a shocker......

[lillygator]

part of my ny goals are to really track our spending.....I just added up our out to eat meals for December......

$666.83

this does not even include xmas eve dinner at $150+ and no groceries. it does include a trip to gainesville - of course had to eat out there. but an eye opener for sure. the girls are out of school and came to work with me and of course I took them out to lunch, so more than usual.

more importantly, best way to wean ourselves from going out to eat?? I already have a meal plan and menu for the week.....and went grocery shopping......


writing it down really does open your eyes though......

now to do better!

 

[cglaura]

I have found a very easy way is to decide what fits in your budget for take out and eating out. Keep that in cash at home. When the cash is gone for the month, then it is all meals at home.

Easy to say and plan, the hard part is not letting yourself hit the debit or ATM..."just this once"

Good luck!!

 

[cluvsdisney]

I don't want to add up what we spent on eating out or getting take out but I know it's a lot. I did the same thing - went food shopping and planned my meals for the week.

Good luck!

 

[lillygator]

during the week - my justification (for lunch) is getting out of my office....I need to find a place to take my lunch - close enough I can drive to the waterfront and eat I guess.

 

[KKB]

I find that sitting down periodically (once a month...sometimes every 2 wks), taking an inventory of what is in the freezer, then I create a month of menus...taking into account activities of various evenings. If our evening is very busy, I plan a crock pot dinner or something easy like frozen pizza or grilled cheese/tomato soup. That way I know the day before if I need to take meat from the freezer, or throw it all in the crockpot, or DH knows what he needs to throw together for the kids if I am going to be late.
I also keep a VERY well stocked pantry & freezer--that way I can honestly throw together meals on a moments notice...
freezer--always have ground beef, chicken breasts, fish sticks, salmon, chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, frozen veggies
pantry--always have several pastas, sauces, canned soups, veggies, fruits, boxed potato/pasta mixes, bread, hot dog buns, muffin mixes, canned tuna, chicken, seafood
fridge--always have eggs, bacon, cheeses, tortillas, lunchmeat, milk, hot dogs, various condiments, fresh fruit/veggies (whatever is in season/on sale)
If you keep these things on hand, you can ALWAYS throw together a quick tasty meal!

 

[dunbarfamily]

I really think having a meal plan for a week or so is the biggest budget saver. I've found that if I have a list of meal ideas and I have all the things on hand to make them that I have a really hard time justifying going out to eat or ordering pizza. It helps me to keep going out to eat as an occasional treat and not as a "its 5 o'clock and I have no idea what to make for supper so let's order Pizza Hut".

Happy New Year!

 

[farmermr]

part of my ny goals are to really track our spending.....I just added up our out to eat meals for December......

$666.83

this does not even include xmas eve dinner at $150+ and no groceries. it does include a trip to gainesville - of course had to eat out there. but an eye opener for sure. the girls are out of school and came to work with me and of course I took them out to lunch, so more than usual.

more importantly, best way to wean ourselves from going out to eat?? I already have a meal plan and menu for the week.....and went grocery shopping......


writing it down really does open your eyes though......

now to do better!

I went through this exercise yesterday too, for each month from August to December. On our worst month, we were at about $490, and on our best month, we were at $200. We're trying to do this budgeting thing, and this was a HUGE eye opener.

 

[diznee25]

Been there, done that, and sometimes still doing it! It's so hard to keep from eating out. Especially since my DH and I work together. It's too easy to slip away from work and go out to lunch. And when the weekend comes, we always seem to be out running errands around lunch time, so of course we eat out. For awhile I had budgeted around $100 (per month) for dining out, and we did stick to it for a couple months. Recently we've been slipping....

For the month of January we've decided to only eat out once, for DH's birthday. Other than that, it'll be the grocery store for us. Wish us luck!

