Buckling Down

Mike and I are exploring buying a new house, which means we’ve been talking about money a lot lately. We’re lucky that we don’t worry much about it, but the flip side to that is that we don’t pay super close attention to it. So when Mike asked me, the keeper of our finances, to give him a report on our spending, I sat down and started tallying things up. I tallied, and tallied, and tallied… and realized we’re spending an insane amount of money each month on food.

We eat out A LOT. Michaela has probably eaten in more restaurants in her seven years on this planet that I did in my first 20. And of course that adds up, even though it’s not like we usually dine at five star places.

We buy a lot of our food at Costco– mostly meat, fruits, and vegetables. We don’t eat a lot of processed food — not canned veggies, not boxed cake mix, not dehydrated potatoes — so we buy groceries that too often don’t get eaten because it’s easier to go out to dinner, after a long day of work and school.

Looking at the amount of money we spent on groceries, restaurants, and Costco last month, I just about died. So today is the first day of buckling down and getting back to basics. I’m hoping we’ll get back to meal planning, packing lunches, and eating at home more. That will be better for my wallet and also for my waistline.

That’s how I found myself making a giant batch of breakfast sandwiches this afternoon. Now I have two dozen baked eggs + cheddar cheese on whole wheat English muffin sandwiches. I popped them in the freezer and each morning, I can grab one to heat up for breakfast. We’re having tacos tonight and will use some of the leftover ingredients for taco salad later this week. I also went into our chest freezer to defrost some bratwurst to go with grilled veggies for a mid-week dinner.

Wish us luck as we try to tame our food budget!