UNITED STATES—How many times per week are you actually dining outside the home? Oh, and I’m not just referring to actually eating at a restaurant, I’m also referring to DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats? Why? Cause I’m guilty of it to, but no matter how healthy you might think those delivery services are, you’re still eating fast-food, and you don’t always know what is being used to cook your food.
I’m not speaking of this issue solely because of health, but for financial reasons as well. Yes, if you’re eating out more than 3 times a week that is too much. I would even argue eating out more than 2 times a week is not good. The number of calories from a single dish from eating out is what you should ONLY consume in the entire day.
Imagine if you had a meal at breakfast that was over 1,000 calories, then lunch was over 2,000 calories and dinner was 2,500 to 3,000 calories. Do the math, you’ve nearly doubled your daily calorie intake which is not good for the waistline if you’re not burning any calories or exercising. We can truly have another conversation about the health drawbacks of eating out.
My focal point this week is the financial impact. Last week, I dined out 3 times, all over the weekend. I spent $30 one day, then another $15 the next, then another $15. That is $50 already, guess what I had 3 meals, but I could have taken those funds and went to the grocery store and purchased food to the point that it would have lasted me several days of several meals.
We don’t think about that when going thru the drive-thru, clicking on Uber Eats or Door Dash, or actually going out to eat. You think about it after you get the bill and realize you spent $100 or more for a family of 4 and you’re still not full. That is what you may have spent on a single day, maybe once a week, what if you did that 4 times in a month? That’s $400 people. Guess what? That is your cell phone bill, that might be your light bill, gas bill, your car note, your insurance, or even your car note.
That is a lot of money, and we don’t always consider that until after the fact. However, do yourself a favor. Go thru your bank statement and see how much you spent on eating out in the past month. You might be stunned with what you realize, which happened to me. Wow, I could have been putting all that money into my saving account and using it for other expenses or something more valuable.
Written By Jason Jones
