This little flyer came in the mail the other day, and the title kind of made me scratch my head. Is it just me, or is eating out not the best way to deal with a tight budget? Of course, if you’re eating out anyways, you’ll be better off for having used the coupons, but a tight budget can be stretched much farther by shopping at the grocery store and cooking at home.
Lest I seem like a hypocrite, let me say that I do think it’s fine to eat out every now and then(we’re having seafood takeout tomorrow, which we do once a year), but it is most certainly not the budget option that Hardee’s would like us to think it is.
Let’s take the roast beef sandwiches, for example. With the coupon, each one of them is $2.50. Let’s assume that five of those sandwiches would feed my family for dinner( this includes no drinks or sides and that’s not even one sandwich per person). That would cost a total of $12.50. That might not seem like a whole lot, but consider this: for $80 a week, I can feed my family breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, and include toiletries, cleaning products, and paper products. However, if we ate a $12.50 meal each night, that alone would cost $87.50 over the course of a week. So, I could spend $87.50 on five sandwiches a night(which would leave us no money for breakfast, lunch, or toiletries), or I could spend $80 and eat for the whole week. That’s a pretty easy choice for me!
Granted, most people don’t eat out for seven dinners a week. However, even if we only spent $12.50 three nights a week, that would still be the equivalent of nearly half my grocery budget and it would only provide three sparse meals for us.
Another thing to keep in mind is that $12.50 for six people is a very low estimate…most fast-food stops for a family cost far more than that. We could easily drop $20-$25 at McDonalds if the six of us went there for dinner. At that rate, to eat four meals out per week we’d have to spend a entire week’s worth of grocery money.
Nutritional concerns aside, eating out simply does not make sense for someone who needs a budget bailout. The best food bargains are almost always at the grocery store and not at fast food joints.
Brandy
Monday 16th of February 2009
I just wanted to share a thought with those who may be struggling with the idea of cooking more and packing lunch more and giving up takeout/eating out/fast food. An easy motivator for me was thinking about the actual food that was being consumed, i mean not many people really like the food at those chain places, fast food stops, or greasy takeout joints. Personally I'd rather save the money and eat out once in a while at a really nice place where the food is good stuff that 95% of us do not possess the talent to create at home. The takeout/chain places.. you can usually do Better at home for Cheaper!
Amanda
Sunday 15th of February 2009
We are a family that also loves to eat out. Due to the economy and tight money we have really reduced our outings. I still can't give up brunch after church with fellow members. Like others we do eat out on our entertainment money not our food budget. If there isn't any money there we don't go.
BTW have you ever gotten a sour gut from eating fast food after having home cooked meals all the time? It really isn't that satisfying to put all that grease and crap in your insides.
Stacey
Friday 13th of February 2009
Yes, I am also a recovering restaurant addict! We used to eat out 3x/week - not expensive fare (burritos, pizza and pancakes), but it really did add up and we spent anywhere from $150-400/week for food. Now, we go out *maybe* once a month but the money comes from our "fun money" jar, not our food budget. Now I still enjoy going out, but I've even become slightly more critical of the experience - like, "I could make this better at home!" Most of all, I just don't miss it that much when I consider all the wonderful things we have planned for the money we are saving - a beach trip, a comfy chair, a king-sized bed and a Prius will all be made possible by what we are saving now that we are only spending $80/week for food. I really do see it as the *one* place in our budget that we can alter significantly to increase savings for other things. Like you, Kristen, and others, we have dramatically decreased our thermostats but have not enjoyed a dramatic decrease in our gas bill!
Kristen
Friday 13th of February 2009
Non Consumer, I had a revelation like that a couple of years ago. It's really sobering when you add it up.
Franci, we used to eat out once a week too...it was hard to adjust at first, but I'm very used to it now. You can do it!
Non Consumer Girl
Friday 13th of February 2009
Eating out is a lot more expensive of course, but I have only just realised how much expensive. I recorded all of my family's expenditure for the month of January and discovered that eating out four times in January cost the equivalent of half of my grocery budget for the whole month of January. That is, it cost about $400 to eat out on 4 occasions, compared to feeding my family for a whole month for $800. Needless to say, we have decided to reduce our eating out occasions to only 2 times per month.