Food is definitely a challenge for me in terms of spending in that I love to eat. And eat well. Eating out for dinner will cost at least $15 for meal/tax/tip. That’s if I don’t order dessert, drinks, or anything other than the second-most-inexpensive thing on the menu (which, depending on where I go, could very well be 3 pieces of scallops on a leaf of baby bok choy. Artfully presented? Yes. Enough food for anyone older than 4-years-old? No.)
I’ve set a budget of $200 for food-related expenses every month, $125 for dining out and $75 for groceries. $125 is 20 cheap lunches, 10 cheap dinners, or 4 nicer dinners. A MONTH. I am not an ungrateful twentysomething, I assure you, I do understand that dining out is not a right but a privilege (like driving!). I AM, however, utterly and absolutely devoted to a good gastronomic experience.
I only have $131 left for food for January. I have THREE more weeks to get through.. that’s about $43 a week. I can definitely do it if I don’t eat out more than once a week… which I should be able to do.
Right?
You May Also Want To Read :
Wow. Thanks to everyone for the TJ's suggestions.. more stuff to check out on the next grocery r ...
I went through the ENTIRE WEEK of January 14th to January 20th without spending ONE penny on di ...
This post was Consumeristed! Woo. I'm back from the Most Magical Place on Earth! :) It was a ...
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
i, too, love to eat out, and, you’re right, the costs tend to add up to frightening sums. but a great gastronomic experience, as you put it, is well worth the dollars. i wish you all the best. cheers!
I feel your pain. I can fly through half my eating out budget for the month in one weekend if I’m not careful (sushi and cosmos Friday night, enchiladas and margaritas Sat afternoon, Sunday brunch complete with mimosas…).
I’d rather two fabulous weekend/weeks a month, though, and then tough it out for the rest of the time. Actually I’d rather do that any time I want, but the budget isn’t quite there yet.
Seriously though, I’ll take good food and drinks and fine dining over a pair of shoes…assuming it hasn’t been too long since I got new shoes…:-)
I’ve spent WAY too much this month already. As in, no more eating out. Period.
A couple of monts back sweetie and I scaled back to eating out whenever we wanted (him everyday at work for lunch and the two of us whenever we felt like, usually three or four times a week) to only eating out once a week. Sometimes we cheat a bit and go out for brunch on the weekend in addition to a dinner out. At first I thought I’d feel deprived but it’s actually been really nice, at least from my perspective. Eating out is more of an experience for me now, rather than just eating food to refuel.
I’m trying to cut down on eating out…I don’t usually get cravings for the healthiest food…so it’s better if I just stick with grocery stores!
Have you been tracking your grocery spending? Because if you’re cutting down on your eating out, that means you’re going to be spending more on groceries, and $75 is really, really low as a monthly grocery budget. I budget $90 for two weeks’ worth of groceries. Yeah, sometimes there’s a little slack there, but not more-than-half worth of slack. So I think you might want to put some flex in that number. Or maybe a lot of flex.
This is a great area to cut costs. My first few years out of college I hardly ever ate out and I always brought my breakfast, tea and lunch to work. It saved me a lot of money and because I planned my meals I was less likely to make unhealthy choices on a whim.
I feel like we would get along well in real life.
I’m obsessed with eating good food. I’ll skimp here and there–the occasional frozen pizza, the it’s-there-so-i’ll-eat-it moments. But overall, I love, love, love new restaurants with killer food and will not think twice about a $4 brownie.
Right there with ya….
Food is my major weakness when it comes to spending, too. I live alone and I feel like every time I go to the grocery store and get fresh food, it all goes bad before I can use most of it. So I prefer getting food to-go, which is no problem when I stop by a sub shop and spend $4 or $5. But I often give in to temptation and go to Pei Wei or another place where entrees are $7-$9…and sometimes I’ll add a drink…and before I know it, $11 is gone for one meal. My boyfriend and I are talking about moving in together soon, which would be a huge financial relief — food would actually get eaten before going bad!
I spend way too much money on dining out and on groceries. I’m slowly trying to whittle down my food budget. I’m going to see how long I can go without buying groceries (save for fresh fruits and veggies). I’ve got a ton of food stocked up, so I should be ok.