What’s the “Right Thing” to do with Restaurant Spending?
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It’s typical in our time for many individuals and families to almost exclusively get their food outside of their home. The reasons for that can sometimes be complex and determined by individual situations and circumstances; though most of the time it can be traced back to a few simple causes:
- Restaurant food has an addicting taste that causes us to crave it.
- We’re willing to pay for convenience.
- We’re unwilling to cook our own food while at home.
Regardless of the complexity of someone’s situation, an explanation for a high percentage of their income going to eating outside of the home can be traced back to one of these causes. Unfortunately, eating at restaurants is far more expensive than buying groceries and eating at home. In fact, it’s not even close.
In just about every scenario where someone opts to eat one meal out, they’re spending at least five times as much on each plate as they would at home. A fairly safe estimate for a plate at a restaurant is about $10, compared to $2 or less for a plate at home. For a family of four, that’s a net loss of $32 every time they eat at a restaurant. Since it’s not unusual for a family to do this 12-15 times per week, the conservative estimate would be $32 x 12 meals x 52 weeks, equaling $19968 per year.
Now I’m well aware that everyone’s situation is different, though it’s worth considering that there are many people who never eat at home, and by my estimate I was giving a mid-sized family the benefit of the doubt, assuming they’re eating nine meals out of the possible 21 every week, at home. For smaller families, couples and single people, that number obviously drops, but the increased expense is still a reality.
What’s the right response?
The question now becomes: How do we respond to this in terms of our habits and our spending? Essentially we want to try and determine what place restaurants have in our lives and how we should view them in terms of our weekly and monthly budgets. Let me preface this by saying that these answers are for people who want to hear them, and not for those who would say that eating every meal out is totally fine. I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind; rather I’m trying to provide some insight and helpful information to those who are asking this question, and are willing to hear an answer.
Our Perception of Restaurants
The first mistake we’ve made as a society is that we’ve allowed ourselves to think and act as if restaurants are our primary meal providers. Putting them in this role has caused us to turn a blind eye to their higher prices, and caused us to become somewhat uncomfortable eating in our own home. Now to be clear, prices at a restaurant are high for a good reason. You’re paying for a table, someone to wait on that table, a room, ingredients and all the preparation. Thus their prices are justified by the service they offer. Those prices only become a problem for the consumer when they treat that restaurant as their primary meal provider and don’t take note of the higher price.
Taking the first step to correct this mistake simply means we stop viewing restaurants as our personal caterers. That’s not a function that they should serve; in fact, they’re not even setup or designed for that.
Now, am I saying we should never eat restaurants or enjoy them? Of course not, but therein lies part of the answer to our dilemma. We should enjoy restaurants in their proper context; as special nights out and treats, not as everyday breakfast, lunch and dinner solutions.
For some of us, doing so will require changing the way we think about eating and preparing meals. Many people aren’t comfortable with cooking or simply don’t know how. It is important though to be self-sufficient in terms of providing meals for yourself, as a component of changing your perception of eating at restaurants.
By all means, enjoy going out to eat when you do, but it should be viewed as a unique event and a treat that’s enjoyed on occasion.
Spending as it Pertains to Restaurants
Making sure that happens does require some hard line budgeting. In order to keep the frequency you go out to eat at a reasonable level, you need to sit down and decide what you can afford to spend on a weekly basis. Your own income and budget will have a lot to do with determining that number, though the math we did at the beginning should have more of an influence on your decision.
Regardless of your budget, keep in mind that eating 12 meals out per week costs a family of four close to $20000. That’s not even total cost, that’s just extra that you’re paying when compared to eating at home. Even if we drop this number in half, you’re still dealing with 5-figures. Consider that you could spend $400 every month on groceries and come in at $4800 at the end of the year for food. The savings is hard to ignore, regardless of your situations.
For an individual or family who is really looking to save money, springing for a restaurant meal once a week is completely reasonable. For some people I know this will sound completely crazy, but if you truly want to save money, it is the “right” approach.
Conclusion
I want it to be clear that going out to eat is something we should enjoy, particular when we have the opportunity to do so with family and friends. Getting out of the house and having someone else cook for you is a great way to just relax and enjoy some good food and good conversation. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
We get ourselves into trouble when we allow restaurants to take over as our primary food provider. Being able to respond correctly in terms of our spending requires that we keep restaurants in their proper context. Once we’ve done that, we can make more educated and informed decisions about how much we can afford or want to spend on them.
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