Spending too much on eating out

[Snowysmom]

We go out to eat on Fridays. It started as date night. We use the leftovers for Saturday lunch. Saturday night is usually salad or sandwiches from a local place. I cook the rest of the week. I make a quick soup and get 2 meals out of it. We also have nights when we have wraps and salad or another veggie. That is quick and easy and tasty. In the winter the crock pot gets a workout and we get at least 2 meals out of every crockpot meal. Pasta and a good sauce works too. There are quick ways to have tasty meals. Cooking Light has a cookbook for quick suppers with really easy and good recipes. I also use allrecipes.com to find quick soups and casseroles to make.

 

[Christine]

I can't even eat an unbrined pork chop anymore.

Although, my husband would argue with you on the restaurant flavor thing. My biggest issue is that my husband always says "you make it better" whenever we go out to eat. So, a lot of times, I end up cooking even when I'd rather go out.

This has never been said in my house!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My kids and SO are used to a full hot meal for dinner. If I tried serving cold sandwiches for dinner they’d cry abuse lol. (My grandma watched my kids since birth so they got that full hot meal deal from her)

So I’ve found “easy and quick” dinners because I’m so over cooking full out meals. And eating out is pricey around here. I haven’t found ways to save money eating out where we like to eat out so we just do it less. Or we go to places we already like but on 50 cent wing night or something like that.

Some easy stuff are:

homemade burgers and fries.

Tacos. I do two styles. Hard tacos, ground beef and I make a fresh pico. The other way is soft tacos, cooked up steak with Oaxaca cheese, onion and cilantro. Both easy and quick.

Spaghetti. I do ground meat with sauce over spaghetti. Add a bagged salad and a baguette and we’re good.

Any meat cooked in the oven. Chicken legs seasoned up. While it’s baking make some mashed potatoes or rice and veggies.

i also send SO to grill while I do sides. Some sides are leftovers like potato salad.

And everything is seasoned well. That’s very important.

 

[SteveH]

It varies for us but generally we eat out/take out about once a week, that held true when our kids were at home as well. We generally plan meals a day or two in advance and take turns of which of us is the lead. We also shop with certain meals in mind. Some are pretty simple and some more complex and take more planning.

 

[mom2rtk]

I can cook, but hate the process and hate the clean up. So we eat out as a family (whoever is here) once a week. I eat out with friends when I can. But we always keep an eye on value, try to share things, and eat places with affordable options. For lunch today, I just had my 3rd meal from the $10 meal I got at Texas Roadhouse 2 nights ago.

One thing I'm starting this year is I'm picking 1 or 2 major holidays to start eating out. I'm way over the cooking and cleaning up while everyone else hangs out having fun. The one we have (mostly) consensus on so far will be Chinese for Christmas Eve.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I precook a lot of stuff on Sundays as mine and my wife's schedules are very conflicting and I have 2 kids under 5 I cook for 3 nights a week.

We used to go out once a week but covid kind of squashed that. I stopped ordering out as much as I'm trying to lose some weight and meal prep helps a lot with that.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I can cook, but hate the process and hate the clean up. So we eat out as a family (whoever is here) once a week. I eat out with friends when I can. But we always keep an eye on value, try to share things, and eat places with affordable options. For lunch today, I just had my 3rd meal from the $10 meal I got at Texas Roadhouse 2 nights ago.

One thing I'm starting this year is I'm picking 1 or 2 major holidays to start eating out. I'm way over the cooking and cleaning up while everyone else hangs out having fun. The one we have (mostly) consensus on so far will be Chinese for Christmas Eve.

It's the best thing ever - I no longer cook Christmas and Easter dinners - my fam does get great cooked meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, so this was a good compromise...(I do make a pastry for Christmas/Easter morning and a "snack/produce board" for Christmas/Easter lunch, if we don't have dinner leftovers, before we have a takeout bonanza for the evening meals)...

 

[barkley]

We've been eating out a lot to include carry-out since we are not good at cooking.

Do you have a schedule where it's sandwiches one night a week, left-overs another night, etc.?

