We all know there is an exorbitant cost to eating out and it can be cut in half if we were less lazy and more realistic.
The fact that millions could be out of debt, happier and have less health, mental, physical ailments by not choosing the convenient 21st century way of drive thrus and GrubHub is embarrassing.
The average American household spends about $3k a year just on dining out and that number has skyrocketed due to the pandemic. Thankfully the national savings rate has soared to a high of 30% so discretionary spending can be justified yet that number has already gone down since vaccinations rose due to immense cabin fever for the past year and a half.
With the average American spending $671 a week on takeout, eating out at least once a week according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is 64% of adults or 163 million people paying for overpriced food!
This exceeds $602 billion a year spent on so called âluxuryâ activities for the American population.
Donât get me wrong, food is an experience and we all love it yet it is also money down the drain with no benefit besides a nutritional one which usually isnât counted for anyway outside of the house.
Whatâs most astonishing is that a majority of these diners are also in debt all due to this reason but donât seem to care. Itâs all in oneâs control and eating in is easier than you think. Most of the time the reason why Americans are in debt is due to laziness, over-reliance/conveniency, dependency, abundance and too much optimism, not realistic.
The number one reason Americans go into debt is due to their medical bills. This is due to pure laziness not setting up health insurance early on so if something does happen, all charges will be covered and no out-of-pocket charges. The amount you would only have to pay is maybe a deductible co-pay.
Planning for the worst, hoping for the best is your best bet.
When it comes to the second largest source of debt Americans carry, itâs even more depressing. This is consumer debt. From luxury cars to clothes, people are obsessed with image and perception that they sabotage their own financial future to please strangers they donât know with money they donât have.
Once again, this can all be prevented if Americans were more diligent with their savings, spend less, earned more with several income streams, set up an emergency savings account and invested that money instead of spent it.
Keeping up with the Joneses is deadly, especially when you are HANGRY.
HANGER is The Worst
During the pandemic, we had no excuse. To limit the transmission of the virus, the logical and safest way to eat was indoors with our quarantined loved ones. Not only could we pick up a new skill from cooking, enjoy quality family time, stay safe, eat at our own pace, and most likely eat less due to controlled portion sizes, we would have cut the bill in half each week!
Yet laziness got the best of us. Since we had a valid reason to support small businesses although most Americans seemed to still cling onto their favorite classic nationwide chains which didnât help small businesses recover any faster nor our waists or wallet, we decided to take a break from being chef for the next few months and splurge.
Americans believed they deserved a served meal as their kitchens got remodeled or while most moved out entirely to find a more spacious one to cook less in. It feels special to be at a restaurant and have food prepared for us. It feels as if we have our own personal chef or Uber driver spending gas and their allowance to get overpriced cold food for us.
The pandemic has only normalized eating out. From $7 coffee runs to pre-ordering a meal 2 days in advance, we are spending more on food we can prepare better and more efficiently ourselves.
Order Up
To be clear, eating out shouldnât be a daily thing.
I get it. On vacation itâs your only choice. If you donât have a kitchenette in your hotel room, then you have to splurge on meals. To be strategic on your budget, I recommend eating late breakfast so you can skip the second meal. Not that great for our metabolism but superb for the wallet. Itâs only a few days after all. We can handle eating less on vacation. We never need as much food as we think we do. You can handle a large breakfast instead of 3 pretty meals once in a while.
But at home, itâs a different story. Eating out once or twice should be max especially for Americans swimming in debt. It is a luxury not a staple of life. It would do you a lot better financially and physically to eat at home more. Itâs not grueling or hard if you want to save and be healthier.
Being healthy doesnât have to be expensive nor time consuming. The other day I went to the farmers market to load up on vegetables for the week. I bought at least 12 different varieties of greens from cucumbers to peppers, carrots to tomatoes and it only cost me $10!
We all love our comfort food and want to be served and treated like the elite but down the road, food isnât an investment youâll remember forever.
Donât get me wrong, going to a restaurant is a pleasurable fun experience yet which instance do you believe youâll remember more of?
Following Julia Childâs soufflĂŠ recipe and sharing your masterpiece with your loved ones or ordering some dish you couldnât pronounce that was delicious but small and at the end of the night not worth it for $70?
When we put in the effort to do something, we enjoy it more and it lasts as a memory. We feel proud, more satiated and accomplished. If you want to spend less, you can still get a terrific experience.Â
Money distracts us and makes us believe we are getting a better bang for our buck.
Plus eating out isnât as great as we think it is. Whenever I go out to dine with friends, itâs more of an outing than eating especially since the pricier and more packed the restaurant, the less food, peace and taste I seem to receive. Less bang for my buck is tough to deal with as a personal finance guru.
We have to get over our laziness, convenience and comfortability to save ourselves. As real life activities resume such as waiting an hour for our pasta at a restaurant to be served, make sure to reward yourself at home as well.
If youâre looking for a quick meal in under 10 minutes, consider meal prep programs. Iâve been using SunBasket and HelloFresh for a few years now on and off (not sponsored). They have an international variety of meal choices that are never boring and all you have to do is heat them up on the stove or chop some ingredients up yourself. In minutes youâll have a beautifully portioned out prepared meal without the extra hassle and wait.
Although we should ideally eat to live not live to eat, most of us do the opposite especially foodies like myself and thatâs perfectly okay as long as you:
-Portion out your meals
-Drink water to keep fuller for longer
-Order less than you think
-Stay present and mindful
-Limit distractions
-Make every meal an experience not a time crunch in your day. Be appreciative of every bite and savor it
Eating out can practically be replicated in the comfort of your home and offers a plethora of benefits for you and your wallet. If youâve allocated and budgeted for the month on what you can spend on eating-out and on other discretionary activities/items, go ahead but realize, nothing can top the accomplished feeling you get whipping up that meal youâve made in your fancy new kitchen yourself.
Bon appetit!