I spent HOW MUCH?!

[Marionnette]

This ^^. $650 a month is only about $160 a week... and i know we EASILY surpass that in groceries alone!

And - factor in your time. If you have the time and desire to cook and clean up afterwards - that is great. But for the extra hour + each night...

I'm betting that the $160/week that you're spending on groceries nets better quality food than the $112/week that the OP is spending on eating out (the OP is averaging $50/week on actual groceries). Yes, there is a time and convenience factor involved as well, but it's possible to prepare a healthy meal with less than 20 minutes of hands-on prep time if you try. It takes longer than that for a pizza to be delivered.

 

[TravelMommy]

In the heat of the summer I find it hard to cook! I have been using the crockpot and grill and supplementing with fresh produce. Having a well stocked freezer can help, we keep cut up cooked chicken breast, ground beef/ground turkey and shrimp, steam in bag assorted veggies and mix and match. Good luck with your menu planning!

 

[Momoftwins+1]

Crock pot is your friend. You can pretty much cook anything in that darn thing...Pinterest.com for tips galore on that one.

Always have a salad prepped (it will last a couple days so about a 10 min prep will cover 3ish days before the stuff starts to wilt <lettuce is cheap and you can put in whatever else you like)

Steamed veggies can be popped in the microwave quickly (Brussels sprouts are a fav in our house). Grapes, cherries, watermelon, etc as side items.

Carry a couple water bottles, a couple apples, and some granola bars or crackers in your car to tide you over till you can reach home and cook.

Pack lunches for work (sandwiches take no time to make, wraps, etc...set aside about 10 mins before bed and whip it together for next day).

But, this all takes time...do not try and go cold turkey, it normally leads to failure. Wean yourself off the restaurants and gradually you'll find that cooking doesn't have to take too long. You don't have to be gourmet to make nutrient rich food. (trust me, I hate cooking). I would stay away from the frozen premade meals though, they are super high in everything bad, to include sodium...as they are preserved to last a very long time, which means bad for you.

I don't know how large your family is but for our family of 5 (three growing boys), we spent 500 a month on groceries and eat out maybe once if they are lucky (way too pricey to eat out with 5 people!). Your grocery bill will go up, but if you think of how much food you can get for a bill of 50 dollars at a restaurant, you can get quite a bit!

 

[disneygrl704]

Another way to do this, set a dollar amount for eating out next month and pull it out in cash. Then only use that case for eating out and when its gone, no more eating out.

I do most of the cooking in the house and this summer has become a chore. Im really lacking inspiration for meals lately.

I like this idea to use cash for our eating out expenses.

 

[LynnTH]

We are the same way. Eat out way too much because it is convenient. This summer especially. DS14 was in travelling baseball this summer (just ended last week). Literally, we would get home at 5 from work and would have to leave by usually 5:15, so would stop and grab something.

DD12 likes to cook so she will help out. We are in the process of making our own little cook book. Going to type out a front page with different main dish ideas in different categories (Hamburger, Chicken, Pork, etc) then do the same for side dishes. Then # them and make a recipe with that # on it so it would be easy to find for both of us. My goal is to try and make weekly plans based on what the kids' schedules are. Some days will be just really basic and some better sit down dinners. Hoping to have this done by the time school starts to at least have some sort of plan - instead of getting home from work and having absolutely no idea what is for dinner.

One thing I do that makes some meals easier is I will brown 5-10 #'s of hamburger at once and then freeze them in different tupperware containers. It takes about 3 minutes in the microwave to thaw and heat and then I can make easy tacos, spaghetti, hot dish etc in no time at all.

 

[jsmith]

One of the things ive learned is that not eating out saves time--even though most of us say we do it for convienence sake i have learned that if i have a plan and ingredients prepped i can put a healthy meal scratch made from non processed fresh foods on the table in an hour or less-if you figure that you are going to have a 15 to 20 minute wait for a table, wait time, time to eat and wait time at the end of a meal most meals out, unless you are doing fast food take out,which is a rarity we save for long dog show day lunches, are going to take you 90 minutes or more.
Time is money........

