I've looked at my credit and debit card accounts online, and I spend way too much money on food. Coffee, meals out, this is adding up. I grocery shop every week, there is food in my house, I'm just giving in to laziness. It doesn't even save that much time to eat out- you still need to sit there and be waited on, and you still have to wait for your food to be cooked! Fortunately I don't usually do fast food, that's just gross to me. But restaurant food isn't much better, just costs more.
Problem #1: After work, 15 minutes from home, feeling weary and hungry.
Solution: Have a meal in the fridge already prepared, that just needs to be heated. Think about how delicious, healthy and cheap a home cooked meal will taste after a long day at work.
Problem #2: Out in town, running errands, away from the house.
Solution: Before I leave the house stock a cooler bag with snacks and drinks that we may need during the day: water bottles, fruit, snacks.
Problem #3: Needing to eat a meal while engaging in entertainment on the weekends (such as out of town, at a festival)
Solution: First, stock a cooler bag and keep it in the car. That way, if we do get hungry or thirsty I can try to postpone the purchase by reminding everyone that we have goodies in the car if we can only wait a little bit. (I'm as bad as the kids at this one, if I get hungry or thirsty, I turn a bit whiny!)
Then, try to plan for these events: bring a set amount of cash, and try to leave the event with cash left over. If out of town: Plan to eat meals out that are actual entertainment, meals that are enjoyed. If it's not "special", make it a meal that you can eat in the room. Those random breakfast, lunch, dinner meals eaten out add up fast.
I'm glad I wrote all of this out, it was in my head, I knew what I needed to do, but now I feel like I have a plan to counteract all of the food spending I was doing!
Need to reign it in
June 6th, 2012 at 10:46 am
June 6th, 2012 at 02:43 pm 1338990219
June 6th, 2012 at 04:23 pm 1338996208
June 6th, 2012 at 08:58 pm 1339012707
I'm just saying, it made me start thinking more about meal planning as a top priority.
It seems like such a hassel sometimes. But planning for it really makes sense.
June 8th, 2012 at 02:19 am 1339118369