'd have to do more looking into it. But I just wanted to answer the question, since the alarmist poster who brought it up didn't do so.

[Anonymous]

You are not alone. My husband ate out every night last week, and all weekend long. I am so tired of begging and pleading with him to stop spending money, so I've given up. I try to save where I can and that's about all I can do anymore.

[Anonymous]

We also eat out a lot. Over the past two years, I have *really* chipped away at the food budget. I began meal planning (which I hate) and to get me over the hump of beginning that good habit, I used Blue Apron which I really liked. Here are a few of my tips.

1. Pack lunches. I pack lunches for everyone but me since my firm provides lunch daily. I have it down to a science. My husband is totally fine with eating the same lunch every day so that is what I make him. I do different things for the kids. All told it takes me no longer than 10-15 minutes to do lunches every night and I typically pack lunches while I am making dinner or cleaning up from it.

2. Meal planning. I look at our schedule every Sunday plan 5 weeknight dinners. These are not fancy dinners. They are a one pot meal or a main dish and one side.

3. I always, always, always have a really fast meal on hand. Mine is spaghetti and meatballs.

4. I morph meals. Chili one night turns into enchiladas the next. Grilled chicken breasts and salad turns into shredded chicken something (tacos, enchiladas, casserole) the next night. I try to think of one protein and two meals that use it.

5. Have a leftover night. Everyone picks a leftover and heats it up. Really reduces food waste. I had a hang up up about us all eating the same meal and often did not have enough leftovers to feed everyone the same meal. Sounds silly but it really helped to break it down to multiple meals for the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, please google about the hidden dangers of crockpot cooking

I'm shocked at how many people are recommending one to a cancer patient

not OP but instead of telling us to google this, why don't you just briefly tell us why crockpot cooking is so dangerous?

The concern is that the ceramic liners of crock pots leach lead into food. The sources on this aren't very strong (they all seem to point back to a TV investigation in 2004; things could have changed since then) but that's the issue. Crockpot manufacturers say that their liners are lead free but the concern is that even liners that are lead safe by FDA standards could still be leaching small amounts of lead.

http://www.vhealthybyv.com/blog/danger-in-your-slow-cooker

I can't tell how much to be concerned about this. I'd have to do more looking into it. But I just wanted to answer the question, since the alarmist poster who brought it up didn't do so.

NP here. There's also concerns about the Teflon lining.