Flip side of always eating at home - Page 3

rainysparadigm · 03-22-2008, 10:44 PM

Like most people, we run very long days, so eating out is always on the mind as we're leaving work. "Theres still so much to do when we get home" is always the justification. Then we did the math, and it really takes just as long and often times longer to decided on a resteraunt, drive there, wait (if its a diner thats even worse), order, wait, eat, wait, pay, go home. No time saved there, no health saved, and definitely no money. So we started eating at home, and by doing this, we feel a little more inclined to splurge at the grocery store. Finding if we spend that extra $1 on the bread we REALLY like or an extra $50 on the flavored tortillas, we are less likely to eat out and we're at least as satisifed if not more.

If you find you cant break the eat out cycle, then take a minute to find out the thought process that goes into your decision making and see if its actually valid. And maybe splurge a little at home...its still cheaper. Even with our new splurge at the store, not at the resteraunt philosophy, we are saving something between 2-3 hundred a month. Yea. I can dig that! lol Not to mention feel much healthier.

Also going along that line, what are the items you really enjoy when you eat out? You can probably make them at home. Maybe you like that really good alfredo pasta - go to allrecipes.com, find a home made recipe and make it yourself. Most restaurant cooked meals are actually very simple to make at home and very rarely are home made sauces etc When i worked in restaurants we would fill in between shipments with items from the local grocery store. Nothing special there, our chef hadnt even finished highschool let alone was some culinary graduate.

Another tip that we use is, for example, we love wings from a certain resteraunt. However, come to find out - they sell the bottled sauce. It's still cheaper, healthier and more convenient for us to pick up a few of our favorite sauces from them and just bake chicken in the oven or crockpot with the sauce. Also we are more inclined to mix up a side salad with it.

Another thing to keep in mind before I get off my little thrift store, hand painted soap box

if you eat out alot, then that makes "special occasions" that much more difficult to "splurge". We were stuck in the eat out cycle around valentines. We decided to celebrate we would go to dinner, and have a nice night out together. But since it was pretty normal for us to eat out anyway, the night was a bit too much like our other nights. Not to say we didnt enjoy ourself, but it wasnt anything overly "special".

Ok I'm done lol

trixs · 03-23-2008, 07:30 AM

I personally am single so I find eating out to be cheaper than eating in. If I want a good full meal at home you have to purchase lots of different products. Lets say you wanted chicken, some bread, and corn. In that case you will have to buy all of them and most likely before you can eat all of it - well it will go to waste. I probably eat out almost everyday night for a cost of about $8 a night. Is that expensive? NOt sure

lucille · 03-23-2008, 10:54 AM

Another upside of eating at home is you will probably lower your chances of getting food poisoning! In the stretch of a week my daughter and I both got sick from (most likely) milk that turned bad from a coffee chain. The same week my husband got food poisoning from artichoke spinach dip at a local restaurant. He was sick for 4 days.

We have noticed since we rarely eat out any longer the incidence of various levels of food poisoning has dropped to nil.

jkuo13 · 03-24-2008, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trixs

I personally am single so I find eating out to be cheaper than eating in. If I want a good full meal at home you have to purchase lots of different products. Lets say you wanted chicken, some bread, and corn. In that case you will have to buy all of them and most likely before you can eat all of it - well it will go to waste. I probably eat out almost everyday night for a cost of about $8 a night. Is that expensive? NOt sure

It's almost always cheaper to prepare your own food than eating out. If you want a highly varied, multi-dish, unique meal every day, the time and money costs might not be worth it when you're single. If your meal needs are simple and you plan ahead, you definitely save money. It is of course easier when you're not single and/or have roommates to share meal responsibilities with.

$8 worth of food can feed my fiancee and I for an entire day off of homemade food. Granted, we prepare several meals in bulk over the weekend and have to eat the same meals 2-3 times over the course of a week, but it saves us a lot of money. Considering that we both exercise like fiends and have to eat constantly, preparing our own food saves us even more money.

redsoxmaniac · 03-27-2008, 10:29 AM

I also like allrecipes.com the great thing is you can do a recipe search with ingredients you have an come up with some new ideas. You can also change the number of portions in a recipe which is great if you are cooking for 2 or 20.

When I am by myself I occasionally like to eat out for other human contact. But it still is expensive and not always very nutritious. I think if you invest in something like a simple Reynolds vacuum sealer you could cook up a couple of meals on a weekend and maybe 20-30$ a week. I have bought a whole chicken for 2-3$ and ended up putting it to use in 3 recipes for 2 people. Plus there is something about a home cooked meal.

