MWMR: How much do you spend on going out to eat per week?

sweetsunnyc · July 2014

This includes restaurants,coffee, fast food types of purchases...things like that. I was just looking over my bank statement and we have spent WAY too much this past week- close to 250.00. At least I think that's too much. How about you? What does your weekly cost look like? We are trying to be more budget savvy and clearly this is an area that we are failing in

ss265 · July 2014

Back when I looked at this, we spent maybe $75-$100 per week but that only includes meals as a family which is typically 2-3 meals per week. DH and I have personal accounts which we use for lunches during the work week so that money doesn't show up in our joint expenses unless we eat lunch together which is rare.

welly01 · July 2014

Too much.

I recently realized that I didn't have any spending money because I was eating lunch out every day. So I've put myself on a budget of $75 per pay check (every 2 weeks). We try to only eat out as a family 1-2 times per week. Our food budget in general needs work.

SunAndRain · July 2014

We spend way to much in this category.

Probably $75 per week for lunch eating out but that I don't mind.

And we dine out much less frequently now than we did pre-kid.

What kills me is DH's penchant for buying expensive meat and fish and a LOT of it.

And when we go out with ILs a couple times per month I try to pick up the tab.

Our monthly food bill is around $900. I've tried talking to DH about it but he won't budge.

yepyepsms · July 2014

We don't go out often with a newborn and a 2 yr old but we almost always order in on Friday and Saturday night and sometimes might grab lunch out while doing errands so about 50-75 per week. We always pack our lunch and snacks and make our coffee at home and take to work. That saves a ton of money.

shannm · July 2014

Normal weeks including one dinner out for four and some purchased lunches, we are under 100.
Some weeks, like last week with my husband's fortieth birthday dinner, we were WAY over.

MommaP12 · July 2014

$60 a week? We order out once a week at about $30-$40. I bring my lunch 90% of the time and never get coffee anywhere other than home or the office because I'm cheap. DH works from home so rarely eats out or get's coffee out. I think we are not the norm though.

vvvvvfee · July 2014

we get takeout maybe once a week (sometimes not even that), so $30-$40 on that. i pack leftovers for my lunch every day (i eat out maybe once a month if i'm meeting a friend). DH is on the road for his job a lot, so some weeks he eats leftovers at home every day, other weeks he eats out a lot. i'd say he probably spends another $30-$40 per week on average on eating lunch out. we make coffee/breakfast at home pretty much every day.

so, $40-$80 per week.

litzo27 · July 2014

My and DH spend about $50 each on lunches and occasional coffees. We only get dinner take out once a week so that's about $60-80 for the family. But then we also spend a ton on groceries.

emberlee3 · July 2014

Average $50, lots of weeks nothing. We usually bring lunches. We get takeout once or twice per month. I go out with friends about once a month.

BabyHope2013 · July 2014

I try not to exceed $20 per week in buying stuff for myself. I try to pack my lunch, breakfast and coffee nearly every day. DH spends prob closer to $30 a week bc he isn't so diligent with packing a lunch. That is all paid out of personal accounts we keep. I spend about $100 per week at the grocery store. If we are eating out or getting carry out u try to build some of that cost into the $100 budget. We really don't eat out/get carryout more than once a week. To do this I find that I absolutely have to meal plan so I hold ourselves accountable. When you don't have a plan it is so easy to just pick up carryout.

catahoulatte · July 2014

tas1883 said:

Wow we seem to be at the bottom end. If we spend $20 a week out we are lucky. I would give maybe $50-75 eating out for the month. Now when we travel and are away it is more but then it should be. Guess I shouldn't feel so bad about going out to dinner over the weekend...

This is us, exactly. Almost never for breakfast and lunch. Probably once every other week we go out, the three of us.

jlaOK · July 2014

We are purposely on the low end because we are aggressively saving for our next house.

We budget $50/month for each of us for any coffee/breakfasts/lunches and $110/month for food as a family (either lunch or dinner out on the weekends). This is cash so that keeps us honest.

As you can see we eat 95% of our meals at home. I only cook 6 days/week so that 7th day is either leftovers, take-out, or dinner with family.

We will splurge on special occasions (birthdays/anniversaries/etc) and don't budget those expenses.

momofcatan · July 2014

Used to be $100 a month, I cut it down to $65 a month when I went on mat leave and kept it there. Since we keep kosher eating lunch out is not an option (no kosher restaurants near work) which saves us a ton of money. When we do "eat out" we often do take out so we only order main courses and can save money by making sides/drinks at home. We do Sunday night dinner with my parents every week so that is usually eating out without taking from our budget. I also bought DH a keurig and he stopped going to Starbucks everyday (he actually loves his keurig coffee a lot more than Starbucks now).

MereDe3 · July 2014

We spend wayyyy too much here as well. I usually get breakfast and lunch out every weekday, so....$15 to $20 per day. I take the kids for breakfast and sometimes lunch on Saturdays. We get pizza or other carry out probably once per week for dinner. I have no idea how much DH spends on lunches during the week, not nearly as much as I do though. I frequently think about how much we need to cut back on this and pay down some bills but I haven't been able to get myself motivated to do it yet.

rockychryslerb2010 · July 2014

I saw we probably average $80-100 a week. This includes take out and lunches out. Working from home most of the time, I rarely eat out. DH eats lunch out probably 3-4 times a week. We probably do takeout 1-2 times a week. If I'm traveling, that increases. Lunch by my office in Manhattan is probably $10-15 alone, plus I end up getting coffee and usually something for the train home. I can only expense for overnight trips, which I do.

If we actually decide to eat out for date night, that amount goes even higher.

ASmallWonder · July 2014

DH spends about $50 for breakfasts and lunches and I probably spend the same. It used to bug me but really, we'd spend a good chunk buying food at the grocery store, plus the hassle of making it. Some weeks my spend is less if we happen to have dinners that end up as left overs.

Samiantha101 · July 2014

Too much. My husband refuses to "budget". It's a problem. I would suggest it's $500 per month, easily.

penelopemaria · July 2014

We go out to dinner about once a month - maybe $75

Breakfast out maybe twice a month - around $50

I buy my breakfast and lunch at work everyday - I spend about $20 / day

So in total we're over $500

Unknown · July 2014

This content has been removed.

Divallyn · July 2014

On coffee or food out we spend at most $200 a month, usually closer to $150. We both work in industrial parks where lunch places suck so we pack a lunch every day and then we don't really enjoy taking our toddler to restuarants. It's mostly a weekend coffee run and Friday takeout or Saturday lunch somewhere quick.

Want a personalized experience?

MWMR: How much do you spend on going out to eat per week?

Re: MWMR: How much do you spend on going out to eat per week?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards