Comments on: Does Dining Out Actually Hurt Your Finances That Much?

By: SMM

SMM — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:28:05 +0000

We try to look for deals as much as we can (e.g., coupons, Groupon, advertisements, taco Tuesday etc.). We treat ourselves to maybe one night a week of take-out or dining out. It gives us a break from prepping and cleaning up and we get to put our feet up and let someone else take care of the cooking. 🙂

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 11:00:12 +0000

Dining out is definitely a large expense. But you could always try a dish and if you like it try to make it home and increase the size of your personal cookbook.

Always enjoy the articles keep it up!

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 03:30:23 +0000

In reply to Kara@provincialtable.

Bingo. Bingo. Bingo.

Was going to add my 2 cents here, but you beat me to it. The health benefits of cooking nutritionally at home far, far, far compound the cost savings benefit vs eating out or buying highly processed food. The extra salt, sugar, and oils of commercially produced food (and animal proteins) are poisoning people, resulting ultimately in heart disease, diabetes (they say 1 out of 11 now), cancers, and other diseases. Don’t believe me? Read Dr Greger’s recent best seller “How Not To Die” for an exhaustive explanation of this (pro tip – just watch him for free on YouTube to get the gist). The cumulative costs of this nutritional nightmare may ultimately bankrupt this country once you start looking at the trends. For now, one of the best FIRE tips you can have has nothing to do with $. It is to look at what you are eating and improve on that, because if/when you get sick, its going to cost you big time $ and greatly inhibit your life style.

By: Smart Money and Travel

Smart Money and Travel — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 02:44:24 +0000

Like most other analyses, I think the outputs depend a lot on the variables. In big cities like the one we live in, unless you eat off dollar menus, it is very hard to find a good lunch for less than $10. Therefore, dinner costs even more, and the savings from making your own meals is substantially more.

I do think dining out significantly penalizes your early retirement so when we put together a budget in 2018, we made sure to ratchet down our restaurant spending significantly. I’ve seen the dollars flow to our bottom line so far this quarter and it is great!

By: FU MON CHU

FU MON CHU — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:22:28 +0000

Timely post

I’m currently trying to get our current grocery spend for our family, which includes six kids, out of Mrs FU . I think she’s avoiding me though.

The potential savings do add up over time and you have to be sensible, especially in our house!

By: Lily | The Frugal Gene

Lily | The Frugal Gene — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 19:59:35 +0000

Food is still rather cheap compare to a car or a house..or god forbid a overpriced wedding. And it ties to health and energy and so many important things. I would not cut back on food. It just means too much for not that much gains. Also…it’s important to support responsible farming which impacts everybody.

By: Mrs. Picky Pincher

Mrs. Picky Pincher — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 19:51:47 +0000

We had to do this exact math a few years ago. We were spending $1,000+ a month just on groceries. At that time, it actually made sense to exclusively eat out for us to save money. That is, until we learned how to cook good, healthy, cheap homemade meals. Now the numbers are, of course, in favor of cooking at home.

But it’s worth doing the math to know your cost per meal for sure. Any time someone tells you one way is cheaper, always do the math for your specific situation. This goes doubly so for people who are differently-abled and might save money with takeout or prepared foods.

By: The Luxe Strategist

The Luxe Strategist — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 18:32:43 +0000

I enjoyed the comparison between the three Zachs, and how your Careless Zach is like my Frugal Luxe. For me, I’d rather hack my housing to save money than food. Easier to make a good decision every few years than one almost every day. But I do have the privilege of being able to pick and choose like that.

By: Kara@provincialtable

Kara@provincialtable — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 17:41:08 +0000

Another hidden savings and value of cooking at home, provided you’re cooking nutritional foods, is the health benefit. Eating less salt, fat and processed foods along with more nutrient dense foods is going to add to your quality of life by prolonging good health. That in turn will decrease medical expenses now and down the road. So, I would argue the long-term savings are even more than you’ve forecast here. Great post as always!

By: Matt Spillar @ Spills Spot

Matt Spillar @ Spills Spot — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 16:10:36 +0000

For my wife and I, cooking almost all our meals at home has been a huge key for us in paying down debt and building up our investments. Not only for the cost savings, but mainly in the mindset shift. By developing a more frugal mindset of cooking meals for ourselves, this trickles down to other areas of our budget. We don’t miss eating out and instead put this money towards other areas (travel).

I like your analysis on this though. Especially being 1 person, it’s perfectly reasonable to have a mix of dining out and cooking at home. Like any spending decision, it all comes down to whether it’s a mindful purchase that’s bringing value.