how much do you spend each month on eating out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Nearly identical for us... TOO MUCH but it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 125 per week for family of 4, two toddlers. DH and I always buy lunch at work, usually $5 for me and $10 for him. Then we eat out at cheap places on the weekend, about 20 total each time for the four of us. Then pizza night for $10 on Tuesdays, and chips and queso on Friday nights.

where can a family of 4 eat out for $20????? If I could find this, I'd go there! Please share.

Taco Bell. You should see the size of her butt!

We eat quite often at Carbon, acperuvisn chicken place in Rockville. 13 dollars gets us a half chicken and three sides. Our small kids eat the sides mostly. We also go to qdoba, and to an Italian place for pizza in Germantown. We are regulars at these three places.

And we never go to taco bell. McDonald's once in a while. And for what it's worth, I'm a size 0.

[Anonymous]

People, almost NONE of you can afford this luxury! Have you never seen Suze Orman?!? Do you have long term care insurance? Are you socking away at least $17,000 a year in retirement (IRA) plus funding a Roth? Disability insurance? Emergency fund?

You have to have $100K around just in case one of the kids needs private school or you need dental care. Have you ever looked at the cost of dental care? Even with dental insurance, a root canal can easily run $500 or more. Dental insurance does not pay for orthodontia ($5000 per kid, easy). It does not pay for crowns, bridges, implants in most cases.

If one of you lost a job suddenly, or became injured or got a chronic disease, you would immediately stop eating out. You'd recognize it for the unnecessary luxury that it is. And you'd think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that you could have had around to get you through the hard times. Why not prepare for those inevitable down times that are surely coming?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, almost NONE of you can afford this luxury! Have you never seen Suze Orman?!? Do you have long term care insurance? Are you socking away at least $17,000 a year in retirement (IRA) plus funding a Roth? Disability insurance? Emergency fund?

You have to have $100K around just in case one of the kids needs private school or you need dental care. Have you ever looked at the cost of dental care? Even with dental insurance, a root canal can easily run $500 or more. Dental insurance does not pay for orthodontia ($5000 per kid, easy). It does not pay for crowns, bridges, implants in most cases.

If one of you lost a job suddenly, or became injured or got a chronic disease, you would immediately stop eating out. You'd recognize it for the unnecessary luxury that it is. And you'd think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that you could have had around to get you through the hard times. Why not prepare for those inevitable down times that are surely coming?

Have you seen the salaries on this website? For crying out loud, we spend a ton on eating out, but we make 400K a year and we hit the real estate market early and live in a large SFH for $2500 a month. MANY people in this area are raking it in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, almost NONE of you can afford this luxury! Have you never seen Suze Orman?!? Do you have long term care insurance? Are you socking away at least $17,000 a year in retirement (IRA) plus funding a Roth? Disability insurance? Emergency fund?

You have to have $100K around just in case one of the kids needs private school or you need dental care. Have you ever looked at the cost of dental care? Even with dental insurance, a root canal can easily run $500 or more. Dental insurance does not pay for orthodontia ($5000 per kid, easy). It does not pay for crowns, bridges, implants in most cases.

If one of you lost a job suddenly, or became injured or got a chronic disease, you would immediately stop eating out. You'd recognize it for the unnecessary luxury that it is. And you'd think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that you could have had around to get you through the hard times. Why not prepare for those inevitable down times that are surely coming?

You do realize that these things are not mutually exclusive, no?

You also sound really paranoid. Try living a bit, heh?

[Anonymous]

PP, $350k just isn't that much! Ok, fine, eat out a few times a month, but $1000? Are you actually tracking your expenditures? I'm not paranoid, I'm being realistic.

[Anonymous]

This is a question where income really makes a difference. If you're raking it in, sure it's easier to spend a small fortune on restaurants and still have ample extra funds. (But not cool to look at people spending less and say they're acting like college students. Not cool at all.)

If OP really wants to know what is "normal," she should ask people in a similar earnings bracket--and also make sure that her budget leaves space of the necessary savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH & I both get coffee/breakfast every day - probably $50/week
DH eats lunch out (but at a work cafeteria that's subsidized) - probably $50/week
I eat lunch out maybe twice/week - $20/week
Kids get fast food once/week & DH and I get nicer takeout (Friday nights) - $50/week
1 or 2 family dinners out each month @ $60 or so each

Grand total = $290/month

I don't know how you got $290/month! Even assuming 4 weeks in a month (which is a little low), I'm seeing $800 a month...

This is what a lot of people are doing on this thread. Fuzzy math and selective recall. Obama? Romney?

Actually, I do see now the error, adding the $50/week items and the $120/month and then thinking the total was per month. It's still not accurate, though!

However, I am one of the posters who does budget, and the low amount amount I posted is accurate. If you think about it, it's often those of us paying attention to our expenses who realize how expensive eating out really is, and then make deliberate choices about cutting back.

You are collectively eating[b]:
10 breakfast meals each week
7 lunch meals a week
4 dinner meals a week (4 people one meal each)
PLUS 2 Family Dinners out each month (family of 4=8 meals)

So you are eating 92 meals a month (based on 4 weeks, so I'm giving you about a half of a week off) out and only spending a total of $290. Wow, each meal is costing you under $3? Where do you eat for that price? The dollar menu?

