We have food at home (and you do too!)
Hello new readers and my OG readers! This week’s blog post was inspired by a podcast episode from one of my favorite podcasts, Friends on Fire. I absolutely love this podcast and have been binge listening to them for the past few months. Episode #143, We have food at home and so do you!, they tackle one of the biggest budget line items that most people spend on: food. It’s one of the core expenses in life that you can’t get rid of because it’s an actual necessity. I track my own food spending during my monthly budget breakdown blogs (you can read the latest here!).
If you ask one of your friends or a stranger how much they spend on food they may tell you any amount from $200- $1,000 per month. It all depends on how much they cook at home, go out to eat, the size of their family, and any dietary restrictions that they have. Food is often the area that most people tend to not track their spending. That’s because food usually comes along with social activities that we share with co-workers, family and friends.
Meeting a co-worker to talk about a project? Grab a coffee and a pastry.
It’s your friends birthday? Grab drinks and appetizers at your favorite bar.
It’s your birthday? Go out to lunch at your favorite restaurant.
Food and drinks can very easily ruin your budget if you’re not careful. Grabbing take away food for dinner because you’re too tired to cook after a long day at work is too common for most Americans.
According to Nerdwallet, Americans spend an average of $412 per month on food in 2020. When I look at that number, it doesn’t look too bad. But for a lot of people, they could save money and be much healthier if they cooked most of their food at home. Let’s take a closer look at some of the other benefits of cooking and eating at home versus eating out that Mike and Maggie discuss on their podcast and I agree with.
It’s Often Faster and Can Save You Time
How many times have you ordered food to be delivered to your home and it said it would take 35 minutes and it ended up taking an hour? It can happen very easily due to how busy a restaurant can be, a driver delivering multiple orders at heavy traffic near your home that the delivery driver has to drive through.
When I go to a restaurant I sit down at the table, get the menu and order my food. Then I wait until the food is brought to my table. I’ve had occasions where a waiter forgot to bring my food entirely!
When I’m cooking food at home I make a meal that takes anywhere from 1-45 minutes. The choice is mine and it always feels like the time goes faster when I’m not waiting on someone else to cook and bring the food to me.
Sometimes it Tastes Better
This one is huge. When you get food at a restaurant you always HOPE that it tastes the way you expect it to. But what if the cook is having a bad day or they run out of ingredients? You have little control over how the food will taste and you’re at the mercy of the restaurant.
At home the food will usually taste better because you are making it and don’t have to worry about any extra salt or additives that are often in restaurant food. If you want extra cheese on your sandwich, you can add it. If you prefer your food cooked in olive oil, you can make sure that is done too.
It Makes You Appreciate Eating Out More When You Do It on a More Limited Basis
This one hits harder to home for me. When I was growing up, my family rarely went out to eat for any meals. My mother and father cooked all of our meals at home or I ate food at school for lunch. We only went out to eat for a birthday, anniversary, or another special event. Because we ate out at restaurants so rarely, it was always a special treat when it happened. I looked forward to it and savored the meal because I knew I would be going back to home cooked meals.
In Conclusion…
Do you eat out more often or cook most of your food at home? I’d love to know what works for you! If you find yourself struggling to know which recipes to cook from home, I’d recommend trying out Hello Fresh. If you click on the link, you get $120 towards your first box of tasty recipes.
