How much do you spend on Food?

[nkthen]

How about spending a little money to attend a cooking course? It's not that hard to cook, as long as it's not French or Chinese cuisine...

[gingerlee]

ive started cooking more at home at night before bed and saving the extras for lunches and bringing oatmeal for breakfast to work and a tea bag or a pouch of instant coffee. i think i am spending 4 dollars a day on food or so now. max 8.

[mcnerd]

I'm a single guy also and my best investment was a small 7.2 cu.ft. chest freezer. It not only allows me to be frugal in my grocery shopping by taking advantage of sales to stock up, but you can make meals in advance and freeze them; and also freeze leftovers so you're not eating them 5 days in a row.

Next is to invest in a FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer -- the best you can afford -- and lots of pint bags (get them on eBay in bulk) so you can freeze your foods to last for many months to come without freezer burn. It also allows you to store pantry goods without the concern of bugs, etc.

I also tossed out all the recipe books for those fancy meals and serving sizes of 6-8 people because I finally realized that, despite my drooling, I would "never" make those fancy meals. I got a small notebook and started keeping recipes I found on the Internet for 2-4 people or less. In time it added up.

[singleguymoney]

Originally Posted by sr82

I am a single guy who doesn't cook at all at home. I eat out all the time, and end up spending about $400-$500 on food + groceries a month.

I would love to cut this down by a couple hundred. Anyone care to share stories on how you economize on food?

I have pretty much the same situation. I don't cook and usually go out to lunch 4-5x a week. I don't usually eat dinner so this usually saves me a few hundred dollars.

I usually spend around $275 - $350 a month on food and groceries.

[hermione]

If you prefer not to cook, how about a middle-ground? You can buy things like the family size Stouffer's frozen lasagna, frozen pizzas, pre-packaged salads, etc. that only require a little preparation at home (open package, turn on oven, put in oven). They are sometimes more expensive than cooking from scratch (not always though - at least where we live) but still cheaper than eating out.

We love the Stouffer's lasanges at our house. During our business's rush season (Halloween), we stock up on them and eat them for weeks. They have sevearl different flavors so you can get a variety.

[MoneyTrev]

Set a goal and stick with it.

Then you'll start exploring ways to lower your costs and meet your requirements!

[Ms. Ferret]

I'll admit that when I first started working I ate takeout or prepackaged food for every meal. I could boil water for pasta, but that was the extent of my cooking skills. I literally could not manage to put together a grilled cheese sandwich -- it would catch on fire. That's how bad I was. I didn't really change until I started paying attention to how much I was spending on food every month.

Now I try to cook at least once or twice a week (making several servings so I have some extra lunches/dinners). I brown-bag lunch 80% of the time. I buy 4-5 lbs of oatmeal at a time and have a bowl every morning. I do go out to eat/drink with friends on the weekends. But I still spend way less on food than I did back in the day, mostly because I'm not absently swiping my card at a restaurant 15-20 times a week.

If you like meat but don't like cooking, get a slow cooker. I'm always finding more stuff I can make in that damn thing. Grab a piece of meat or some beans, some chicken stock or vinegar and some spices, maybe some vegetables, throw it all into the slow cooker, ignore it for 9 hours, and come back to soup/adobo/pot roast/whatever. Prep time: 5 minutes. It's a great cooking method if you're no good at standing next to the stove stirring.

[redsoxmaniac]

My 20 year old college son is transitioning because he finds he has no money because he spends it on food.

My advice to him is to eat only food from the grocery store, rotisserie chicken, sandwich from their deli, some of their prepared food, frozen entrees etc. he started to save a few bucks and then moved on to other things.

Here are the things I'd suggest, buy your self a decent couple of pots a good sauce pan and a 12 inch saute or frying pan. Don't skimp on this it wlll save you time and money and your food will taste much better. You rarely have to heat a good pan higher than medium.

Buy a crockpot, one where the insert is removable (easier to clean) Go to
allrecipes website and pick out something you like.
http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes...ion=Descending

Start with something easy. You can do it on a weekend or do what I do, while I am watching sports on TV I get everything put together in the crock pot to cook over night. Within the span of 3 or 4 commercial breaks I have put the meal together. I start by gathering the ingredients, chopping what I need to if I need to and then putting the thing together. I cook it over night, unplug it when I get up...maybe take a serving for lunch with me but more likely pulling the crockpot out of the insert (very hot) and putting it in the fridge...the flavors meld and when you get home scoop out a portion or two and microwave and in a 1/3 of the time you'd spend driving in to pick up fast food you have yourself dinner.

The other great thing for single people is using vacuum sealers and mason jars for storage. Good strong seals, and easy to reheat and see what you have....very rare to have freezer burn issues with either.

You'll save a TON of money if you learn to cook. Check out some u-tube cooking videos or google a cooking video on something you like to eat. Cooking isn't brain surgery it is just a few basic skills that you expand upon. After awhile your food will taste much better than a lot of stuff you order out, that is when the real conversion comes!

[sr82]

Thank you all for some great advice! It looks like cooking is really the only way to lower food costs, and it probably is the best option to stay healthy as well. I need to learn how to cook smart, so that I can cook for several meals at once and not have to cook every day.

I envy the person here (don't remember your screen name) who has got their per day food cost down to $4. That's awesome!

[lucille]

I think you have to wean yourself off of eating out. Even if you start by substituting some of your restaurant meals for frozen packaged items from Sam's, Costco or the grocery store you will be ahead financially. If you have a gourmet grocery nearby they might have some to-go food that is really good but slightly cheaper. Once you get to that stage start looking for foods to cook that you really like. Learning to cook a dish you already love is more of a motivation than learning to cook something your not very thrilled about.

Maybe look at learning to cook as a hobby, it does make one well rounded.