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I live alone during the week. What gets me is repeat meals. If I buy a pound of hamburger, I have to eat burgers for two or three meals, or eat way too much in one sitting.
I bought a package of pork steaks at Aldi Monday. I ate one for lunch yesterday - I'll probably grill another for lunch tonight. I froze the third one. I either need to buy just enough or a lot to freeze to make it worthwhile.
We have a sealer and make 1/4 burgers two to a pack. Same with pork. Freeze them and use as needed.
. ..........Once you start to account for variety and preference it may very well cost less money to maintain that same level of preference via eating out (though location will play a big role in this of course, especially once you factor in fast food joints).
Eating out might possibly be more convenient, but it is never cheaper. There is nothing wrong with eating all meals at restaurants, if that is the way you prefer to eat, AS LONG AS YOUR BUDGET CAN SUPPORT THAT LIFESTYLE CHOICE.
If you can't figure out where the money is going to come from to pay the auto insurance and the rent is overdue, that is not the time to treat yourself to a steamed lobster at the local fish house. It doesn't matter what your preference for variety is, that is not good money management, I see this sort of misguided choice in the lower income tenants all the time and that is a big contributing factor to why they are "broke people".
And by the way, if I want a burger and the burger is frozen, I just put the frozen burger right into the frying pan at low temperature. You can cook it right away, you don't have to set it out and wait 2 hours for it to thaw out.
Eating out as in dining in I agree with you. But I count take out as eating out as well. In that case, you have to count the cost of meat, toppings, seasoning, sides (I don’t know about you but I always get a combo to include a side dish when I order burgers), bread, cheese, etc. Per serving it may very well cost less to buy everything and then eat multiple burgers, but what if someone just wants one burger? That’s there things can get tricky in my view.
Even a big mac is like $6-7 now. If a homemade burger is $12 with the costs of seasonings/toppings that is likely a better product to eat plus once you buy everything you can likely use on future meals.
I remember reading The Truth About Money by Ric Edleman when it was first released in 1997. I had already been contributing to my 401k for a few years but that book really explained what a difference it makes to start saving for retirement when you are young. I totally understand why people say they that they can't afford to do so but the reality is they can not afford not to do so.
That 41 year old guy mooching off his parents is probably counting on continuing to do so until they die and then he'll inherit whatever is left of their estate and take advantage of every social program he can get himself into.
The 41 year old guy doesn't realize that his parents are probably dipping into their retirement savings to support him so he won't be getting squat when they die because he is living on his inheritance now.
Eating out might possibly be more convenient, but it is never cheaper. There is nothing wrong with eating all meals at restaurants, if that is the way you prefer to eat, AS LONG AS YOUR BUDGET CAN SUPPORT THAT LIFESTYLE CHOICE.
If you can't figure out where the money is going to come from to pay the auto insurance and the rent is overdue, that is not the time to treat yourself to a steamed lobster at the local fish house. It doesn't matter what your preference for variety is, that is not good money management, I see this sort of misguided choice in the lower income tenants all the time and that is a big contributing factor to why they are "broke people".
And by the way, if I want a burger and the burger is frozen, I just put the frozen burger right into the frying pan at low temperature. You can cook it right away, you don't have to set it out and wait 2 hours for it to thaw out.
Yes we have burgers that cook from frozen. No way is eating out ever cheaper. Like many have said, we buy things on sale & portion it into meal size bags for the freezer, that way we have plenty of choices every day. I also freeze a bag of burger buns, & toast the required amount from frozen while burger is cooking. Tomatoes & onions are always on hand. I don't mind if we have no lettuce for the burger, we have enough to top it already.
True. And as far as time and/or effort, there are 100s of things/recipes for "30" minute meals ...better and definitely healthier than most fast foods.
My wife has 7 swimsuits from Gucci alone. We have a gym/club member ship that's $250 a month for 2 where she swims with them along with others. She drives there in her Tesla X. She often dulls jewelry that she forgets to take off when swimming. Unable to find remember what she put in which Chanel purse. She's getting her nails done and is oh so happy that our daughter is starting to also find solace in her ways.
I'm the money waster though. Sometimes I leave the living room light on so I don't wake anyone if I get up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I may even go have a smoke if something's got me agitated.
These judgy video things are ridiculous. Waste can be at any level.
Eating out might possibly be more convenient, but it is never cheaper. There is nothing wrong with eating all meals at restaurants, if that is the way you prefer to eat, AS LONG AS YOUR BUDGET CAN SUPPORT THAT LIFESTYLE CHOICE.
If you can't figure out where the money is going to come from to pay the auto insurance and the rent is overdue, that is not the time to treat yourself to a steamed lobster at the local fish house. It doesn't matter what your preference for variety is, that is not good money management, I see this sort of misguided choice in the lower income tenants all the time and that is a big contributing factor to why they are "broke people".
And by the way, if I want a burger and the burger is frozen, I just put the frozen burger right into the frying pan at low temperature. You can cook it right away, you don't have to set it out and wait 2 hours for it to thaw out.
I see your point, but my retort is that convenience and choice play a role whether we're talking about dining/taking out or cooking at home. Indeed, I highly doubt that most are just cooking the absolute cheapest goods possible, but instead are most likely cooking the things that they want to eat (goes to choice/desires/convenience/etc.). This gets to the point I made earlier about desires when it comes to food. I may very well want to eat a seafood pasta one night, a cheeseburger the next night, fried chicken the night after that, a lamb gyro after that, etc. Based on those choices, and considering the size of most people's refrigerators, accommodating those choices at cost may very well be more pricey if cooking at home vice eating out.
And this discussion point is even before getting to the point of fast food deals, which are pretty standard these days. For instance, there are often double quarter pounders and/or Big Mac burger 2 for 1 deals at McDonald's here . . . and the McDonald's App regularly has other deals as well where you're buying meals for far less than standard marketed price, which also changes the equation of cost between eating/taking out vs cooking at home. And ground beef isn't cheap these days, especially here in Hawaii!
Note, my discussion is limited to single persons and not families.
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