Eating at home makes cents
Mandela Research interviewed 4,000 Americans about their eating out habits in a normal week. They came up with 4.8 times per week was the average. So 5 times per week the normal, everyday, Joe on the street pays for a meal out of the house.
According to a study done by Visa ,just at lunch meals, the average American spends $10.00 per meal. So if we suppose that everyone only eats lunch out 5 times per week and only pays $10.00 per meal that is $2,600.00 per year in going out to eat!
That would be on the LOW end of what is actually spent if you figure that many more of those times are going out in the evening. That is absolutely insane. Look, I know we all are busy and many of us don't know the first thing about cooking at home, but if your goal is to save money I know that eating at home would be way cheaper than eating out.
I know you can go to one of many dollar menu places to eat.
And I know most of you will agree that those places are not really good for you.
That being said let me throw out a CRAZY idea. You can cook large meals, save some of it, and eat on it for days.
Now I am very lucky that my wife is a great cook. In fact she even has a food blog Hillbilly Nutrition. But I too enjoy the cathartic act of grilling and cooking at home. For years however, I wasn't keen on the leftover thing, mainly because I didn't think you could do anything else with the meal besides eat it like it was originally cooked. BOOOORING! Then to save money we decided to get creative.
For example, on Sunday afternoon I threw some chicken wings on the grill, the wife made some potatoes with blue cheese crumbles and some coleslaw.
Last night I was in the mood for some tacos and remembered that Tin Star had a buffalo chicken taco that was really good. So I took what was left from our dinner on Sunday and made Tin Star Tacos.
They were awesome and really did give me that going out to eat experience without having to spend any more money!
Likewise, we did a pork butt a while back on the grill and used it from breakfast burritos to pulled pork sandwiches and everything in between.
We also will take a couple pounds of ground meat and cook it with taco seasoning and that makes tacos (DUH) as well as this great dish with stuffed bell peppers.
There is really no reason to be scared about coming up with new dishes using leftovers. If you liked the original meal you will love what other things you can imagine. A little google, some leftovers, and some imagination and you can have a meals for days.
My favorite site to just look for good ideas is Alton Brown's YouTube page.
He does a great job of making meals easy and entertaining.
A couple other unintended consequences to eating more at home is you have more time with your family as well as meals really take quite a bit less time to cook. You can involve your kids like Cooking with My Kid does, or with your significant other in a romantic way. Either way you will be happier, healthier and most of all have more money in your pocket.
What food and money saving ideas does your family implement? Leave us a comment below.
Gary McCoy is Broker and Owner of Tartan Real Estate Services in DFW Texas. Broker license number 0588837. Any opinions in this article are just that, opinions. If you have any specific questions or concerns please contact us at 877-498-7323.
Seems like simple leftovers are much easier to use than those of complicated recipes; for example, a cut of meat that has been seasoned and grilled or baked makes a better leftover dish than having the same casserole dish over and over. Also, you don't have to label the meal as "leftovers" if it appears in a variation. All sorts of meats can become part of a chef salad, leftover veggies can be part of a soup, and leftover dinner rolls can be come the buns for sliders. I love the ideas you can find on line for quantity cooking that can be frozen for future meals. I like Facebook pages like Hillybilly Nutrition because they help me come up with different ideas for more natural dishes.
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