How to Cut Your Dining Out Budget by at Least 40%

Monday Money is a series I started late last year when my wife and I discovered we could cut $2,000 to $3,000 from our annual expenses.

Besides sharing the original steps we took, I’ve been occasionally adding additional tips.

Before we made the conscious decision to cut expenses, we were eating out most weekends, on both Friday and Saturday nights.

One way we cut back was to reduce the number of times we did this from 8 times a month, down to about 5.

That’s a 3/8 or 37.5% cut in the number of times we spent money paying someone else to prepare our food, serve us and clean up.

The portions at most restaurants are at least double what we should eat for one meal.  We used to each buy our own meals, and take home the leftovers.  That’s another way to save. If you were to look in our refrigerator, you’d find a collection of styrofoam.

A few years ago, after recovering from gallbladder removal surgery, my wife and I went out to eat one weekend and decided to split a meal that included shrimp, chicken, a small steak, veggies, and sweet potato.   It was very filling and we discovered instead of spending $45 for the two of us, we spent $25.  That’s a 44% savings.

.Try a combination of these ideas and I’m sure you can trim some of the fat from your dining out budget too.

• Eat Out fewer times per month.
• Eat a Portion of your meal and take the leftovers home for a second meal.
• Split your meal with your dining partner and spend less upfront.

As a point of reference regarding meal size, 40 years ago a meal from McDonalds used to be a regular hamburger  or cheeseburger, small fries and a drink.  (If you were good your parents would let you have a shake instead of a coke.) This was the standard meal for both kids and adults, except growing teenagers might get two burgers.  Today, what I described is a Happy Meal, marketed to young kids only.   For an excellent comparison of portion sizes, read this from Divine Caroline: http://www.divinecaroline.com/self/wellness/portion-size-then-vs-now