BTW, first time I actually looked at what we'd spent eating out I almost fainted! $500 in one month, ouch! (This was years ago, but I still cringe when I think about it!)

diznee25

 

[KKB]

When they ate kids meals...
Now that they are mostly past that, I can't stomach 50-75/meal every week. And we aren't fans of fast food--overpriced mediocre food.
Our new deal is about once/month for the family, 1-2x/month nice dinner out for DH & I. If I am gonna spend the money, I wanna enjoy it!!!

 

[wiltwyck]

we shop once a week - and plan out the meals on Sunday. We purposely do NOT put things in the freezer - which causes you to either eat it or waste it by the end of the week - a real incentive for eating in!

 

[farmermr]

we shop once a week - and plan out the meals on Sunday. We purposely do NOT put things in the freezer - which causes you to either eat it or waste it by the end of the week - a real incentive for eating in!

this is a good idea! I bet it will make lots of room in the freezer too. Might be giving this one a shot...

 

[KKB]

we shop once a week - and plan out the meals on Sunday. We purposely do NOT put things in the freezer - which causes you to either eat it or waste it by the end of the week - a real incentive for eating in!

Rather than buy meat weekly, I stock up when our favorite kinds are on sale. I also stock my pantry this way.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

When DH was laid off, we made a plan to eat out only once a week. We would usually go on a weekend when we were out shopping, etc. But if we decided to go in the middle of the week, that would be it for the week and we would have to eat at home for the entire weekend.

Now that he's about to start working again, we're going to try to keep our habit of eating out once a week, unless there's a special occasion. Not only is it less expensive, it's healthier for us to eat at home.

 

[kkacar]

I want to try this as well. My problems are my DD8 is picky, soccer practice and family night.

DD8 is getting better but she is still very picky. At least we can now get her to try things. Soccer practice 3 times a week, makes things hectic as well. I got a new crock pot cook book, BUT my family is not in love with the recipes in there. So I am still trying to figure out some great meals that my family will eat.

Lastly is whenever it is my week for family night. There are a lot of us (Mom, Dad, 2 brothers, 2 Sil, 1 aunt, 2 nephews 4&6 months along with me, hubby & DD8) so coming up with something to feed everyone is always fun --NOT. Thankfully we rotate houses, I do the cooking no matter what. Cause everyone loves my cooking. But if its not at my house I do not have to do the buying.

So any suggestions, I would certainly be grateful.

kelli

 

[SnowWhite2]

My goal is to get down to $600. I just put my spending data into a tracking system and I spent over $2400 on meals out in Dec. I've got to get that down and save at least half of that in my emergency fund.

 

[lyncecelia]

We eat out constantly....we both love Pizza Hut (50 cent wings night! Lol.)

This year though, we both want to cut down our waistlines....so I do want to start preparing more meals at home....so I want to cut back.

I find it easier though to make a meal for a family than just the two of us. What do I do then? suggestions?

 

[ssawka]

I have no idea how much we spend going out, however realizing that going out is not going to end, I find ways to do it cheaper through coupons and deals. We are big fans of restaurant.com, groupon.com, and google searching for coupons. We are also signed up to recevie emails from some of or favorite restaurants. WARNING: Sometimes this backfires since you are more likely to go out if you have a coupon, especially if it will soon expire.

 

[TiffanyK]

I post a free menu plus complete grocery list on my blog each week. Here's the one I posted today. Tomorrow, I'm posting a list of 25 meals that can be made in 20 minutes or less.

Good luck with your goal of eating at home more often!

 

[angierae]

I post a free menu plus complete grocery list on my blog each week. Here's the one I posted today. Tomorrow, I'm posting a list of 25 meals that can be made in 20 minutes or less.

Good luck with your goal of eating at home more often!

thanks for the link to your blog - I think it's going to become one of my favorites. I've already found 3-4 things I want to cook.

 

[rusty4]

I post a free menu plus complete grocery list on my blog each week. Here's the one I posted today. Tomorrow, I'm posting a list of 25 meals that can be made in 20 minutes or less.

Good luck with your goal of eating at home more often!

I posted this to my favorites. Thanks!