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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here: Thanks for the encouragement. I've done some deeper analysis of our food/dining budget, thanks to Mint, and made some alarming discoveries. Over the past 12 months, here's the breakdown of that $2000/month:

Groceries: 42%
Restaurants & Carryout: 25%
Lunch, Coffee & Snacks: 20%
Alcohol & Bars: 13%

It seems I'm better at tracking and trending our expenses than changing our dysfunctional spending behavior. Based on this research, and the suggestions offered above, my first step will be to make a science of meal planning with the goal of packing lunch at least 3 days per week for DH and myself. I already pack DC's lunch. By doing so, I will have made more dinners at home too.

Did I mention I hate to cook and meal plan? But I will enlist DH to help - he certainly has lots of opinions about what I make:) And I will buy him a cool lunch box without flowers or polka dots.

Thank you!!![/quote]

There are so many great services now that really make it easy.  Yes - you will initially pay a premium but by making it easier it is something you will do.

A few things I do:
I make meatballs and put some aside to use and freeze some.  I will do meatball subs for dinner one night and pasta with meatballs.
One of my kids will take meatballs for lunch in a thermos

I always have a container of pasta that is precooked in the fridge.  I will either cut up a bunch of tomatoes, saute some frozen shrimp, saute some mushrooms or other veggie

I will marinade steak / chicken and have small pieces ready to cook.  Serve it over pasta, or greens.   My daughter will take it in a wrap for lunch.

None of the above is particularly hard - or time consuming.    Start small to get momentum.   Good luck[/quote]

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