Speaking Of Being Frugal and Pinching Pennies
By KrauseHome
@KrauseHome (36448)
United States
April 27, 2009 4:19pm CST
I wonder how many when they go out to eat somewhere, will go somewhere to where they will end up usually having enough left over for another meal? I know that this may sound like you would need to order a lot of food, but go somewhere expensive or fancy, but yet, this might not be the case at all.
Often times we have been known to go out to eat. Usually anymore, we try and go places that are within like $20 or less for 2 people usually, but also a place that will serve enough food to where I usually end up having enough left over for lunch the next day as well. This could be from Places like Panda Express, or Teriyaki or other type places and in the long run is so worth it as well. We actually find ourselves saving $$ in the long run as well.
I think it is getting rediculous when we can go to a lot of these type places and have left overs, for less or just barely more than what it costs to eat at McDonalds anymore. And just because a lot of the all you can eat places are not that expensive, you can't bring left overs with you, so that often defeats the purpose as well.
So what about you? Do you not go out to eat anymore, or are you finding yourself doing more of what we do, and hope to find other ways out there that you can save some extra $$ too?
Wishing you all the Best.
~~TINA~~
4 people like this
16 responses
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I don't think our eating outs have changed any since the economy has gotten bad. Of course my fiance and I aren't personally paying for the meal. Even so when we do go out with his parents we go out to the same place / food is brought to us from the same places. Here I think we save in different ways, myself and my fiance try to turn off lights and not use them during the day so as to save a little bit of money. I've been going to the bathroom without the light on during the day atleast, for the same reason. I don't think anyone but my fiance has noticed, and if they have they haven't said anything. In any case, other ways to save food wise is to try to buy when things are on sale, plus with added coupons, and additional reward programs that some stores offer it's easy to get things for less. I know of one store that if you go while something's on sale, redeem your points for the item, and then use your own bags, that can add up to a great savings. Of course the store has food and other essentials that can be pricey to begin with, so if there's a cheaper store closer it'd just work out that much better.
In any case, sorry for the rambling, but I hope that this helps.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
13 May 09
These are some Great tips. We have been using Reward cards most of the time with all of the Grocery shopping we do, and also shopping the Clearance aisles in all of the stores we shop as well. I think you can never do enough these days to help save some extra $$ for sure.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
30 Apr 09
here in quebec, we don't have as much food at a restaurant as is serviced in the states, or even other parts of canada, so there isn't much left over. for example ribs are usually three of the smaller ribs on a plate, just to give you an idea. But I do take a doggie bag home when there is too much food to eat.
@GardenGerty (157907)
• United States
29 Apr 09
Now that I work more, we see each other less and therefore we are eating out less. We do go for exactly what we are wanting, and we are perfectly willing to bring home a take out box of food. It is much more interesting than McDonald's all the time, and yes, you usually can cover two meals from it. As far as the pinching pennies, we give ourselves permission to spend X amount of money per payday, and any that we do not spend we put away, and will use it for a nice trip to see our daughter.
@kareng (55615)
• United States
28 Apr 09
Actually we go out more for convenience these days with long hours at work and starving when we finally get out! I do usually have enough left over for lunch the next day and sometimes my hubby will as well. When you get four meals out of $20.00-$25.00 that isn't bad! We have a nice Mexican place that we love that serves so much food you can't possibly eat it all. We usually spend under $25 here and that is even with a margarita, and have takes outs for lunch the next day.
@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
28 Apr 09
I go out often but when you get right down to comparing the cost of the food and the electricity it takes to cook it as well as the time, it's cheaper for 1 or 2 people to eat out. I do usually have leftovers I can eat for lunch the following day.
Thank goodness for microwaves. I can see why a large family could not save anything at all by eating out but when it's just 1, 2 or 3 people I can see why their eating out hasn't changed.
@spoiled311 (5500)
• Philippines
28 Apr 09
hi KrauseHome !
since we have a baby now, we don't eat out much. we are saving up, but basically becasue we don't have much time. so i think the best way to save is not to eat out. cooking food at home is still the best option in saving up with food. it is one of the biggest expenses that we have.
take care and God bless you!
happy mylotting!
@Lindalinda (4111)
• Canada
28 Apr 09
I don't go out very often, maybe once or twice a month. Usually I go to my favourite neighbourhood family restaurant. I order a club sandwich. It comes with fries and and salad. The portion is huge and I take half of it home with me. I really like that place because everything is homemade. For instance they roast the turkeys themselves for the white meat part. You can really taste the difference.
Some friends took me out a while ago for a special occasion. The restaurant was frightfully expensive. The food was good but the portions were so tiny, like one small boiled potato to go with the meat, my friend asked if we could have more potatoes which they did provide, but there was nothing to take home.
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
28 Apr 09
since my husband lost his job 8 weeks ago and we do not have unemployment insurance we have not considered going out or doing anything that would be unnecessary as that would be frivolous. even when he was making good money, though, on the few occassions that we did go out we liked to go where we would have a doggy bag to take home with us.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
28 Apr 09
On my husbands day off we always order out lunch. There is a restaurant/bar in our area that serves huge meals. We always order one meal and split it and it is always enough for the both of us. We usually don't go out to eat because the drinks are what kill us. We just order in and save that way.
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
27 Apr 09
We haven't been going out at all for awhile now. My husband took me out for my birthday "dinner" last week, which was nice because we went to a steakhouse, one of my favorite places, but that was because he found a new job after almost 4 months of searching. There was so much on the plate and I eat so very little these days that I actually got 3 meals out of that one.
Things are getting better, financially, and our bills are almost all caught up now so we'll probably be going out more often, but not as much as before he lost his job. I've always loved experimenting in the kitchen and have come up with some pretty nice meals. My energy level has been way down for the past month, so meals have been rather plain but it's still so very much less expensive than going out to eat... you've gotta allow for a tip when you go out, too.
Since my husband lost his job and we had no money in the bank (he did some side-work which kept our heads above water), I want to be prepared for anything that might happen like this again. I'd rather eat in and put that money we'd be spending at a restaurant in the bank.
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Actually a friend of mine took me out to lunch the other day at a rather fancy restaurant. I personally would never go to such a place just for lunch. I ate enough to fill my belly, and brought the rest of it home. It was enough left over to reheat for my husband's dinner.
I do not go out to eat anymore, both my husband and I are unemployed.
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Hey Tina! I do think that you have a good idea there. But, my
boyfriend and I barely ever do go out to eat at all. Once in
awhile we do get take out from the Chinese Restaurant and
then I have two meals from that so it is exactly what you
are saying! He get's upset because it cost so much! It really
doesn't if he would realize that we get two meals! He gets
a lunch and I get another dinner! So I think that's great!
If we go to the buffet, like you said we can't take anything
home and that is really expensive! If we do go out to eat
there never is anything left to take home!
