The True Cost Of Eating Out And Not Budgeting Your Food

Budgeting your money is one of the most important things you can do to ensure you have a healthy financial future. However, there are many things which can detour this if not taken care of early. One these in question is the budgeting of food such as groceries. Some tend to believe it is easier and more cost effective to simply buy some of their meals out. Regardless of the viewpoint, many try to make the argument in their favor as to support their decision. Let’s take a look at the facts and numbers, not opinions.

Buying groceries is just as expensive as eating your meals out

When you budget in general, you set yourself a limit on the amount of money you are going to spend for a single grouping. Sure, you might go over a bit as things change in cost, but you try to keep it in line. It not only make sense on paper, but also it tends to have a psychological effect on your mind as to not spend more than a certain amount. However, when you are buying meals all of the time through fast food, there is no limit. You can easily spend money multiple times without really thinking about it because there was not preset limit. Thus, you tend to easily overspend your money and suffer the consequences.

Story Time!

Recently I had a friend who mentioned to me that they thought it was a “fallacy” that you save more money grocery shopping for the week rather than purchasing all of your meals out. Although this theory might seem correct to some, I did ask to clarify with solid numbers. We evaluated what was typically purchased on a daily basis and how many times a day it was purchased. We then calculated the amount Jordan and I spend on groceries on a monthly basis as a comparison. After all, I am more than willing to accept when I am wrong or to learn something new. The below are the calculations we came up with.

The Data

He and his girlfriend are said to eat out every night for dinner for a month. On average it is $30-$40 on the weeknights and $100+ per night on the weekends. They “drink their breakfast with coffee which is roughly $5-$6 and will get a simple $10-$20 lunch. The calculations are as follows using the conservative approach:

Average of 22 working days: 22*($10+$20+$30) = $1,320

Average of 8 weekend days: 8*($10+$20+100) = $1,040

Total = $2,320 a month just on eating out (results are tied to one couple to prove their data out)

I then calculated Jordan and my monthly bill of food on average. We spend approximately $150 a week on groceries. Coffees twice a week equal $20 total, and date night is $50 a week. The math is very simple then.

Monthly cost (from weekly): 4*($150+$20+$50) = $880

The difference between the two is $1,520!  This would be a huge amount to be putting towards debt or saving for the future. The point of this is not to show the error in what they are doing, but rather educate you all for you to see that some people are actually living like this? Although you might not be at this level, there is a good chance you can adjust your own budget accordingly.