A couple of weeks ago, I identified a huge money (and health) suck that I had been engaging in far too frequently: eating out.
I had been failing every goal I set for myself for months and the numbers don’t lie. After having completed my grocery challenge in late November and early December, it became apparent that my spending was out of control.
To keep myself accountable, I wrote a post about my challenge and promised (not that anybody really cares) that I would update the blog weekly on how the challenge is going.
I’m happy to announce that I’ve stuck to the challenge the entire time. I went out for coffee with a friend and used a Starbucks gift card that a colleague gave me, so I didn’t spend any money.
I’ve really enjoyed eating in since starting the challenge a couple of weeks ago.
We’ve made a whole bunch of fun recipes from black bean quesadillas, to pasta with cream sauce, twice baked potato casserole and chana masala.
I’m actually surprised with how easy it is to make food at home. I’d almost venture to say that it’s easier than climbing in the car and driving to a restaurant, depending on what you are making. It’s much more satisfying to finish eating a meal that you made from scratch, especially if it turned out well.
I have a little over a week left in my challenge but I think I’ll extend it into January because it’s going so well.
The only problem with extending the challenge is that it will be hard to eat in for every meal while we are in the process of moving at the beginning of January to our new house. We would have to unpack and grocery shop while hauling boxes and getting settled in, which may not be realistic. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
How often do you eat out?
It can get really easy to be on the eat out/fast food wagon, especially when life gets busy. I am guilty of it big time during the busy weeks of school – report card week, interview week, right before Christmas, last week of June etc.
Congrats! We have been limiting our restaurant eating the past few months, and we’ve saved some serious dough. We really need to start expanding our recipe list, though. We have a few recipes we make over and over, or we eat Boca burgers if we’re super hungry when we get home from work. I’m hoping that after the move we can get a little more organized in our cooking efforts!
We go out to eat WAAAAAY too much. It’s bad but luckily there’s only 2 of us so it doesn’t kill us too badly.
I hardly ever eat out and whenever I do, it’s not as good as home cooked.
I enjoy cooking and eating at home too, and I definitely think it’s less time-consuming than eating out frequently. We really only eat out when we go out with other people, which is only a couple times per month, and we always pack our lunches to bring to work. Our eating-out budget is $60/month (not including when we travel).
We’ve been eating out more this past week or so with family in town and when we’re out Christmas shopping. We’re going to eat in more in 2013 though and try to eat healthier.
Cooking at home is way easier because you can DO OTHER THINGS while it’s cooking. Much more efficient! While I enjoy eating out as a treat, it’s a big time suck.
If I were you I would pack a cutting board, a knife, a pot, a pan and 2 sets of basic dishes into one box, highlight the crap out of it, and set it aside. When you’re moving and everything is an absolute nightmare all you have to do is unpack that one box and you have everything you need to make meals for a couple nights (make sure it gets moved directly to the kitchen). You’ll thank yourself.
Good on you! That’s definitely gonna be one of my New Years resolutions. Eat from home way more often. Eating out is such a money suck.
We order the odd pizza but other than that we just don’t fancy eating out. We finally used a $50 Boston Pizza GC we got in 2010 just a couple months ago and realized why we don’t eat out. Spending $50 for 2 pizzas was insane but who’s complaining when it’s free! We have fun buying ingredients and creating recipes or checking out new recipes at home. Cheers.. Happy Holidays to the both of you!! Mr.CBB
I eat out way way too often. I find with me it’s not about meals… It’s the little snacks and coffees here and there that add up.
Congrats on sticking to it! I’ve got to change my eating habits! I’m noticing my regular pants starting to get tight (not good)!
I hate to say it but I eat out a few times a week to four times a week. But I’ve been slowly getting back as I’m getting back in shape for Spartan Sprint race in March. 🙂 Keep up the good work!
Eating at home is by far healthier and cheaper than eating anywhere, even at fast food joints. Making food is so easy these days since everything is prepackaged and sliced for you- you just need to put it together by yourself. We eat out only 1-2 times a month and make it a treat, not a habit. It saves us tones of money that we can use on projects at home and little trips here and there.