Dining out is expensive. Gone are the days of the $0.59 taco from Taco Bell or the “Five for Five” Arby’s Roast Beef sandwich deal. They’ve been replaced with $7 meal deals and $5 hamburgers with a side of $5 fries. You can still find ways to save of course, but it may take some digging on your part.
Food prices are out of control in our post Covid world. Nowhere is this more evident than when you eat out at a restaurant. A plate of wings that were $8 only four years ago are now $18 pretty much everywhere you go. That’s a 125% increase! This is one example of many where your wallet is being squeezed dry. Thankfully you can still order a relatively cheap pizza for you and your friends to enjoy while you watch the game.
In order to save money, something my wife and I have started doing are “date nights in.” Rather than spending an exorbitant amount eating out, we’ve substituted a potential restaurant visit with a fun night at home.
Ordering wine at a nice steakhouse is always funny to me. A “mid grade” bottle of wine such as LaCrema or Josh costs double or more than you’d spend elsewhere. All for the pleasure of having someone pour it for you at a table that you’re basically renting for 2-3 hours. This is not to say that I skip out on the wine when I go out to eat. I do order it; however, it’s not lost on me how much more I’m spending.
Using the money you have wisely should be a lifestyle choice. It’s no different than waking up 3-4 times a week and hitting the gym for a workout. Consistency is key. If you’re consistent in your behavior, always keeping in mind there may be a way to save money on something you’re looking to buy, you’ll be successful.
For our most recent “at home date night”, my wife and I had planned on going to Harris Teeter to buy meats, cheeses and crackers (we’re suckers for a good charcuterie plate). We figured a bottle of wine would end up in our cart as well before it was all said and done. On our way there, I asked her if it’d be alright to go to Aldi rather than Harris Teeter. Aldi is cheaper and has everything we’d need. Being an Aldi fan herself, she had no problem with this.
We were already saving money by not going out to dinner, now we would save even more by making a better choice of where to shop. We ended up getting the following items from Aldi:
- 1 lb frozen shrimp
- 1 container of Alouette cheese
- 1 pack of Brie cheese
- 1 pack of Italian dry salami
- 1 box of garlic and onion pita chips
- 1 pack of swiss cheese
- 1 pack of thinly sliced salmon
- 1 bottle of Rose wine
- 1 bottle of champagne
All in, our total cost was $45. If you had even half of these items at a nice restaurant, you’d pay upwards of $100 for them to pre slice it and put it on the table. If we ended up buying these items at Harris Teeter, it would have cost us at least double what we paid.
It’s not enough to have the idea of eating in rather than eating out. You’re halfway there by avoiding the expense of paying someone else to make your food, which is great. To achieve the most for your dollar, it’s important to take the extra step and ask, “is there another way I can save even more?” In our case, it was shopping at Aldi instead of Harris Teeter this time around. Next time, it could be something else entirely.
Be vigilant with how you can save money.
Your friends may laugh, they may even poke fun at the choices you make.
You can laugh too. All the way to the bank.