20:22 here, and this poster's numbers actually add up to $800 a month for those 92 meals...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH & I both get coffee/breakfast every day - probably $50/week
DH eats lunch out (but at a work cafeteria that's subsidized) - probably $50/week
I eat lunch out maybe twice/week - $20/week
Kids get fast food once/week & DH and I get nicer takeout (Friday nights) - $50/week
1 or 2 family dinners out each month @ $60 or so each

Grand total = $290/month

I don't know how you got $290/month! Even assuming 4 weeks in a month (which is a little low), I'm seeing $800 a month...

This is what a lot of people are doing on this thread. Fuzzy math and selective recall. Obama? Romney?

Actually, I do see now the error, adding the $50/week items and the $120/month and then thinking the total was per month. It's still not accurate, though!

However, I am one of the posters who does budget, and the low amount amount I posted is accurate. If you think about it, it's often those of us paying attention to our expenses who realize how expensive eating out really is, and then make deliberate choices about cutting back.

You are collectively eating[b]:
10 breakfast meals each week
7 lunch meals a week
4 dinner meals a week (4 people one meal each)
PLUS 2 Family Dinners out each month (family of 4=8 meals)

So you are eating 92 meals a month (based on 4 weeks, so I'm giving you about a half of a week off) out and only spending a total of $290. Wow, each meal is costing you under $3? Where do you eat for that price? The dollar menu?

20:22 here, and this poster's numbers actually add up to $800 a month for those 92 meals...

Yes, this is why I don't believe the majority of these people and what they are posting. They have some sort of frugal fantasy going on and I think their budget tracking skills are about as good as this $290/mo poster's math skills. Like the "size 0" poster supposedly eating Pollo Ala Brasa all the time. OK. Sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, almost NONE of you can afford this luxury! Have you never seen Suze Orman?!? Do you have long term care insurance? Are you socking away at least $17,000 a year in retirement (IRA) plus funding a Roth? Disability insurance? Emergency fund?

You have to have $100K around just in case one of the kids needs private school or you need dental care. Have you ever looked at the cost of dental care? Even with dental insurance, a root canal can easily run $500 or more. Dental insurance does not pay for orthodontia ($5000 per kid, easy). It does not pay for crowns, bridges, implants in most cases.

If one of you lost a job suddenly, or became injured or got a chronic disease, you would immediately stop eating out. You'd recognize it for the unnecessary luxury that it is. And you'd think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that you could have had around to get you through the hard times. Why not prepare for those inevitable down times that are surely coming?

I do watch Suze and I am sure she would say "denied"!!! We're a family of 5 and we spend well over $1,000 per month eating out. It's ridiculous. We gross $300k+ but spend too much on eating out and at the grocery store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, almost NONE of you can afford this luxury! Have you never seen Suze Orman?!? Do you have long term care insurance? Are you socking away at least $17,000 a year in retirement (IRA) plus funding a Roth? Disability insurance? Emergency fund?

You have to have $100K around just in case one of the kids needs private school or you need dental care. Have you ever looked at the cost of dental care? Even with dental insurance, a root canal can easily run $500 or more. Dental insurance does not pay for orthodontia ($5000 per kid, easy). It does not pay for crowns, bridges, implants in most cases.

If one of you lost a job suddenly, or became injured or got a chronic disease, you would immediately stop eating out. You'd recognize it for the unnecessary luxury that it is. And you'd think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that you could have had around to get you through the hard times. Why not prepare for those inevitable down times that are surely coming?

As if Suze Orman practices what she preaches. She found a niche and you are it. Unless you are joking, but I cannot tell if your alarmism is fake or not.

[Anonymous]

I think there is a fair bit of rounding going on to make budgets work, but whatever...

The question needs to be looked at with total food budget. If you make coffee at home, it isn't free. Less expensive but mot free. And chipotle could be the same price as dinner at home depending on the family and what the alternative dinner is. And lunch.. Well a $5 lunch is hard to find these days even without a drink. But again bringing lunch isn't free either.

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 4 me and my husband are 23 years old our kids are 2 and 1 we were concerned how much we were eating out so we kept receipts it added up to about 125 a month

[Anonymous]

Keep it under $200.We buy food from Whole Foods or local carry outs and eat it at the park.
We don't feel deprived having occasional ice-cream, coffee and other treats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, almost NONE of you can afford this luxury! Have you never seen Suze Orman?!? Do you have long term care insurance? Are you socking away at least $17,000 a year in retirement (IRA) plus funding a Roth? Disability insurance? Emergency fund?

You have to have $100K around just in case one of the kids needs private school or you need dental care. Have you ever looked at the cost of dental care? Even with dental insurance, a root canal can easily run $500 or more. Dental insurance does not pay for orthodontia ($5000 per kid, easy). It does not pay for crowns, bridges, implants in most cases.

If one of you lost a job suddenly, or became injured or got a chronic disease, you would immediately stop eating out. You'd recognize it for the unnecessary luxury that it is. And you'd think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that you could have had around to get you through the hard times. Why not prepare for those inevitable down times that are surely coming?

We save about $100,000 of our $400K income each year. We're worth just over $3 million. One kid has already been through orthodontia (we paid all cash up front, so it was $4300). We have no mortgage or other debt. We spend about $1200 a month on groceries and eating out for a family of four. Is that okay with you?