I have been doing a lot of the meal planning for my family, and I have noticed the price going a lot higher, I haven’t taken the time to sit down and measure the price of every meal that my wife wants to cook.
Generally, canned or frozen meals aren’t that expensive – $2-$4. I occasionally eat rice or a peanut butter sandwich as a meal (~$1), and I also purchased some Huel bags in bulk if I don’t have time to pre-plan or don't want to make a meal (~$2.40).
When splurging, I still take the time to efficiently use money. If we want to eat out I’ll make sure to bring some coupons, if it’s carry out we’ll take our own drinks, only go to places with specials, I can comfortably eat out with fast food or even a restaurant for $4-$7 if we don’t really care what we want. For a fancier place that is dine-in I try not to spend more than $13 or $14 unless it is a special occasion.
My wife prepares a soup or two in a big batch for each shopping trip. We freeze the bags and eat them throughout the week/month. However, she occasionally plans fancier meals she takes time to prepare (when she does have the time to spare). These meals are nice, but don’t really have leftovers. I haven’t thought about it much, but when meal planning this last trip I saw they used meats such as roast beef, chicken, and other ingredients like special cherry tomatoes and heavy cream. This increases the cost of each meal to $7 to even $13! This has really made me reevaluate things.
(Side-note for grocery prices; I buy store-brand and buy “bulk” if possible.)
How much do you often spend per meal? This last estimate really makes me reevaluate how little my family actually eats out with the deal-hunting I do. Is my wife being overly fancy or is this normal?
Meal planning – How much does a single meal cost to you?
byu/AlternateWitness inFrugal
Posted by AlternateWitness
5 Comments
$3 is our average
If a meat meal, $4 each. If no meat, $3 each. We have two meals a day and then just graze.
I guess I’m living high on the hog I figure $5 in under
Depends what shifts I’m on but when I have time we always have a chicken dinner. I buy a large chicken£5.50 and use the leftovers for a pie or paella. Sometimes I boil that carcass and make a soup for lunch. Works out at less than £ 5 for 3 of us. Also a large pan of bolognaise is bulked out with diced caugette and leftovers made into lasagne.
I can feed us all for 100 per week including the dog and snacks. If I am on late shift it tends to go up a bit because my husband doesn’t want to cook after work so buys convenience meals.
Pasta bakes are very cheap as are stews and casseroles.
Clearly, you look at food as fuel and your wife does not. $13 for a meal for a family is a very good price, even if it doesn’t have leftovers.
I would be so embarrassed if my spouse came looking online for a financial cudgel to beat me with.