Need some budget board motivation to eat at home!

[threeboysmom]

Try ditching the CC for a month. Keep track of what you end up spending on food (either at home or eating out) and subtract it from $500. Ask yourself how many flights that money would get you vs. how far the FF miles earned on $500 would get you.

It's not always about what you make. It's about what you keep.

You don't have to ditch the credit cards in order to budget.

I use CC all the time for groceries, dining out, bills, clothing, etc. and I have a strict budget for each category and absolutely will not allow myself to go over.

If you have a set $500 budget for food, it certainly doesn't matter whether you use cash or credit card. The important thing is that you TRACK YOUR SPENDING - every evening I sit down and track what I've spent that day onto an Excel spreadsheet - it does that calculations for me and I can easily see how much I have left for the month in each category.

 

[Marionnette]

You don't have to ditch the credit cards in order to budget.

I use CC all the time for groceries, dining out, bills, clothing, etc. and I have a strict budget for each category and absolutely will not allow myself to go over.

If you have a set $500 budget for food, it certainly doesn't matter whether you use cash or credit card. The important thing is that you TRACK YOUR SPENDING - every evening I sit down and track what I've spent that day onto an Excel spreadsheet - it does that calculations for me and I can easily see how much I have left for the month in each category.

My comment was directed at the OP, who was NOT keeping track and came across as being surprised at the amount she had spent on eating out.

YOUR mileage obviously varies. Congratulations on being so responsible.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Yeah, I don't really budget.

I know what I need for expenses and what goes into the discretionary pot. With it being just me I don't have a lot of variable expenses that wouldn't qualify as emergency. My car has only 20k miles so maintenance there is pretty standard (again outside of an emergency). So my non-budget money management system tends to work for me (not sure if this had an official name).

I check my cards a few times a week and adjust what I have left but don't do pots for eating out, entertainment, etc. it all comes out of the disposable pot.

I will start tracking the eating out dollars more closely and set a limit there or maybe limit to x number of meals per week.

I don't think you need to ditch cc to have a budget either but, when purely financial motivation is lacking I think it would make somebody like me evaluate my eating out and curb some of the buyer's remorse.

 

[marmalade]

How much do you spend on groceries on top of eating out?

 

[tina.tina]

One of the ideas that has worked best for my family is to think of what meals you would order if you were eating out and cook those meals at home. My family could eat lasagna, salad, breadsticks, and dessert (if desired) for two meals at home for about $20 when one meal would be over $75 for us at Olive Garden. Take that money and treat yourself. At first, give yourself treats often so you're reinforcing your positive behavior. Willpower gets easier to exert after you exercise it. After you're doing better without instant gratification, save up your money for bigger treats!

Maybe you find yourself bored with what you make at home follow and it's just less effort to give up your control/decision making to a restaurant. Treat your meals at home as adventures instead of chores. Do some online searches for paleo recipes and get creative. Use some of the extra money you'll have to invest in spices and good tools or make your home dining environment more pleasant.

I recommend a pressure cooker instead of a crock pot because I never liked the idea of leaving plugged in and on all day. My pressure cooker will cook a whole chicken in 45 minutes and it is fall apart tender. I just bought pork chops which I plan to cook in the crock pot with the same rub as I use on my baby back ribs (which my kids absolutely love).

If I were single, I would love to try one of those places where they provide the ingredients and you cook your own meal.

 

[tina.tina]

when purely financial motivation is lacking I think it would make somebody like me evaluate my eating out and curb some of the buyer's remorse.

When we had two incomes, I was in the same spot as you and had little to no motivation to change our habits. We had no problem changing our habits when we were saving for WDW, though. We just used our extra eating out money to pay for our trip. That's why I think the positive reinforcements/rewards will work well for you.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

How much do you spend on groceries on top of eating out?

Depends on how much I eat out versus at home. In a month where I'm spending almost $500 eating out. It's usually only another $150 so to groceries.

When I fully eat at home, I probably spend just around $400-$500/month. This is just me, I don't know how people feed families of 4-5...oh wait, I do know better shopping/cooking skills haha

 

[Glenn]

Here's a different thought. Keep track & review what you order when eating out.
Then think of what changes you can make. Are there things you enjoy that might be cheaper on the menu. Among the places you go are some good but cheaper than others. Can you cut anything, drink water vs coffee?
Also look at frozen food. Its not all the cardboard mystery meals of the 1960s. There are many good organic meals out there. If not enough for dinner add a simple salad that's easy to make. You dont have to go cold turkey on eating out. Even a cut by 1/3 or 1/2 will do lots for the budget.
Good luck.

 

[Disneefun]

http://www.savingadvice.com/articles/2011/09/27/107779_how-to-solve-the-eating-out-problem.html

An article that takes the tracking what you spend idea a step further and encourages you to think about what you're getting, as well.

 

[pryncess527]

Yeah, I don't really budget.

I know what I need for expenses and what goes into the discretionary pot. With it being just me I don't have a lot of variable expenses that wouldn't qualify as emergency. My car has only 20k miles so maintenance there is pretty standard (again outside of an emergency). So my non-budget money management system tends to work for me (not sure if this had an official name).

I check my cards a few times a week and adjust what I have left but don't do pots for eating out, entertainment, etc. it all comes out of the disposable pot.

I will start tracking the eating out dollars more closely and set a limit there or maybe limit to x number of meals per week.

I don't think you need to ditch cc to have a budget either but, when purely financial motivation is lacking I think it would make somebody like me evaluate my eating out and curb some of the buyer's remorse.

FWIW, while my non-budget money management system worked pretty darn well for me for years too, I found that doing a formal budget, including really separating out my disposable income, has been an invaluable tool in helping me change some of my behaviors and ensuring that my spending more closely aligns with my priorities. It does not have to be restrictive -- if I want to spent more on eating out that's perfectly fine -- but the act of making the choice to move money from entertainment to eating out helps motivate me to ensure the choice I'm making is the one I really want to make, instead of the easiest one.

You might find it equally motivating, since it seems that is similar to your issue. It's practically become a fun game for me

 

[Spacepest]

I love eating out and hate cooking, so years ago when I started having to cooking all my meals to cut costs I was really bummed out...until I found out that you can look up recipes for your favorite restaurant meals online and make the stuff at home much cheaper. Now I'm really less motivated to eat out, and if I do eat out, I'm going to eat something that I don't want to take the time to prepare myself at home (complicated dish with 30 ingredients that take way too long to prepare, BBQ/slow roasted foods that take all day to grill, etc).

 

[Marionnette]

Yes, I do keep the same standards eating out. It's a little more costly than McDonald's lol but not time consuming, I have lots of choices around me.

I don't eat carbs out or at home and eat a lot of fat, meat, and veg. In both cases.

As others have pointed out, even at farm to table places you give up a bit of control.

When I was batch cooking and eating in, it was very simple foods (which I like just fine), but I'm always amazed at what a skilled person who likes the cooking process can do with simple foods. Mine always taste so boring and bland and just not very good.

Everything I make in the crockpot no matter what I do tastes like school cafeteria food lol.

I think I need to get more inventive or creative with seasoning or do more seasoning. How do you all cook chicken? Salmon? Luckily I like red meat with just butter, salt, pepper and a good char so I can usually handle that. But as an avid red meat eater, I can't even do that all the time.

It's so frustrating because cooking is one of those things that just isn't a life skill for me and despite following recipes and meal ideas, they never turn out well. It would be so much easier if I didn't like good food! Lol

I admit that I have no idea what is acceptable and what is forbidden in a paleo diet but there have got to be cookbooks and websites devoted to paleo lifestyles. You should be able to find some recipes that are flavorful without compromising your dietary standards.

When I cook chicken, it's usually boneless breasts which have either been marinated or seasoned with a salty rub. Then they are either grilled or pan-fried in olive oil. Sauces, glazes or gravies are made to accompany the meat and chances are pretty good that some of those ingredients wouldn't fit with your particular diet.

I have only one salmon recipe because my husband doesn't eat seafood and doesn't like the odor that it leaves in the house. The recipe uses a teriyaki and pineapple juice glaze, starts on the stovetop in an oven-safe skillet and then gets finished in the oven at a high temperature. Salmon is pretty delicate and can become over-cooked quickly. It should only take a few minutes on each side and then a brief visit to the oven for it to cook properly.

Someone else mentioned looking for copycat recipes of your favorite restaurant meals. I think that's a really good jumping-off point. You might also want to look for a cooking class that focuses on preparing paleo meals. They can be a great source of new recipes as well as a way of learning proper techniques for handling food prep.

 

[marmalade]

Depends on how much I eat out versus at home. In a month where I'm spending almost $500 eating out. It's usually only another $150 so to groceries.

When I fully eat at home, I probably spend just around $400-$500/month. This is just me, I don't know how people feed families of 4-5...oh wait, I do know better shopping/cooking skills haha

If it were me and I preferred eating out and didn't like cooking, I would budget $400/month for eating out and $100 for groceries for home cooked meals. You can even split it up by days 20 days of eating out gives you $20/day and that leaves you $10/day for groceries for the days you eat at home.

I can feed my family of 4 for $10/day making home cooked meals, but I enjoy cooking so you should be able to feed 1 person on that.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

I think part of the eating out is not having something in the home to make and no motivation to make it. Planning is difficult but rewarding.

Perhaps making a menu, and I think it's Spark People give you a grocery list for choices, helps coordinate a plan.

Another thing, is don't be too ridged. Give yourself a Friday night take out, eat out. Spend an hour Sat or Sun to plan easy meals, the audit to what what you have on hand.
I keep, hamburger in freezer bags, cook a whole chicken for broth and salad, breast for salad strips, I like a beef roast, stir fry strips, and sandwiches, dinner slices. I like pork n sauerkraut, or ribs occasionally.
One thing I do like is slow cooker and soups.

Good luck,

 

[sheetz]

I love eating out and hate cooking, so years ago when I started having to cooking all my meals to cut costs I was really bummed out...until I found out that you can look up recipes for your favorite restaurant meals online and make the stuff at home much cheaper. Now I'm really less motivated to eat out, and if I do eat out, I'm going to eat something that I don't want to take the time to prepare myself at home (complicated dish with 30 ingredients that take way too long to prepare, BBQ/slow roasted foods that take all day to grill, etc).

You bring up a good point. If you're going to learn to cook, it's best to start with your favorite dishes so you don't always have to go to a restaurant for them.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I keep a list of meals I rotate through and always copy paste & email recipes to myself so I can find them. The list helps me focus when I'm uninspired, that 'recipe imagination block' is the enemy of healthy meals. For backup I have a few favorites that can be made in bulk & I always keep them on hand for lazy/busy or migraine days. I make an 8 can batch of tomato sauce at a time and seperate it into the deli containers I collect & freeze for pasta at a moments notice but i also use it in recipes. I will boil leftover chicken, turkey and beef bones (or I can buy poultry backs for a steal at the butcher) and then freeze the broth to add spices at another time- makes barley, lentil or chicken soup a breeze. I also keep about a dozen ziplocks full of chicken soup veggies in the freezer to drop into the broth only adding fresh celery & carrots for all day soup flavor in an hour. Uncooked but fully seasoned Meatloaf in appropriate ziplock portions is another good one that keeps well. Chicken gyro is already marinating for tomorrow.

Now that I manage my recipe blocks & forgetfulness I find we never eat out anymore unless its a conscious decision. I just sit down every weekend and construct a daily dinner list for the following week- much less stressful. Good luck!

Ps- I'll add that using my minichopper to dice up garlic cloves, shallots & onion and then rolling it out in a thin sheet ina ziplock to be frozen & pinched off over time has done wonders for my ability to season.

 

[lauradis]

Op your budget sounds like mine

I basically have two sides - my needs - savings, retirement, home, utilities, car, etc. after that the left over goes to my wants. I don't care if its all gone, before payday hits.

I have no desire to track my wants spending because its not interfering with my needs spending, nor do I want to increase any section of my needs.

I'm not shocked by where I spent most of my money, because I was there when it was spent.

As far as going out to dinner goes, if I have more wants money and I want to, I'm going.

We cook most nights at home because we both like cooking, taste so much better then chain food, its way cheaper then going out. Once we get home who wants to debate where to go, drive there, wait hungry, crying kids, bad service, etc.

Now washing dishes and food shopping/ hauling you got me there yuck

 

[disney_me]

We started making weekly menus about 2 1/2 moths ago we saved almost $500.00 by doing this. We have cut back on eating out from 3 nights a week down to once or a few times we did not go out at all. I just made a crock pot full of chicken soup fed the 3 of us tonight, lunch for me tomorrow and another night of dinner. My DD and I just made our meal menu for the week. This has helped a lot during the work week. No one is asking what's for dinner and I'm not hearing " I don't feel like having that tonight" .......... Weekly menu is a must!!!