Eating Out
December 23, 2008 – 5:09 am
Do you like eating out? I do. Actually, I used to love to eat out, and unfortunately I also used to get to eat out every meal every day for free. Talk about a weight-loss killer. When I graduated from college I started for a technology consulting firm that required 100% travel. The job was fun but involved long hours (just like college), and I was with my coworkers all the time. We received per diem food allowances, and my company made so much money in fees for our work that my manager frequently took us out to team dinners several nights a week. And I mean NICE dinners. It wasn’t uncommon for my boss (and the company really) to spend $200/person at a nice steak house each week, and that was in addition to the per diems!
Needless to say I gained a bunch of weight (even though I worked out), and now that I’ve been out of that life for a while it still amazes me what it was like.
But enough reminiscing. One of the things I’ve discovered about eating out, besides the fact that it’s expensive, is that different people look for different things. Here are a few common feelings and reasons people like to eat out:
- convenience. The stay-at-home moms likes that it’s easy, doesn’t require any time to prepare, and doesn’t require any time to cleanup
- free time. The time savings from food preparation and cleanup means more quality time with the family, if you call having your kids scream through the entire meal “quality” time.
- generosity. Single income earners may feel generous and happy that they can take their families out to eat on occasion, thereby providing their overworked spouse with some stress-free family time.
- indulgence. Restaurant food is tasty, and people who like to eat typically like to eat out. You’ve got variety, appetizers, meals, desserts, and drinks, and plenty of ways to indulge in all of them.
- entertainment. Some people eat out as entertainment. It’s a great place to hang out with friends, catch up, network, decompress, and relax. And did I mention you don’t need to clean anything up after this “entertainment” is over?
If you’re looking to save money dining out might be a budget buster. There’s obviously nothing wrong with eating out, and if it’s important to you then find a way to fit it into your budget.
Here’s the point: You might be able to accomplish your goals without actually eating out, or you may be able to dramatically reduce the cost to get what you want.
This is the goal of frugality. Get what you want in a way that conserves resources. If you’re trying to save your husband or wife food prep time then get food to go. It will save you at least a 10-20% tip plus most of the cost of drinks, and you can eat on paper plates to save time on the cleanup.
If free time with the family is your goal try to identify a couple meals that are easy to make (or freeze) that your family loves. Or consider partnering with your neighbor one night a week to prepare a meal for both families. It doesn’t usually take more time to prepare twice as much of a recipe as it does one batch. Make pasta and meat sauce for you and your neighbors family one week, and then switch the next week. You could even turn this into a part-time business, preparing a meal a week for time-starved friends and family that live near you.
Just use your brain and come up with a creative way to get what you want!
Image Credit: Paul Keleher
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