Eating out is killing the budget!!!
By reinydawn
@reinydawn (11643)
United States
June 10, 2008 10:01pm CST
Tonight was the first night in over a week that I actually cooked dinner. We've either been out of town or eating out. I have yet to total all the credit card receipts to see how much we've been spending, but I'm sure it's not going to be pretty! Tomorrow we're probably eating out again...
Normally, we do our grocery shopping on Sundays. Since we've been out of town the last 2 weekends, we haven't been home for grocery shopping days. I guess I could go on Monday, after work and have a late dinner, or aftere dinner and be out all night.... Needless to say it's been much easier to just eat out and not go to the grocery store - but I'm going to definitely "pay" for it later!
What do you do when you find it inconvenient to go to the grocery store for food????
2 people like this
6 responses
@KUSHANK55 (2437)
• India
11 Jun 08
obviously friend .it seems ti have dawned on you of late. in our side if i say i have to eat it out for the full month with a family of five for one full month, the amount that will be spent shall come to in the ratio of 1:20. as compared to the amount spent on purchase of groceries from the store and cooking in your kitchen.
2 people like this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
11 Jun 08
Oh, even for 2 it's very expensive! Even last night, it was over $20 for one dinner... Normally we spend about $60 for a weeks groceries... I shudder to think what we spend last week!
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
11 Jun 08
Beleive me, we're going back to eating in, I can tell you that!
@KUSHANK55 (2437)
• India
11 Jun 08
so if you are conscious about your purse be careful.
2 people like this
@highlyclever (1111)
• United States
11 Jun 08
When we go shopping, we stockpile for those "rainy days" when we really don't feel like cooking - especially frozen pizzas, pasta items (such as frozen ravioli), Hot Pockets and other frozen wraps, etc. And when we do eat out, it's at places like Subway which usually have a "deal of the day" which make the dining out a little more economical.
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@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
11 Jun 08
We've been buying pretty much fresh food for the meals, nothing pre-packaged. This helps with the cost as well as the health aspect of it. So, needless to say, we don't usually have those quick things to make. I know it's just being lazy - we should go to the store Monday when we're gone for the weekend, it wont kill us!
1 person likes this
@highlyclever (1111)
• United States
11 Jun 08
Self-prepared is definitely the way to go if you're into healthy foods. :) The amount of sodium that gets stuffed into ready-to-cook foods is unbelievable!
What we typically do is throw as much chicken in the crockpot as will fit, use what we want for a meal, and then freeze the rest for another occasion. We've done the same with chili and chicken noodle soups, taco meat, and other meals.
This past season on the Biggest Loser on television, one of the food prep tips that they gave was to take some time at the beginning of the week and put together pre-portioned fresh food meals into ziplock bags and pop them into the freezer or the refrigerator. It's all work at the beginning that pays off later when you really don't feel like going to the trouble. ;)
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
11 Jun 08
There are some things that I make a big batch of and put aside for later, but I don't have any leftovers to use up. I've got to get back into the habit. Thanks!
@terri0824 (4991)
• United States
11 Jun 08
Eating out is extremely expensive. Though if I'm just feeding myself which it usually is the way it is, it is sometimes cheaper to go through the drive-thru and get something off the dollar menu!
2 people like this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
11 Jun 08
Yeah, that dollar menu is great sometimes! But it's not good to live off of it. I do believe we're done eating out for a while though, I gotta build some money back up!
@newtondak (3946)
• United States
28 Jul 08
We pretty much live in the middle of nowhere, so eating out a lot is not an option unless we want to spend a chunk on gas to drive to the nearest city. I believe that I'd probably have to just make the time to stop by the store, at least to pick up some things to prepare at home, whether or not I did my full week's shopping. You might also be able to pick a store with a deli where you could get some already prepared chicken or some other kind of entree that would be cheaper than eating out.
Even when we travel, we usually take a cooler with stuff to fix sandwiches, and cold drinks and snacks. It's more expensive than eating at home, but less expensive than eating out. It works well when you travel with children, too, because you can find a park or rest stop and the kids can eat and then run and play for a while before you have to load them back up in the car for more riding.
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
28 Jul 08
Yeah, when my kids were little we always packed a lunch and stuff when we travelled. Now though, sometimes it just seems easier to go out. We have cut way back and not only has my waistline liked it better but the wallet is a bit happier too. It's just discipline and we've gotten back into that habit again!
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
11 Jun 08
We do have a freezer half full of deer meat, which we eat all the time. I also always have chicken or fish in the freezer too - we buy it in bulk and freeze it. What I don't always keep are the fresh veggies, milk, bread, all those things that spoil. Just plain meat for dinner isn't enough. We're definitly heading to the grocery store and get back on track!
@Mirenia (199)
• United States
11 Jun 08
Yeah, I used to spend a lot going out to eat and everything but now I get a ton of groceries that way we dont run out of food. If we dont have like a ton of stuff and need to go to the store we either work with what we have or go out to Subway to eat something healthy rather than going to McDonalds and such.
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
11 Jun 08
We try not to eat out too often - both for the health aspect and the money side! Just lately it's been hard to squeeze in a trip to the store for the stuff we need. I have half of the things to make just about any complete meal, so when I look in the fridge it's easier to just go out. It's a good thing we're home this weekened - we can get the shopping done!
1 person likes this
