I actually don’t enjoy eating out.
I’ve done it so much as a consultant when I was on contracts, that the idea of going to a restaurant every breakfast, lunch and dinner makes me slightly nauseous.
See, as a consultant, you end up excitedly surveying what your options are around you, but when you only end up loving 2 restaurants, you go to the same 2 restaurants every day.
Then you pick only 3 meals you like from each restaurant (or less), every day.
So you end up eating 6 meals x 6 months = too much eating out.
That said, when I visit cities that have food I know cannot be found elsewhere (hello! Montreal & macarons!), I get a little excited that it is so easily accessible that I can sometimes go overboard.
(Like last month. I spent a lot of money on treats and snacks :P)
HOW I KEEP MYSELF IN CHECK FOR EATING OUT
How much do you spend on each meal out?
Multiply that by 90.
That’s your substitute “grocery budget”, and if the number shocks you, then it should shock you into eating out less.
90 = 3 meals a day, 30 days a month.
It is unrealistic, but it is a good way for me to “see the big picture”.
For example, I like banh mi vietnamese pork sandwiches and an aloe drink. They cost $2.75 each, tax included and $2 for the drink.
$4.75 x 90 = $427.50
Now look at it for the whole year: $5130!
A close, cool $5000-ish amount on food each year JUST for eating out. And I’d probably be bored with that combination every single time.
I could also get water to ‘save’, but good restaurant meals start around AT LEAST $15 each (tax and tip included). Most times, you’re looking at $20 – $30.
$15 x 90 = $1350/month just in eating out!! Or $16,200 a year!
$20 x 90 = $1800/month or $21,600 a year.
$30 x 90 = $2700/month or $32,400 a year.
How about groceries being replaced by eating out?
- How much did I spend in 2009? $4095.47 for groceries & eating out.
- How much did I spend in 2010? $3728.14 for groceries and eating out.
What about all of the leftover money I saved?
Magic word: Saved.
I didn’t eat that extra money.
I saved it.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
This sandwich looks soo good!
That’s a great tip if you’re on a per diem and don’t have to save receipts. Unfortunately most of my experience, I had to save the receipts and just forward it to the clients.
Oh that’s true.
I had to save all my receipts and then add them up for them to tell them how much to reimburse me. I still had a limit per day though.
I liked it best when they just GAVE me the money each day.
Here’s something which worked well for me in controlling my eating out monster. We actually used to eat out a lot with my friends so we decided to ‘eat in’ more often. So we meet like twice a week and everything prepares something from home and we share and get to taste everybody’s food- satisfies my own laziness and hunger for a wide variety of food while at the same time we all spend a nice time together!
Like a pot luck!!
I love the idea. Wish I was in a city where my friends were though.. I’d host those more often.
I almost feel guilty after reading this. I am a full time student with little time to cook and most of the time I find myself buying outside instead of cooking. I have to admit that last year when I made the total of how much I spent on restaurants I was more than shocked!! It was one and a half more than what I spent on groceries- sad but true! Now I am trying to cut back on my expenses though, glad to say that I eat out only twice a week as opposed to everyday 🙁
Any change is good change. Congratulations too your willpower to only eating out twice a week!
It’s better than 7 times, in my opinion. 🙂
I know a family who eats out every single meal b/c that’s how the mother was raised. The young children she think that all other families eat out at restaurants everyday!
I like eating out every so often, but can easily get sick of it. Nothing beats a good cooked meal in my opinion.
It all depends, right? We were raised to think restaurants are special, so I think going out to eat is really special and I wanted to do it all the time 😛
After going out to eat all the time on projects to fatty high salt, high sugar restaurants, I got so sick of it I started to value home cooked meals.
I have a definite weakness for both spending money and “American Chinese food,” so it’s hard to keep my spending in check; however, I always think “I could have purchased a ticket to go to X place, or Y outfit, or whatever other noneatable thing.”
For me, now I’m starting to see my purchases in a whole other light, ever since I tallied up how much I eat out when I go back to Toronto to visit family. It’s really a lot of money!
Our supermarket has takeaway bags – Mexican, Indian, Chinese – that you bring home and heat up. It’s about a quarter of the price of eating out, but fast ethnic food and pretty good. We do this rather than go to a restaurant maybe 3 or times times a year. It makes for a change.
I wish we had that here! I can’t seem to find fast food worth taking out.
That sounds a lot of like BF. Except he also got us used to not caring about how much things cost, and things can add up pretty quickly.
I’m seeing that BF is more into meat than I am. He buys more of it to eat, and I’m less into it than he is. My thing is more seafood…
Tonight I am using frozen pizzas to avoid eating out. Satisfies my laziness, and much cheaper than takeout – though not quite as yummy as the pizza from your last post 🙂
The only takeout pizza or frozen I liked it was Sabatasso’s. I grew up eating it 🙂
I know what you mean about not really enjoying eating out. We used to do take-out at least once a week. This year we can’t b/c of our budget, but I don’t miss it at all. The grocery store allows me to have *exactly* what I want–as long as I learn how to make it…
I think wanting to eat something and then figuring out how to make it, makes you appreciate it even more 😛
Hell yes, this is EFFECTIVE! I pack my lunch to work (veggie soups in a cute thrifted thermos, delicious, filling, easy) but I do have the bad habit of picking up boba tea, pho soup, and other random tasty treats on the weekend.
