Everyone needs to eat. Grocery bills, restaurants, fast food---it's all sustenance that keeps us alive. Before the layoff, our "normal" grocery spend was $1,000/month and our normal restaurant spend was $700/month (about $20k/year). It wasn't interfering with our long-term goals, until 60% of the household income is gone. Now this space is ripe for cuts.
Restaurant Slash
We did our best to cut restaurants entirely. It was a difficult transition, because (for years) the answer to "What do you want for dinner?" has been a restaurant name. And habits are hard to break.
Most of our frequent haunts are owner-run establishments, since I love supporting local. But our current reality is every dollar matters, and spending less for food is low-hanging fruit that hopefully won't have too much of an impact on the local economy---or my long-term health.
Eating-out Numbers:
- 2019: $2,829 ($236/month)
- 2020: $1,437 ($120/month, driven down by Covid)
- 2021: $5,451 ($454/month)
- 2022: $4,782 ($398/month)
- 2023: $4,385 ($365/month)
- 2024: $4,194 ($350/month)
- 2025 through October: $6,889 ($765/month, driven by not having a kitchen due to Hurricane Helene. This was offset by a 50%+ reduction in groceries.)
- 2025 Q4: $245 ($81/month)
There were some weekly visits to our favorite taco joint up front to help ease the pain, a trip to a national fast-casual chain with a gift card, and a couple visits to a local spot. Otherwise, spend has felt nonexistent this quarter in comparison to the last few years.
It's made all the easier when I'm working for $10/hour... The spend felt so small---less than 2% of our income---before the layoff. But now, I'd have to work over 400 hours---full-time for 10+ weeks, almost a quarter of the year---to afford it. Literally an untenable situation.
A good chunk of the cost was drinks, which are more expensive with a higher profit margin. An easy way to save at restaurants is to drink water, then drink wine at home for a tiny fraction of the price. My long-standing favorite is the California Roots brand from Target, at only $4.50/750ml bottle when it's on sale.
Speaking of Drinks...
I was up to two cans of Monster a day, a habit that started around the time I was working my day job while also moonlighting as general contractor of a whole-house gut job and depleting the paltry remains of my energy through hard labor. A 12-pack of Monster cost $23, and at two cans a day for thirty days (sometimes three...), it was at least 5 packs, or $115/month minimum.
From a numbers perspective, this was an easy area to reduce. Physically, the caffeine withdrawal headaches sucked. I've mostly switched back to water at this point. Last week, the 12-packs were on sale, and I got three 12-packs for $54 total---a great price for what is now more of a treat than a habit.
"Eating What We Have"
Whenever googling "how to save on food," the first piece of advice is always "eat what you have." This is good advice. But it's not helpful advice when you don't actually have a lot of food.
Our reality: the pantry flooded in the hurricane and we hadn't "refilled" the staples (we didn't cook much anyway and usually bought ingredients day-of if we wanted to cook), we'd been mostly eating at restaurants (or eating leftovers from restaurants), and our food on-hand consisted of snacks and fresh perishables. Protein bars, Pop tarts, fruit snacks, and string cheese do not combine to create healthy, well-balanced meals.
Sometimes good advice doesn't apply. And that's okay.
Price Shopping
For years, the automatic response to needing something was "Publix or Amazon." I preferred the freshness and convenience over the cost savings. While I'd compare brands in the store or look for items on sale, it wasn't worth going out of my way. Now, it is---so I've spent a lot of time price-shopping. This involved creating a spreadsheet with full price comparisons of all our usual items from most of our local stores.
A big focus has been reviewing the weekly ads. Knowing the price ranges and keeping on top of sales has frequently resulted in 25%-50% savings. That's legitimately helpful, because spending less means needing to earn less.
Eating at Home
We've made a point to cook at least one large meal each week, with leftovers that last a few days. I've always been good about eating leftovers, so this change has been low-effort.
More bananas, less apples. Cheaper cheese for fancy cheese night. More generics over brand name.
I switched to cheaper pre-made salads and more frozen single-serve meals, which are still convenient but more cost-effective. The "price per salad" is about even compared to meal prepping on my own, though the price per ounce is more expensive.
Money-saving Tips/Tricks
- Shop with a list. We've done this for ages.
- Frozen produce. It's often cheaper. We already used frozen fruits for smoothies, but frozen veggies don't work for salads. We occasionally do the steamers.
- In-season produce. It's cheaper, fresher, and might even be local.
- Cheaper meats. Chicken and turkey instead of beef. Beans for protein.
- Buy in bulk. This is hit-or-miss, because it's not a good deal if food expires before you can actually eat it.
- Farmer's Market. We have a good one every Saturday, but I haven't made it.
- Meal Planning. Our large meal for the week is planned, but the rest of the week is more flexible.
- Meal Prepping. When I'm focusing on my diet and working on either my muscle building or weight loss, I'm a hard-core fresh food prepper. But at the moment, I hesitate to purchase a lot of my usual high-quality ingredients that might go bad before I can eat them, considering I'm in and out of the house and my routines are out the window. Fact: Minimizing waste is the best way to save on food.