 

[bigbabyblues]

We've found good, easy recipes on eatathomecooks.com and ziplist.

 

[honeybunches]

I agree that if those are your expenses for both June and July, you didn't do too badly!

Our easy dinners that dont require a lot of cooking....
rotisserie chicken with some steamed frozen veg. We have this on the day we grocery shop because I hate to cook after shopping.
Fried chicken tenders from the deli counter-- add to a salad. Mix honey, BBQ sauce, and a little olive oil to make a quick dressing. Top with cherry tomatoes, bacon bits, chow mein noodles, cheddar cheese, etc.
Chili and baked potatoes. Make extra baked potatoes.
The next day, chop the leftover potatoes (skin on) and brown in a skillet like home fries. Serve with precook end bacon or sausage, scrambled eggs, etc.
French bread sliced, topped with spaghetti sauce. Add freshly grated mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, etc.

Something simple like grilled cheese or a deli turkey sandwich served with canned tomato soup is a good meal when you are tired and don't feel like cooking!

 

[amandaC]

This might make you feel better- when I was in the process of divorcing my ex-husband, I was still paying all of the bills (don't ask!). He would hand me his credit card bills and I would pay them. Now, mind you, it was just him (he got our 2 boys every other weekend) and he spent $1600 on food in ONE month!

 

[usnuzuloose]

Crock pot can be your best friend. You can look on line or find books with nothing but crock pot meals. Once you get the hang of it you will save a lot of money. And you may find that you may enjoy it.

 

[leebee]

I find the real trick to eating at home is to have a well-stocked pantry. As someone previously said, don't shop with specific meals already planned. Shop to restock your pantry with the things you buy all the time. That way, when you are tired or pressed for time, everything is there, ready to go. No need to make a special, time-consuming trip to the grocery store or just say "there's nothing here... let's go out."

In the summer, we grill. I buy bulk hamburg, make it into patties, spread them out on cookie sheets, freeze, bag. This way, we have individual burgers; pull out three, microwave for about 5min on low setting to defrost, and throw them on the grill. Same thing with chicken (boneless, flattened), hot dogs, sirloin tips, pork steaks/chops, sausages, etc. Everything is frozen individually and then bagged, so I can pull out what I need, thaw quickly in microwave, and grill. We always have lettuce, and often I buy a veggie tray at Sam's for $10. This gives me a variety of prepared veggies- carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, mini peppers, baby tomatoes- so we have salad bar with minimal preparation or fuss. This summer we are into grilled veggies. Once again, quick and simple if you already have them in your fridge/pantry. We like to grill zucchini, summer squash, fingerling potatoes, egg plant, romaine, corn, carrots, etc. We have a special try for the grill, so things don't slide through the grill racks. Just cut veggie into slices, put in a ziploc bag with some olive oil, garlic powder, oregano, basil, whatever... shake, put on grill while meat is cooking. Quick and easy, that's our mantra in the summer!

 

[Aliceacc]

We started a kitchen remodel yesterday, though we've been waiting for the start date for a while. (LOTS of rebuilding on Long Island this summer, so getting permits and waiting for a start date didn't follow the ususal timelines.)

So, from this point on, it's BBQ, microwave, or eat out until we get our kitchen back. The basement fridge is all we have, so not tons of room for stocking up on stuff. We don't have lots of room for food prep, so the BBQ is looking more and more like burgers and hot dogs, without a lot of the usual sides.

I'm thinking that we'll be eating out more in the next weeks than ever before. It's not ideal, but it's the reality.

 

[dpswift]

We started a kitchen remodel yesterday, though we've been waiting for the start date for a while. (LOTS of rebuilding on Long Island this summer, so getting permits and waiting for a start date didn't follow the ususal timelines.)

So, from this point on, it's BBQ, microwave, or eat out until we get our kitchen back. The basement fridge is all we have, so not tons of room for stocking up on stuff. We don't have lots of room for food prep, so the BBQ is looking more and more like burgers and hot dogs, without a lot of the usual sides.

I'm thinking that we'll be eating out more in the next weeks than ever before. It's not ideal, but it's the reality.