How do you save money if/when you eat out?

i'm reading that you want insight on how to continue with little to no cooking/still largely getting prepared foods but cutting costs so i'm going to focus on that (i had a coworker who had this down to a science and learned from her though i prefer to cook myself)-

educate yourself on local/chain restaurant's weekly 'deals'. papa murphy's has $12 tuesdays where you can get any large for $12. get 2 different pizzas and have with a salad (prepared from the store greens container topped with canned or fresh veggies and dressing)-you've got meals for several days (normal 2 adult appetites), kfc has their bucket deals (fill up for $20) but some locations offer to add another bucket of chicken only for an additional $10. we've done it getting their tenders for the second bucket. they work great on bread as a sandwich. again-multiple meals. check out menus online before you go places-we like old spaghetti factory and learned you can pay $2 more for a larger portion of pasta. we get their stuff to-go and order the larger portions along w/an extra chicken breast for one meal/2 extra meatballs or a sausage for the other. we end up with 3 meals each for roughly $5 more than 1 single meal.

we eat LOTS of leftovers-esp during the summer. costco and safeway both do preseasoned chicken drumsticks for a few cents more than plain. dh bbq's up a batch of a dozen or so and we eat with whatever sides we have on hand for days. he will do up 6 chicken breasts seasoned and we have it with bbq sauce and canned bbq beans, marinara and pasta, salad and caesar dressing. winters are allot of crockpot recipes (check out yummly for easy ideas).

my oldest (27) never cooked at home. got a crockpot for the college apartment, started playing around with it and now does quite well. it just takes some practice.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's the best thing ever - I no longer cook Christmas and Easter dinners - my fam does get great cooked meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, so this was a good compromise...(I do make a pastry for Christmas/Easter morning and a "snack/produce board" for Christmas/Easter lunch, if we don't have dinner leftovers, before we have a takeout bonanza for the evening meals)...

It's long overdue here. We're working out the terms of their surrender now. I'm still negotiating with my ham loving daughter over Easter. I might give on Thanksgiving and cook a turkey breast (instead of the whole bird).

 

[disykat]

Like others have said, you don't have to "cook" to eat at home. Yesterday we had premade sandwich (just meat and cheese) I stuck in the oven to get hot, crunchy, and melty and a bag of ready to go salad. Today we are having chicken that is tossed in the oven with a jar of masala sauce poured over it along with the rest of the salad mix. I'm boiling some rice, but there is rice to buy that you just microwave briefly.

There is so much at the grocery store that is fool proof. A jar of spaghetti sauce, pasta, and frozen meatballs, Soup from the deli counter, just add water pancake mix, etc., etc., etc.

I actually enjoy cooking and I still just don't do it that often anymore. So many decent convenient choices for a quick meal for just the two of us.

 

[Boopuff]

I always giggle when people want the "latest-greatest- stainless, granite" kitchen - and then don't use the fancy kitchen to cook! I've been cooking forever. When our kids moved out, I told DH I was done. So we trade off cooking. And several nights a week we do end up going out. Seriously after 33 years of marriage, I'm just done. (and I do consider myself to be a pretty good cook, but I just don't want to do it any more) I used to have a revolving menu of family faves to fall back on: spaghetti, meatloaf, stroganoff, etc. Always had some easy, basic meals to throw together.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I always giggle when people want the "latest-greatest- stainless, granite" kitchen - and then don't use the fancy kitchen to cook! I've been cooking forever. When our kids moved out, I told DH I was done. So we trade off cooking. And several nights a week we do end up going out. Seriously after 33 years of marriage, I'm just done. (and I do consider myself to be a pretty good cook, but I just don't want to do it any more) I used to have a revolving menu of family faves to fall back on: spaghetti, meatloaf, stroganoff, etc. Always had some easy, basic meals to throw together.

I told my SO once DD goes off to college I’m done cooking. (My oldest is 21 and a senior in college) I’m a good cook and prefer my own food but after working full time and cooking dinner almost every night I’m over it. And that’s with SO doing all the clean up. I plan on only cooking when the kids come around or I’m craving something. Or he can cook if he wants something.

I have a coworker who hits up happy hour about 3-5 nights a week for dinner with her husband since her kids moved out. She says doing happy hour for most dinners is cheaper than her weekly grocery bill when she had 3 teenagers at home. lol. When they are all back she freaks out at the grocery bill.

