How do I stick to an eatting out budget of $45 a month?

Question

I'm trying so hard to cut down on eatting out to $45 a month for me, my husband, and son. Do you have any tips? We all pack our lunches. Somestimes we're so tired to cook dinner we eat out.

Please read question. This is not a food budget, this is only a EATTING OUT budget. Thanks.

Answer 1

There's a saying that I love.....Cook once, eat twice. Meaning, when preparing a meal cook more than enough and store the leftovers in freezer lock bags. You can take these out before work in the morning and leave them in the fridge or on the counter(depending what time you come home). This will help when everyone is too tired and doesn't want to cook. As for eating out, if you can't resist the convenience of an already prepared meal, opt for take-out. This way you'll save money on drinks (which can add up to $10 for just fountain drinks) and avoid the 20% tip involved when dining in.

Answer 2

You don't. I only eat 2 meals a day and one of those is a can of soup. I spend $30 a month on just the soup for 1 person. $45 divided among 3 people is $15.00/person. That won't buy a fast food value meal every 2 weeks. I recommend finding dinners you can prepare in advance and microwave when you are to tired to cook. Canned soup is easy. Just open the can, microwave, and eat.

Answer 3

Do you mean you only have 45$ for your entire food budget or just 45$ for when you eat out? 45$ for eating out will get you one decent meal for three, two mid level meals for three, or three or four fast food meals. Probably your best bet when you go out is to get an appy platter that you can all share, like nachos or something. If you are often too tired to cook take the other suggestion of precooking your meals. Its easy to make extra when your are cooking things like soup, stew, and casseroles before hand. A good trick if you're short on dishes is to line a casserole dish with plastic wrap, put in the food, and then freeze. When it is frozen you can take it out and still have your dish, just pop it frozen into the same one when you want to eat it.

Answer 4

I take full advantage of every fast food restaurant's $1.00 menu...plus it helps me to cut back on calories. After eating off the dollar menu for awhile, you realize you don't need as much food as you thought you did...although it might be different for men....but some places, like McDonald's will have specials during the week, like $.69 cheeseburger Tuesdays, or $.99 chicken nugget Thursdays. Chick-fillet does free kid's meals on Tuesdays, although I only did it once because the meal was ridiculously skimpy even for my 2-yr old. My local Denny's also had a night when kids could eat free - our family of three ate for about $15 (2 $6 entrees and a free kids meal plus tax and tip - I guess a little over $15)

Also, keep all the flyers you get in the mail because there are often "buy one - get one free" specials wrapped up in the mailers. Keep them in your car for easy access. Or you can sign up to get a Buy One/Get one free magazine (only avail. in some areas)

I also would order Chinese food at local owned places, because the portions are huge. I'd normally get rice and chow mein and then one meat entree....sometimes, I would buy the food at lunch time (to get the lunch discount) and keep it in the workplace fridge to take home for dinner.

You can't eat out every night for $45 a month, but I think if you plan ahead and make use of discounts and coupons, you could manage it 1-2 times a week. :) Good luck!!

Answer 5

Packing lunches is a great idea.

Plan your meals, make extra, and freeze the leftovers. Also taking a little extra time to cook good tasting food helps with eating out. For example, we rarely go out for Mexican food anymore because we learned to make great salsa, black beans and rice, and tasty chicken fajitas. We make extra and have great tasting burritos for a quick meal.

$45 a month is really not much for a family of three. To stick to it, I'd only eat out once a month. If you put it at the end of the month, treat it as a reward for working hard to save during the month. The treat yourself to a nice place.

I commend you for doing this. It's not easy to stick to a budget. Your personal finances will be in better shape in the future.

Answer 6

If you're trying to get by on a food budget of $45 per month, you have to cook for yourself as eating out is way too expensive

Answer 7

how bout you dont eat out. suck it up and cook something, put that $45 in an acount for your son to go to college and get an education that way he doesn't have to live on a $45 a month out to eat budget. By the way your a parent you have to suck up alot of things no matter how tired you are.

Answer 8

1) Try to use 2 for 1 coupons (they are often in local newspapers)

2) Some places have "kids eat free" promotions

3) Bring in pizza (lots of pizza places have buy one, get one free offers which would give you nice left-overs for the next day)

Good luck. You should be proud of yourselves for trying to stick to a budget!

Edited to add: Some of the previous responders didn't notice that the $45 is just for eating out -- it does not include groceries.

Answer 9

Dont eat out, buy in bulk, plan meals 2 weeks in advance (this prevents the run to the store on the way home that costs $10 every time you go).

Answer 10

THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT IS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTH YOU PRE-COOK MEALS AND FREEZE THEM. THEN YOU USE THOSE MORE THROUGHOUT THE MONTH, SO ALL YOUR DOING IS REHEATING, THEN THAT SAVES ON TIME AND IS QUICK. THEN IF YOU GO OUT TO EAT SAY TO EXAMPLE (MCDONALD'S) YOU ORDER EXTRA CHEESEBURGERS OFF THE DOLLAR MENU AND WHAT YOU DON'T EAT YOU FREEZE THE REST OR YOU DO THE SAME WITH OTHER FAST FOOD AND IF YOU DO IT RIGHT THEN $45.00 FOR EAT OUT SHOULD LAST ALL MONTH.