I would guess $100/ month for our family of four as an average. DH and I eat out by ourselves once every few months, and those are pricey meals with wine. We go out as a family once or twice a month but those are inexpensive 'kid-friendly' places. We almost never order in or get take-out.
I live in rural Wisconsin, so a meal averages $15 per person and maybe an additional $5-10 for drinks. If we are trying to be conservative, a meal will be about $40 to 50. My goal is to only go out once a week, so it would be probably $200 a month budget, but I am not sure if we are being too excessive. We have the money for more, but I am trying to save more, because at one point we were eating out 3 times a week, plus deliver 1-2 and picking up food once. That adds up SO quickly.
I guess I am just trying to figure out what is reasonable.
Well, I don't think $15 a person is reasonable in rural Wisconsin. Where the heck are you eating? Does this include appetizer or dessert or something? I don't think $40 sounds "conservative" for casual dining in rural Wisconsin.
With that said, if you can afford it it doesn't matter. If you're not reaching other goals because of it, I think you can be more conservative or pick somewhere else to eat that isn't averaging $15 a person before drinks.
Our budget varies. So far this month we've only spent about $35 on eating out but I think that's a record. Usually I'd estimate it is more like $200 but depending on what's going on might be more or might be less. We probably average one meal out per week (around $30 at a casual dining place) and one takeout or lunch out per week. Some weeks nothing at all, some weeks we have several things going on or we go out of town and have all our meals out.
We budget roughly $200/month as a goal, but usually go over. We try to limit eating out to once/week, and usually can keep it under $50 for both of us if we don't order drinks, or limit it to one cocktail (which is especially easy for me right now!). I do not include my work cafeteria budget, which is about $30/week. I get at least something small from the cafeteria every day. I'm too lazy to pack my lunch every day.
For the month we usually spend anywhere from 50-100 on takeout-(pizza )and eating out . We eat out at a restaurant for dinner only 4-5 times a year, lunch once a month and breakfast 2 times a month.
Hmmm about 350?.. A " moderate" restaurant about 1/week, take out 1/week. Of course there are the special occasions like my mom's birthday where we dropped about $825 for the three of us (excluding wine). *-)
We love trying new restaurants and have soo many options and its one of the bonuses of where we live, so we take advantage and cut back in some other places. Food (groceries and restaurants) are one of our indulgences.
I live in rural Wisconsin, so a meal averages $15 per person and maybe an additional $5-10 for drinks. If we are trying to be conservative, a meal will be about $40 to 50. My goal is to only go out once a week, so it would be probably $200 a month budget, but I am not sure if we are being too excessive. We have the money for more, but I am trying to save more, because at one point we were eating out 3 times a week, plus deliver 1-2 and picking up food once. That adds up SO quickly.
I guess I am just trying to figure out what is reasonable.
Well, I don't think $15 a person is reasonable in rural Wisconsin. Where the heck are you eating? Does this include appetizer or dessert or something? I don't think $40 sounds "conservative" for casual dining in rural Wisconsin.
With that said, if you can afford it it doesn't matter. If you're not reaching other goals because of it, I think you can be more conservative or pick somewhere else to eat that isn't averaging $15 a person before drinks.
Our budget varies. So far this month we've only spent about $35 on eating out but I think that's a record. Usually I'd estimate it is more like $200 but depending on what's going on might be more or might be less. We probably average one meal out per week (around $30 at a casual dining place) and one takeout or lunch out per week. Some weeks nothing at all, some weeks we have several things going on or we go out of town and have all our meals out.
Sorry for the delay in response, ridiculous week at work. I live in a college town. It is rural to me, since I grew-up in Milwaukee area and now in the Appleton area. So, while Appleton natives would consider themselves as a city, I think it is rural, so maybe my definition is wrong. $15 means a $8-9 plate of food, $3 drink and tip. I can easily get a fish (not fried) or steak dish for $13-17. $8-9 food is usually sandwich and fries or a salad. Maybe since I live in a college town (Oshkosh), things are a bit more expensive, relatively speaking.
I understand your point. Like everything else in life, its all about self-control and how bad you want it.
Well, I don't think $15 a person is reasonable in rural Wisconsin. Where the heck are you eating? Does this include appetizer or dessert or something? I don't think $40 sounds "conservative" for casual dining in rural Wisconsin.
With that said, if you can afford it it doesn't matter. If you're not reaching other goals because of it, I think you can be more conservative or pick somewhere else to eat that isn't averaging $15 a person before drinks.
Our budget varies. So far this month we've only spent about $35 on eating out but I think that's a record. Usually I'd estimate it is more like $200 but depending on what's going on might be more or might be less. We probably average one meal out per week (around $30 at a casual dining place) and one takeout or lunch out per week. Some weeks nothing at all, some weeks we have several things going on or we go out of town and have all our meals out.
Sorry for the delay in response, ridiculous week at work. I live in a college town. It is rural to me, since I grew-up in Milwaukee area and now in the Appleton area. So, while Appleton natives would consider themselves as a city, I think it is rural, so maybe my definition is wrong. $15 means a $8-9 plate of food, $3 drink and tip. I can easily get a fish (not fried) or steak dish for $13-17. $8-9 food is usually sandwich and fries or a salad. Maybe since I live in a college town (Oshkosh), things are a bit more expensive, relatively speaking.
I understand your point. Like everything else in life, its all about self-control and how bad you want it.
I actually went to UW Oshkosh for grad school so I know what things cost there. Your OP said $15 per person before drinks, and I wasn't sure why. I can see things being $12-15 with a pop and a tip.
Oshkosh was actually much more LCOL than where I live now (I miss my old rent and water/electric bills!). We still manage to eat out for much less than $40-50 on a conservative night out for dinner. If we're being more relaxed, I can see how that could easily be spent with a couple of drinks each and an appetizer.
My point isn't to argue with you, I just think maybe if you want to cut back on your eating out budget, you need to change your version of "conservative". $40-50 on a basic dinner out in that area isn't necessary. There are certainly a few places you could go that cost that much but there are plenty of cheaper options.
ETA: I would agree with you that Oshkosh is going to have higher prices than a "rural" town. It's a smaller town but I think of rural as much smaller/sparesely populated.
$260. Four "cheap" nights out at $40 or less, one fancy date night at $100. We don't eat fast food so other than burritos or pizza it's hard to get below $30. On the cheap nights we get to pick one of appetizers/drinks/dessert.
Since we started the "pick one" rule we've been under out restaurant budget for 3 months in a row.
This doesn't count coffee (shortly switching to doing this at home) or lunch (trying to eat more leftovers). This is in Seattle, it's pretty HCOL here.
$150 but we don't get out a whole lot. DH's work serves lunch there and I work from home, so the dining out budget covers one nice dinner out a month or so.
When we lived in Chicago we ate out all the time and our budget was like $800 a month. Here in Atlanta prior to kids it was $350 or $400 a month.