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[quote=Anonymous]Our eating out budget is about $100-$150 per month. We are a family of 5.

Plan your weekend lunches at home.m have cold cuts and good bread for sandwiches, maybe pesto or another nice spread. Or eat leftovers from another night.

to avoid feeling deprived, learn to cook what you like to eat out. My parents find it really funny that I cook what we call our "Indian feast"' -- lamb curry, chickpea stew and eggplant curry!  Tacos are really easy to make at home, as are burritos and enchiladas. Fajitas take a little more planning and chopping, but are also very doable. I just saw a recipe the other night for a good shrimp fried rice -- and I can leave out the peas if I make it at home!

Also, plan your menus.  I sit down on Sunday and think through our week. Then I write it all down -- the meal plan and the shopping list. If we're having crock pot chicken on Thursday, I note on Tuesday to defrost the chicken. If you have things in your freezer all ready to go, just put them into the fridge the evening before and they'll be defrosted by the time you get home. Heating that up and setting the table is a lot easier than going out to eat with a hungry toddler.  I keep our menu plan in the kitchen so I can note if something changes.  It also helps me see where we are on the weekends -- what needs to be eaten/frozen, do I need to shop on Saturday or can it wait til Sunday, are there meals we did not get to that we need to slot in the following week, etc.

Good luck![/quote]

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