I used the crockpot quite a bit during our remodel. I splurged on the liners to make clean up easier.

 

[writersblock42]

I also am really thinking about the grocery vs. going to out to eat thing. I know I have spent more than $1300 in the last two months on going out to eat and groceries (now some of that was vacation) but still. Even if you only spent a $150 a week on groceries and did not go out to eat at all that would be close to that amount so something is not adding up here. In the last two months, the OPs family would have eaten 168 meals (that is going by the number of days times three). The average of those meals would be less than $8 per meal. Now, I understand that breakfast is really cheap especially if you eat cereal or oatmeal. But if they eat out a lot that is actually pretty good because the grocery bill is down so low like somebody said $50 a week is really good. I know people who have done that but still.

 

[disney1990]

Wow. People sure do eat out a lot. We eat out (at a quick service restaurant) counter service - salads and/or sandwiches, about once a week - spending $25 or less. The rest of the time we eat at home. We eat at restaurants only on occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, or other celebrations.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Lots of good tips so far. I like the idea of setting a budget not to be exceeded on restaurant food.

Also, watch HOW you spend money when eating out. Most FF restaurants have "dollar menus", and there's no need for every member of the family to have a "meal deal". Never ever buy drinks if you're taking the food home to eat. Someone is always running a special on carry out pizza. Stuff like Chinese takeout can be split if you get a full order of one item rather than 2 small orders, etc.

When I order carefully vs ordering willy nilly, I can save $5-10 per restaurant order, even someplace cheap like Taco Bell.

 

[Lisa71]

We eat out about once a week counter or drive through and coupons for restaurants for table service about once a month. I like to buy discount gift cards at Costco or giftcardgranny...or use a groupon. A few local places are small and family owned so we split meals and look for specials. Out kids fave place had 20 percent off all appetizers on Sundays so my DH and I split nachos and a side salad.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I really like the advice from TXRabbit. We almost never eat out, in part because we are vegan and it's not that easy to find places to eat!

I used to do meal planning, but often found that I would end up trying to revise the plan in the store because I'd notice some other ingredients were on sale, or I would find that I'd get sidetracked, not make the meal I had planned, and the ingredients would go bad.

Now I buy mostly according to sales to replenish the pantry. Canned beans were 88 cents this week, for example, which is a good price for around here, so I bought lots. We try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, so I often base my meal plans on what needs to be used up - is the cauliflower in the fridge getting a bit tired? Time for aloo gobi! Zucchini been hanging around too long? Time for Italian white bean soup.

I like to try out new recipes once a week or so. My family likes variety, so the approach of serving a rotation of recipes doesn't work well for us. I certainly do have some tried-and-true pantry recipes that I can pretty much always make if necessary. (Curried chickpeas and spinach is one - we always have canned chickpeas and tomatoes in the pantry, and frozen spinach in the freezer, and this can be put together quite quickly and everyone likes it.) It's good to develop your own list of these and make sure you always have the ingredients on hand.

TP

 

[pigletto]

I know what it's like to not want to cook every night after a long day at the office. What I do is have a large chest freezer and then I cook a bunch of meals once a month or so. It ends up being much cheaper and healthier than eating out all the time. I've planned it on my own, but last month I used www.onceamonthmom.com. I'm officially hooked! It saved me so much time to have someone else do all the planning.

Thank you for this! I had forgotten about this idea. This fall is going to be nutty. We are getting a new puppy, the kids go back to school, dh goes back for his last semester and commutes 3 hours a day, I have work (from home), puppy obedience classes one night a week, and dh will coach ds's basketball 3-4 nights a week. I need a plan or we will be all about take out and junk food and I don't want that. I am going to take a look at her menus, tweak to our tastes, and do a huge cooking day once a month to take the pressure out of week nights.

 

[disneygrl704]

I went grocery shopping today and spent about $45. I got mostly stuff to go with what I already had, but I have enough to make meals for this week. I even came home and made corn dogs and FF for lunch instead of stopping and picking up something on the way. While I had the oven hot, I made a breakfast quiche for the week. Feeling pretty good about myself today!