How We Personally Eat Better for Way Less

So many people told us to eat in because it was healthier and we’d be able to save money. And it’s true, if we plan our meals for the week, we can live a pretty frugal and healthy lifestyle.

But what people didn’t tell us was how much we were really saving, and all of the other benefits that come from eating at home (besides losing weight).

A few months ago, my husband and I were listening to a podcast that was interviewing a couple from Seattle (a very expensive place to live). They owned a travel blog called Go Curry Cracker and talked about how they saved so much money for travel by riding a bike instead of making monthly car payments, or how they rented instead of owning a home.

But what stood out to us was what they said about their cost of food. I’ve heard so many other travel bloggers talk about how they saved a lot of money (for travel) by eating in, but what they ate was usually ramen noodles and Pop-Tarts.

However, this couple talked about how they were able to not only save money by eating in, but what they made at home was so much better than what they could get from any restaurant in Seattle.

That hit us hard. For quite a few months, my husband and I had made it a habit to eat out at least 2-3 times a week. At the time, we lived 30 minutes out of town, so when it was past five and we were driving home from work, the last thing we wanted to do was cook.

So hearing this challenged us. It challenged us to think outside of the normal meals we made, and really take a look at our finances. And in this journey to save money and cook amazing meals, here is what we learned.

How Much We Saved

Eating out was always unplanned. You’d think that if we ate out more than once a week, it would be something that was intentional. But it wasn’t, and that was because our meals at home were never planned.

We never really did meal planning, so it was easy for us to look at each other and ask if it was ok to eat out. And of course we said yes.

We spent around $80 a week (this is being conservative) on eating out. We almost always got drinks and of course there was the tip which added just that much more.

At the end of the month, we would have spent around $300-$400 on eating out alone. That’s nearly half a grand, and not to mention that we spent around $80-$100 on groceries a week already.

And now that we’ve cut restaurant dining out of our spending budget (unless it’s a special occasion), we can now save that money and put it towards things that we actually need or want to do in the future.

We Had More for Dreams

Choosing something off of the menu was fun, and eating the meal was great in the moment. But getting the check made our hearts sink.

Every time we gave into the temptation of eating out, and we saw how much the bill was, we quickly realized that we were spending away our dreams.

All that money that could have been saved for travel was being spent on a dinner and experience we wouldn’t remember in two weeks (if that).

That hurt a lot, but when we made the change, planning for the future became more real.

It Encouraged Us to Make What We Found (or Pinned)

So much of pinning on Pinterest is good intentions that get forgotten.

There are so many crazy and amazing recipes on there that it’s easy to pin them for later… and then never touch them.

Well when my husband and I challenged ourselves to have a restaurant experience at home, we started looking through all of those recipes on Pinterest that we had accumulated over the last couple of years and started making them.

We didn’t need to buy a cookbook when there were so many things we had already saved or could find.

We Didn’t Want to Eat Out

We found that when we started to plan out the meals we wanted to make for the week, and then actually made them, our cooking experience leveled up.

He and I could already cook fairly well, but when we leveled up with our cooking skills and learned new techniques, we were able to have so much of a richer experience. It really broadening our pallets and lifestyle.

And now that we’re getting a foodie experience at home, it makes us want to eat out less.

We don’t have to deal with bad customer service, wasted money, and a meal that over promised on the menu. We really are happier staying in than going out and having a “restaurant experience.”

It Brought Us Together

When I used Pinterest as my cookbook, I was able to sick my husband onto it and ideas just came to me. I didn’t even have to work to make a weekly meal plan. He was excited for what I, or the both of us, would make.

We were able to work as a team because it was fun and we were going to be able to try something new every single week.

And not to mention that the stress of wasting money on restaurant outings was thrown out the window!

Self Confidence

We found that when we pushed ourselves to make new things that looked intimidating, it wasn’t actually that hard. The dish that looked complicated was actually pretty simple once we did it

Whether it was a dinner recipe or even a coffee drink, we got out of our safe zones and found that we were still very safe. Nothing was as hard as it looked.

Our confidence grew and pretty soon trying new things was more exciting than intimidating.

And when you do this yourself, you’ll not only make better food that will (usually) benefit your health, but also grow your confidence. You’ll feel better about yourself and your ability to do new things.

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