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?

I'd say DH and I spend about $600 in a typical month. He buys coffee/breakfast/ lunch more often than I do,
and is more likely to go to happy hours than I am (and those can add up quickly!). Our lunches are usually from food trucks though, nothing extravagant. I too am a little skeptical of some of the amounts people are posting when they list pretty similar eating patterns as us.

We usually do takeout once or twice a week and often do a weekend lunch out (with our toddler). I buy lunch maybe once or twice a week, DH probably gets breakfast once or twice, and lunch three or four times. Every few months when we get a chance to do a date night we might go to a fancier restaurant and spend $100-$150, but that's infrequent (some times we just go to a movie instead).

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.

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?

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 both work, we eat lunch or get breakfast or coffee out probably three times a week. We eat out/take out once a week. Maybe $100
We also buy a lot of prepared foods from the grocery store like rotisserie or fried chicken, potato salad etc. which is like take out. that's part of the grocery shop so I haven't added it up -- but we do spend a lot of money on groceries. I think $800 a month

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One or two restaurant meals for a family of 4 per month.
So... $60 to $120/month?

We pack lunches and cook from scratch. Grocery shopping (Whole Foods) is $600 to 700 a month.

A $60 restaurant meal? For 4? With table service? Where?

Indian or Japanese places, our children are small eaters and we usually do not order entrees for them.

Anonymous wrote:I'm too ashamed to calculate. We probably collectively spend approx $20/day on weekdays at lunch alone....excluding dinners that is probably at a minimum of $400 and I have not even gotten into dinner.

I gotta go now and bury my head in the sand again...

I'm with you, baby!
Not enough time, though I love to cook. Both F/T++, three kids.

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...

Anonymous wrote:One or two restaurant meals for a family of 4 per month.
So... $60 to $120/month?

We pack lunches and cook from scratch. Grocery shopping (Whole Foods) is $600 to 700 a month.

A $60 restaurant meal? For 4? With table service? Where?

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

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 you eat for $20 for a family of 4? Is that including tipping the server?

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.

Anonymous wrote:
-5 days of lunches for $50. really? no more than $10/lunch? And the poster seemed to indicate this was for 2 people?

We spend $200 - $300 per month for a family of 3. We track it. We pack lunches and eat out about once a week, usually casual dinners. It varies for sure.

But if I ever do eat lunch out (usually if I forget or if I'm just back from vacation), it's certainly under $10. Do people really spend more than $10 in personal funds on work lunches? It's typically a burrito, Potbelly, buffet-by-the-pound etc. I admit I don't buy beverages. $10 for a work lunch--essentially convenience dining--seems very extravagant to me!