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Why is everyone struggling3?? (food)

April 19, 2018

The experts say that the three biggest expenses in our lives are Housing, Transportation and Food. See what Paula Pant with Afford Anything, has to say on her blog about the big three. She goes into more detail in a bunch of her posts. She is wonderful and one of my heroes. She says that instead of focusing on how many Starbucks you should have per week, go to the big items that will make a real impact on your finances. If you can get your housing, transportation and food in check, life will be much easier.

So what does Rick have to say on the subject. Well, I am kinda frugal in all elements of my life. I think life has to have some balance, though. My wife and I do go out to eat and somewhat regularly. Should we? probably not so much. BUT it is not affecting our investments. When it becomes a problem is when you can not do the things that you should be doing as far as your investments are concerned.

Every once in a while we get on a eat at home kick. We say, “Wow we spent $XXXX.xx dollars this last month on eating out. We have to start cooking at home more”. I love when my wife says that because I am usually the one who cooks. I love to cook. Cooking is relaxing for me and I get to bring some nourishment and hopefully some joy to others with great food. I am a little overweight so I really like to cook at home because I get to limit the salt, grease, etc that goes into all of the food. And there is never any high fructose corn syrup in my food.

So the big question is why dont more people eat at home and save a bunch of money so that they can get out of the financial issues that they are in?? It takes lots of work, thats why. Change is a lot of work. Changing the way you have done things for years requires lots of NEW things. New routines, waking up a little earlier, maybe going to bed a little later, maybe doing dishes. These are things that most people just dont want to do.

Doing just these little things can save a whopping amount of money every month. Here comes the math stuff. We all know that going out to eat is easy. You go, sit, they serve you, you pay, go home. Easy. Easy is expensive. Easy will cost a couple about $15 for breakfast, $25 for lunch and about $40 for dinner. I know, sometimes its less, but this is an average.

When you go to work and go out to eat with the friends you will spend about $25 per lunch (this would be for both spouses). When you go 5 days a week that right there is $125 PER WEEK or over $500 per month in eating out. Lets add in several dinners (3)per week for about 120 per week and a few breakfasts (3) at 45. We get about $285 per week or about $1200 per month. Remember there are more than 4 weeks per month.

This number kinda amazed me when I looked at it. Do we spend that much? I personally dont, but lots of my friends and family does. AND that is why a few of them are broke and dont have money for making investments. All the things that I try to talk about are for this very reason, so that you can make more investments throughout your life. I hope that you can try out some of the things that I talk about. Let me know how you varied my advice to your way of life so that other people can see that eating at home is ok.

Can you save $185 per week. You most certainly can by going to the grocery store once or twice a week. Couples can spend about $100 per week for their groceries and have very good and healthy meals at home without having to go out. My wife loves beef. She always wants to get steaks, roasts, and some hamburgers. I tend to want to eat more pasta and some chicken. Those are our battles and I am sure that you will have your own with your spouse. We have managed to quarrel, make up, and then quarrel again next week, but that is kinda fun when we spar with each other.

Back to shopping. I am not going to tell you what you should eat, but I can tell you what we do and you can vary it how your family chooses.

We always have a variety of foods that we like on hand that can be cooked. For example we always have flavored oatmeal or plain oatmeal on hand. We dont eat it everyday but usually once or twice a week. Now and then we get some different items to keep things exciting. We usually get the new items in small amounts so that if we dont like them or we only eat a small amount, we will not throw away a bunch of money. The shelf stable items, like oatmeal, are plentiful because we usually buy in bigger quantity.

The same holds for dinner. We usually get some frozen chicken breasts. We defrost one (usually 12 to 14oz) so that we can do our thing. Some fresh potatoes, carrots, or whatever else will compliment well. We like trying different meals. Sometimes we will get some spices or sauces that are premade so that we can mix things up a bit. We are not always the healthiest in our choices, but we make eating at home fun and exciting. If you need some help, try Clean Food Crush. Lots of clean, healthy recipes that taste great.

That is what needs to be done so that it is not a chore to eat at home. The issue that we have sometimes is preparation and clean up. I hate to do dishes. But I realize that it is a fact of life that they have to be done. I suck it up and do them, sometimes. It usually takes my wife to get mad at me, but I end up doing them.

Preparation can be made easy or at least easier, sort of. I try to make things ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate them. We dont eat much ground beef, but if it is an ingredient, I will cook off the meat ahead of time. I try to have some in the freezer at all times. Maybe we want to make some nachos or add it to a soup. I open the freezer and take out a little baggie. I pour what we need and put the rest back in the freezer. Sometimes you just have to cut, chop and spend some time to prepare your meals. It takes time, effort and it is not really fun. BUT it is what has to be done. It really is like life. What has to be done is not always fun. But we do it, we get through it and keep going.

I guess with all things you have to see what works for you and then run with it. It does not happen with one try. We have been married for 8 years so we have tried a bunch of different things. Some have worked and some we are still working on. Have fun and enjoy the time cooking together, doing dishes together and preparing your meals together. I say this because years from now, from all the money you saved, you will be enjoying your retirement together.

People have said that knowing what you have to do is easy, but actually doing it is the hard part. That is so true. I know that I need to eat a little less, a little healthier, and definitely not so late at night. But doing it is the hard part. I hope and pray that you can find the energy and the strength to do the hard part. If you really want to get obsessed you have to read Grant Cardone’s book, “Be Obsessed or Be Average”. I keep saying that I am going to read it but I have to finish reading “The Age of Turbulence” by our past Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan first.

Eating great food at home can be fun, exciting and most of all delicious.

Good luck on your journey!!! If you need some words of wisdom, you can always go to my facebook at Bellizzima Investments.

Let me know how it is going for you in the comments below.