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CAN COOK, MUST COOK! My challenge: Stop Eating Out! Anyone else?!
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pandapaws
Posts: 2,119 Forumite
Right, time to own up. According to my spending diary, this month (all 12 days of it so far!) our household has spent £173.20 on food that we haven't made at home. If I multiply that up for the whole month at the same rate, that comes to £435.
That is absolutely disgusting - I know that a lot of people here don't spend that much on everything else combined in a month. And that could drastically reduce our debt.
This total includes two meals out totalling £90 which we wouldn't normally have, but these things do happen occasionally, and it isn't so much the special one-off occasions like that which I have a big problem with - it's the lazy sandwiches we buy at work, the Chiquitos or TGI lunches, the McDonalds & Subways, the Chinese/Indian take-aways for dinner - I need to sort that out fast.
I'm not going to say I'll go cold turkey for the rest of the month - because I know I'll fail. My personal challenge for the rest of October is to try and spend less than another £80 (for me, DH & DS combined) on eating out/take-aways. Depending on the results, I'll set a new target for Nov.
Does anyone else have a similar problem (albeit probably on a smaller scale) that they'd like to try and tackle? Instead of a money amount, it could be so many days per week etc. The money saved (whatever less than £435 that I total) will go straight to my Virgin card rather than quite literally through our intestines and down the toilet!
Any takers?
That is absolutely disgusting - I know that a lot of people here don't spend that much on everything else combined in a month. And that could drastically reduce our debt.
This total includes two meals out totalling £90 which we wouldn't normally have, but these things do happen occasionally, and it isn't so much the special one-off occasions like that which I have a big problem with - it's the lazy sandwiches we buy at work, the Chiquitos or TGI lunches, the McDonalds & Subways, the Chinese/Indian take-aways for dinner - I need to sort that out fast.
I'm not going to say I'll go cold turkey for the rest of the month - because I know I'll fail. My personal challenge for the rest of October is to try and spend less than another £80 (for me, DH & DS combined) on eating out/take-aways. Depending on the results, I'll set a new target for Nov.
Does anyone else have a similar problem (albeit probably on a smaller scale) that they'd like to try and tackle? Instead of a money amount, it could be so many days per week etc. The money saved (whatever less than £435 that I total) will go straight to my Virgin card rather than quite literally through our intestines and down the toilet!
Any takers?
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Comments
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Yep. There.
I have been quite strict lately but my OH is such a child and refuses anything new. So I have taken the same tact I do with my little boy - if you dont eat it, there is nothing else!
Didnt have the usual pizza tonight for the first time in months. Yeah! what a great idea for a thread!DISCHARGED 12th December 2007:T
BSC Member #91
Proud to have dealt with my debts0 -
I have been quite lazy recently, and my previous good cooking habits have taken a little detour.....
So, I am happy to join in on this one. Tomorrow we have already arranged to eat at the ski club, but I will start on Sunday. Something with chicken and cabbage.....perhaps some colcannon mashSuccessful women can still have their feet on the ground. They just wear better shoes. (Maud Van de Venne)Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch)0 -
isn't it strange how something just twigs your memory like that?
I just realised how going out so much for meals contributed so much to the pickle I'm in right now!
before my boyf and I bought our place together we were both living with parents and we would have time together by going out to restaurants. I'm trying to think of a restaurant in our town that we haven't been to, to be honest i'm struggling to think!
I insisted on paying half of the cost of the meal (I was totally against chivalry, now I'd kill for some!) and that really adds up over time.
Now i have become (excuse my ego) rather quite good at cooking and I can ask boyf what he fancies (subject to it fitting in with my meal plans as much as poss) and I make it at home.
i get quite annoyed if we get a takeaway or go to a restaurant knowing what it would have cost in the comfort of my own home!
you'll be amazed how much you save if you do takeaway style food at home, those debts will come tumbling down! good luck with the challenge. sorry for the rambling post!0 -
I cooked Jambalaya last night and the OH complained that there was nothing in it....
hang on..
Chicken, prawns, rice, red pepper, green pepper, spring onion, ginger, garlic, thyme. oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper, asparagus tips, chicken stock, tomato and peas
(yes, it was VERY nice)DISCHARGED 12th December 2007:T
BSC Member #91
Proud to have dealt with my debts0 -
Can I join you? :hello:
I've gone off eating out anyway, it's always too salty and chemical for me.
Though last night took DS2 to a pub for supper (escape from boarding school) and succumbed to a McDonalds at lunchtime today because I was too tired to make a packed lunch.:whistle:
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Having been pootling around this site for a few wks now...i have decided that we aren't REALLY going for it (clearing the debt) as much as we could......before LBM, we could easily spend £150 per wk on eating out. During the past 2 yrs, we still popped out twice a month after a late night at work for something "cheap"...but it was never under £35 for 2. NO MORE!!
Now, people come over and I challenge myself to learn to cook something new and different...much nicer....have good friends coming nxt wk and am e-mailing a "menu" for them to choose from.......the end result is the same..good food, good company...the only downside is the washing up...but that's no big deal when everyone chips in. Plus, if anyone wants a smoke, they don't have to stand on a pavement...just by the patio doors.0 -
e-mailing a menu that they can choose from?
What a good idea! :T then you know they'll be happy!0 -
My eating out spend is probably max £12/month.
It used to be about £20/year, but nowadays I am treating myself.
Although I never "eat OUT", I get takeaways. It sucks to eat alone in public, better to scuttle off home and pig out.
£12/month = 2 indian takeaways.0 -
I spend way too much on lunches. That includes subways etc for me and school dinners for the kids. I end up throwing stuff out that I buy for sandwiches but I hereby promise no more . I will make the sandwiches whilst the dinner is cooking of an evening and be organised from now on. Kids and I are off this next week though.5 Year plan. April 2020 to June 2025- CC and mortgage free by time I'm 60
Currently CC £23,674.36 /£14,895.41/£14315.42
Mortgage £28,214.65/ £26,254.71/ £25,746.43
By end 2020 I want CC at £ 19,000.00.
By end 2021 I want CC at £10,000.000 -
Please count me in .............
I used to be so good but since having my 2 year old it feels like I am always in the kitchen preparing healthy snacks between his 3 huge meals a day - I look at my sofa's in the lounge and think are you comfortable as I can't remember the last time my butt graced them - there is always something to do.
My downfall is take aways - if i've had a busy/rough day and have no energy left at the end of the day - I'll say that May is cooking our dinner tonight (thats the name of lady in chinese) or call Ash and tell him what we would like for dinner tonight (Ash answers phone in the Indian).
But yesterday was really naughty (kinda of) - I took son out to soft play area with a friend and her daughter and we usually eat there - jacket potato x 2 = £4.00 - brought 2 fruit shoots from home saving several quid - but friend had to leave earlyish and said would eat at home so I knew son was hungry but instead of eating in there I said do you want a Mcdonalds - thinking I would get him a happy meal and wait until I got home for my already cooked home made soup - but mcdonalds was overrun with school kids and queues were big - so whizzed him nextdoor into Nando's - £16.00 later ...... in all probably only had about half a chicken between us a small amount of rice / chips and pitta bread - now if I'd brought that in Tesco's and cooked myself would have probably been able to do it for £4.00 or so.
In a way its lazyness - but sometimes tiredness that makes me grab for the phone and hit speeddial (joking) for May and Ash.
I don't know - but what I do know is that from here on in until we clear debts we are only allowed one take away a month - I mean look at the time will you - I am up typing away because I can't sleep because of debts.0
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