 

[barkley]

I told DH I was done. So we trade off cooking

dh does the bulk during summer when it's bbq weather, i do the bulk in the colder months. whoever is not the cook is the prep cook so during the summer i make up the kabobs, marinade stuff...during the winter dh cubes meat, cuts veggies...we both have the habit of cleaning as we go so there's no mess when we sit down to eat, the part of the planned menu leftovers are ready to go into containers and all we have to do is put our individual dishes/the serving containers into the dishwasher-no muss no fuss. makes it so much less stressful.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We rarely eat out anymore but I’ve a forever single sister who lived on takeout.
Her plan during the pandemic (and probably just in life) was to buy family entrees for takeout at a local Italian restaurant (Carmine’s). One dish gave her at least four meals and she was happy. Didnt help her heart health but she seemed happy.

 

[tvguy]

I told my SO once DD goes off to college I’m done cooking. (My oldest is 21 and a senior in college) I’m a good cook and prefer my own food but after working full time and cooking dinner almost every night I’m over it. And that’s with SO doing all the clean up. I plan on only cooking when the kids come around or I’m craving something. Or he can cook if he wants something.

I did all the cooking for 17 of our 39 years of marriage due to works schedules. When work schedules changed my wife insisted on taking cooking back.
It was her stress releasing mechanism when we were working. Nothing more relaxing that aggressively dicing vegetables! Of course 39 years ago her stress reliever was playing Skydiver on the Atari 2600 after work, and never bothering to open the parachute.
Friday and Saturday nights are her no cook nights, but usually those are her bake something days.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

For the meal subscription plans take a look at the costs first and if you think you'll use them for you and your family. They can be very convenient but also costly depending on the plan and company. Some plans have requirements for how frequent you order and the amount it feeds but others are very customizable.

We frequently get free meal offers from Hello Fresh in the mail. Most recent one was 16 meals free. Sounds amazing, except in the fine print it's for auto renewal only. It's about $125 savings spread out over 5 weeks with a minimum order of 3 meals for 4 people per week. It's $53 off the first box with free shipping, $31 off the second box, $17 off the third box and $12 off the fourth and fifth. And the discount varies by the meal plan option chosen and it's $8.99 to ship per box after the first box with this offer. For us meal plan subscription services are too costly for our eating habits and desires. I did notice that Hello Fresh does have specific meal plan offerings like meat and veggies, carb smart, family friendly, etc and you can choose between 2 or 4 people.

If the OP is concerned about saving money meal plan subscription services would need to be looked at closely and compared with the current spending habits. Keep in mind the price per servings listed may not be reflective of the size of servings one normally has when eating out or cooking for themselves. Or it may be more than what you can do by purchasing the items yourself.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Or you can just season your food.

I don't even grill chicken breasts without at least a dry rub for a few hours.

I find that a lot of people just don't know how to properly season food or are afraid of salt. You need to use salt to cook. Otherwise your food will have no taste.

I don't like copious amounts of salt to things. I do love herbs and spices and rely more on that but I can guarantee you I don't add as much salt as you probably do to things but I find no issues with the taste. A lot of people my age we don't add tons of salt to things (especially because things already have enough it seems) and seems to work just fine. We've had tons of conversations over the years that our parents add salt, salt and more salt to things. It's actually interesting thinking back to growing up. My taste buds do NOT like too much salt. My husband and I find ourselves just watching in fascination how much salt his mom especially adds to cooking. She makes this chicken and rice recipe that uses canned chicken and she doesn't get reduced or low sodium versions. Then she'll add salt on top of that during the cooking, then she'll add salt to it on her plate. I don't know how she tastes anything but salt lol. I rely a lot more on cracked peppercorn. I love some good italian seasoning for spaghetti. I use our dried herb rack a lot. We use a lot of cajun seasoning (which already has salt mixed in) too.

Typically when I think of someone who doesn't find themselves to be a good cook (their own perception) it's that the cooking process seems daunting or they just don't know where to start. I myself am not a fan of handling raw chicken but I do for cooking, I just don't prefer it. I can see how that might affect how someone feels about cooking with it, cutting it up, etc. Even things like meatloaf or the tex-mex burgers we make where you add in breadcrumbs or other stuff and mix it all together with your hands may be just a bit much to someone. Easy things to make, full of flavor, but just not something someone feels they could do.