Already experimenting with making my own boba and my other favorite weekend snacks to save money! 🙂
That’s my problem too. Cheap eats at $10 start to add up 🙁
Wish I had your discipline for controlling my spending. I think this summer I gonna get any crappy second job I can find(busser, dishwasher, etc.) just to humble myself and rekindle my respect for money and although the pay will be low I’ll save a fortune because with how busy I’ll be I won’t have time to spend an money.
I only just realized I had an Eating Out monster when I went back to Toronto and basically went out to dinner/lunch almost every day. Then I thought: Wow. I am getting used to this…
And eating out for leisure is not the same as when you are on a project, stuck in one city with 2 restaurants. When you are in a city you know, you go to all your favourite spots, eat your favourite things… it gets expensive!!
We went from spending $14,000 a year on eating out to $3700. As much as I love to eat out I love to eat out but when I look how many days I had to work to make that money it was an easy choice to cut back.
It’s when you see the amount you’re spending at once, that you feel a bit sick.
That is a handy sum to keep in mind when I am feeling too lazy to cook. I feel a little guilt about going for pizza tonight (but I did have a money off voucher so I don’t feel too bad!)
Siobhan
I have a problem with eating out. I try to stay within a budget of no more than $40 a month, but it’s hard. My friends like to go out to eat just to socialize and it’s easy for me to blow my budget going out only once or twice. I am trying to stay away from fast food. It’s not good for your health at that’s a big way for your money to go down the drain.
Fast food.. I have to say that McDonald’s fries are my only weakness. The rest looks floppy and wet to me. 🙂
I love eating out (and would gladly sacrifice in other areas of my life in order to do it). That said, it’s important to be discriminating, because as your post shows, the cost of eating out adds up FAST. My way of dealing with it is to limit the number of times I eat out and the places I go so that I’m only going to special places … I’d rather eat at once a week at a very nice place than 3 or 4 times a week at cheap/mediocre places.
That’s true. I’m considering putting a limit on myself to only eat out ONCE a week at a good place (just to try the food), but not mindlessly.
Hm… based on those calculations I think we should probably be eating out more than we are…
LOL 🙂 Then go for it. Actually, it depends on where you eat out. I consider buying a banh mi sandwich for $3 to be “eating out” 🙂
I just decided yesterday that in April our family will not be eating out or getting take out AT ALL. I’m really bad about eating out for breakfast on the weekends.
Wow, good luck with that!!!
I live in a small town, so there’s about a dozen restaurants here. Since they’re all very generic, I used to get pretty tired of them. But we do have a Vietnamese noodle house, which is pretty tasty.
Now that I’m not eating out very much, I definitely enjoy it much more. Plus, I’m saving at least a couple hundred bucks a month by eating more at home. If I lived in a city, I’d want to eat out more and try all the delicious restaurants out there.
Ah, who am I kidding? I’d probably just end up at Wendy’s. Mmm… Wendy’s.
Wow that’s a lot!
I love eating out with friends, but hate it by myself. I’d rather eat at home. It’s hard to find really healthy options while eating out for me, because healthy = more expensive.
Interesting perspective. I feel the same way you do and great title. I feel like I have to keep my eating out monster in check as well. I like to put a few dollars aside to allow for family night and that is it. I will say that it doesn’t always work out.
I’ve never done the calculation on what it would cost me to eat out for a year (mostly because I would NEVER do it), but it is quite a shocking figure at the end. Definitely something to keep an eye on.
That sandwich picture is making me hungry. It looks so good…
Great point. I also notice that my weight and feelings of lethargy increase (maybe not 90 fold, but a lot!) when I eat out a lot. And taking the “treat” out of eating out does really make it feel less fun.
Eating out is one that always shocks me. You don’t think it’d add up but it does! I didn’t think I ate out *that* much until I started a self-imposed limit of just twice per-month in January.
My struggle now: eating out is often a social occasion in my group so by not going out I miss out on the social time. I haven’t found the perfect solution for this yet. I’ve invited people over for a dinner party (in lieu of a restaurant) but friends seem to think they’re imposing (especially if I offer more then ~1/month). I’ve tired to make it clear they’re not (I LOVE to cook! and I’ve explained that I’m cutting down on eating out but still want to spend time together)
We used to dine out once or twice a week, but now we have cut it down to once or twice a month. For a family of five going out to eat can get very costly. Our food budget for the month is already pretty high, no need to make it insane by dining out.
I like to eat out on occasion but my tastes are expensive because I’m picky about what I eat (I compare it to cooking at home).
Sorry to point it out especially because there’s probably some other comments waiting to be published that mention it too…
but I think your numbers are a little off. You’ve ended up having 9 meals a day in both calculations. I think you multiplied by 3 meals a day twice or something like that.
I agree with the sentiment though. Eating out soon adds up. Even if I just got a 6 inch subway every work day it would be about £2.50-£3.00 a day or £715 ($1149) a year… I take lunch with me! 🙂
You’re so right!! Thank you for pointing it out.
Hubby and I are using a coupon deal which was a Crissie present, to have a swanky night out on Tuesday.
I love going out to a posh Restaurant and eating something I would never dream of trying at home. Cant wait.
Same here!!
I like eating out but I hate going to the same restaurants next to work, I hit them up because they’re only a block away from my company. It gets old eating at the same places all the time even if you get different stuff during the week. I don’t blame you for feeling that way.
It gets boring and old fast. I only enjoy eating out if I am with friends, enjoying an amazing meal (for whatever price).