VaranusK · 03-30-2008, 03:10 PM

Since I'm cooking myself better-than-usual meals on sundays, I don't find so appealing eating out. As said before, still like ethnic restaurants because they offer me something I can not do, but for international cuisine... I feel I am covered.
I leave apart fast-food because I have never liked it, and now even less!!

03-22-2008, 10:44 PM	#21
rainysparadigm Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 55 Reputation: (12)	Like most people, we run very long days, so eating out is always on the mind as we're leaving work. "Theres still so much to do when we get home" is always the justification. Then we did the math, and it really takes just as long and often times longer to decided on a resteraunt, drive there, wait (if its a diner thats even worse), order, wait, eat, wait, pay, go home. No time saved there, no health saved, and definitely no money. So we started eating at home, and by doing this, we feel a little more inclined to splurge at the grocery store. Finding if we spend that extra $1 on the bread we REALLY like or an extra $50 on the flavored tortillas, we are less likely to eat out and we're at least as satisifed if not more. If you find you cant break the eat out cycle, then take a minute to find out the thought process that goes into your decision making and see if its actually valid. And maybe splurge a little at home...its still cheaper. Even with our new splurge at the store, not at the resteraunt philosophy, we are saving something between 2-3 hundred a month. Yea. I can dig that! lol Not to mention feel much healthier. Also going along that line, what are the items you really enjoy when you eat out? You can probably make them at home. Maybe you like that really good alfredo pasta - go to allrecipes.com, find a home made recipe and make it yourself. Most restaurant cooked meals are actually very simple to make at home and very rarely are home made sauces etc When i worked in restaurants we would fill in between shipments with items from the local grocery store. Nothing special there, our chef hadnt even finished highschool let alone was some culinary graduate. Another tip that we use is, for example, we love wings from a certain resteraunt. However, come to find out - they sell the bottled sauce. It's still cheaper, healthier and more convenient for us to pick up a few of our favorite sauces from them and just bake chicken in the oven or crockpot with the sauce. Also we are more inclined to mix up a side salad with it. Another thing to keep in mind before I get off my little thrift store, hand painted soap box if you eat out alot, then that makes "special occasions" that much more difficult to "splurge". We were stuck in the eat out cycle around valentines. We decided to celebrate we would go to dinner, and have a nice night out together. But since it was pretty normal for us to eat out anyway, the night was a bit too much like our other nights. Not to say we didnt enjoy ourself, but it wasnt anything overly "special". Ok I'm done lol Last edited by rainysparadigm : 03-22-2008 at 10:51 PM.

03-23-2008, 07:30 AM	#22
trixs Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 7 Reputation: (10)	I personally am single so I find eating out to be cheaper than eating in. If I want a good full meal at home you have to purchase lots of different products. Lets say you wanted chicken, some bread, and corn. In that case you will have to buy all of them and most likely before you can eat all of it - well it will go to waste. I probably eat out almost everyday night for a cost of about $8 a night. Is that expensive? NOt sure __________________ How To Invest

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03-23-2008, 10:54 AM	#23
lucille Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 421 Reputation: (26)	Another upside of eating at home is you will probably lower your chances of getting food poisoning! In the stretch of a week my daughter and I both got sick from (most likely) milk that turned bad from a coffee chain. The same week my husband got food poisoning from artichoke spinach dip at a local restaurant. He was sick for 4 days. We have noticed since we rarely eat out any longer the incidence of various levels of food poisoning has dropped to nil.

03-27-2008, 10:29 AM	#25
redsoxmaniac Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 79 Reputation: (13)	I also like allrecipes.com the great thing is you can do a recipe search with ingredients you have an come up with some new ideas. You can also change the number of portions in a recipe which is great if you are cooking for 2 or 20. When I am by myself I occasionally like to eat out for other human contact. But it still is expensive and not always very nutritious. I think if you invest in something like a simple Reynolds vacuum sealer you could cook up a couple of meals on a weekend and maybe 20-30$ a week. I have bought a whole chicken for 2-3$ and ended up putting it to use in 3 recipes for 2 people. Plus there is something about a home cooked meal.

03-30-2008, 03:10 PM	#26
VaranusK Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 66 Reputation: (10)	Since I'm cooking myself better-than-usual meals on sundays, I don't find so appealing eating out. As said before, still like ethnic restaurants because they offer me something I can not do, but for international cuisine... I feel I am covered. I leave apart fast-food because I have never liked it, and now even less!!