 

[DLgal]

I don't like copious amounts of salt to things. I do love herbs and spices and rely more on that but I can guarantee you I don't add as much salt as you probably do to things but I find no issues with the taste. A lot of people my age we don't add tons of salt to things (especially because things already have enough it seems) and seems to work just fine. We've had tons of conversations over the years that our parents add salt, salt and more salt to things. It's actually interesting thinking back to growing up. My taste buds do NOT like too much salt. My husband and I find ourselves just watching in fascination how much salt his mom especially adds to cooking. She makes this chicken and rice recipe that uses canned chicken and she doesn't get reduced or low sodium versions. Then she'll add salt on top of that during the cooking, then she'll add salt to it on her plate. I don't know how she tastes anything but salt lol. I rely a lot more on cracked peppercorn. I love some good italian seasoning for spaghetti. I use our dried herb rack a lot. We use a lot of cajun seasoning (which already has salt mixed in) too.

Typically when I think of someone who doesn't find themselves to be a good cook (their own perception) it's that the cooking process seems daunting or they just don't know where to start. I myself am not a fan of handling raw chicken but I do for cooking, I just don't prefer it. I can see how that might affect how someone feels about cooking with it, cutting it up, etc. Even things like meatloaf or the tex-mex burgers we make where you add in breadcrumbs or other stuff and mix it all together with your hands may be just a bit much to someone. Easy things to make, full of flavor, but just not something someone feels they could do.

What you are describing is OVER salting. Food shouldn't typically taste "salty" but salt is necessary to bring out natural flavors in foods. Even some things like fruits and other sweets. I now sprinkle sea salt on top of my homemade cookies and brownies.

 

[tvguy]

I don't like copious amounts of salt to things. I do love herbs and spices and rely more on that but I can guarantee you I don't add as much salt as you probably do to things but I find no issues with the taste. A lot of people my age we don't add tons of salt to things (especially because things already have enough it seems) and seems to work just fine. We've had tons of conversations over the years that our parents add salt, salt and more salt to things. It's actually interesting thinking back to growing up. My taste buds do NOT like too much salt. My husband and I find ourselves just watching in fascination how much salt his mom especially adds to cooking. She makes this chicken and rice recipe that uses canned chicken and she doesn't get reduced or low sodium versions. Then she'll add salt on top of that during the cooking, then she'll add salt to it on her plate. I don't know how she tastes anything but salt lol. I rely a lot more on cracked peppercorn. I love some good italian seasoning for spaghetti. I use our dried herb rack a lot. We use a lot of cajun seasoning (which already has salt mixed in) too.

Typically when I think of someone who doesn't find themselves to be a good cook (their own perception) it's that the cooking process seems daunting or they just don't know where to start. I myself am not a fan of handling raw chicken but I do for cooking, I just don't prefer it. I can see how that might affect how someone feels about cooking with it, cutting it up, etc. Even things like meatloaf or the tex-mex burgers we make where you add in breadcrumbs or other stuff and mix it all together with your hands may be just a bit much to someone. Easy things to make, full of flavor, but just not something someone feels they could do.

Other than staples like milk, and laundry soap etc, our grocery store trips usually involve buying what is on sale or looks good. Our meal planning is done in the store. Salmon on sale for $6.99 a pound, there's one meal. Asparagus on sale for $1.99 a pound, another meal portion. We do deviate. When I want ham or corned beef, things my wife will eat but is not a fan of, we get it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I can cook, but hate the process and hate the clean up. So we eat out as a family (whoever is here) once a week. I eat out with friends when I can. But we always keep an eye on value, try to share things, and eat places with affordable options. For lunch today, I just had my 3rd meal from the $10 meal I got at Texas Roadhouse 2 nights ago.

One thing I'm starting this year is I'm picking 1 or 2 major holidays to start eating out. I'm way over the cooking and cleaning up while everyone else hangs out having fun. The one we have (mostly) consensus on so far will be Chinese for Christmas Eve.

Years ago we decided the best thing ever for Christmas morning with my husband's mom's side of the family was to go out to eat. May not seem gourmet but IHOP has been our go-to. Relatively cheap, never a worry that it will be super busy (we go early in the morning like 7am or so) and it's done so much faster than if mother-in-law was cooking. The first few years when we didn't do this we ran out of time before my husband and I had to leave to go to my family. It takes her way too long to cook a lot of the times (she'll make one pancake at a time, one or two round sausage patties at a time, etc) and it takes a long time to open the gifts. Now she doesn't have to worry about the time and the hassle of cooking, we go out to eat, talk as family, everyone is awake and not hungry by the time gifts come around.

Totally no issues IMO going out for holidays