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Take-out food, in my opinion, is the best thing since sliced bread.  Seriously- who doesn’t like the convenience of picking up dinner for the family on your way home?  No need to spend a half hour preparing it, just open the cartons and containers and enjoy time around the family dinner table.  People are busy, and the invention of food-to-go was just brilliant.takeout

Most people assume that in order to reduce your living expenses you pretty much have to give up going out to eat or grabbing dinner on the way home.   I’m not going to argue the point that you can make just about any meal at home that you can buy and for less money; but I will say that you can keep to your food budget and still enjoy the convenience of getting your meals to go.

Pizza- most families enjoy pizza!  If you usually get your pizza at one of the big franchises, like Pizza Hut or Dominoes, chances are you’re paying much more than you need to for a good pizza.  Instead of ordering from these establishments, why don’t you try your local pizzeria or deli-type convenience market?  Often, these places offer larger pizzas for less money.  Two local pizzeria’s in my town offer 12 cut pizzas, with two or three toppings even, for under $15.  For our family of four, a 12 cut pizza is enough for a dinner meal for everyone and then six more slices remain for the kids to eat for lunch or dinner for the next day or two (ok, and sometimes breakfast, too). For $3.75 per person, we end up getting 2-4 meals out of one 12 cut pizza.  Many supermarket’s also make and sell their own pizza.  The Price Chopper in my area offers fresh baked pizza for $5- and it’s a little bigger than the medium Pizza Hut pizza’s.  Check your local grocery stores to see if they offer pizza- or buy a rising crust pizza from the grocery store and pop it in the oven.

Burgers- the typical fast food burger isn’t as cheap as it used to be.  If you take your family to McDonald’s or Burger King these days, you probably will easily spend over $20 (unless everyone is cooperative and will order from the $1 menu!)  If you are looking to grab hamburger’s as take-out, why not try a diner or the local pizzeria?  I’m sure not all pizzeria’s offer additional meals, but many have pastas and burgers on the menu as well, and the burgers you get from diners and pizzeria’s are much closer to what you would make at home than what you’d pick up at McDonald’s or Burger King.  You usually get fries or onion rings with it, and the typical price is about $6 for a big ol’ burger and fries.  If you have younger children, chances are you can get away with buying one Burger to split for two kids- because they’re that big! 

Pasta & Dinners-  Sometimes you want “real” food, as opposed to what you get on the fast food menu, but don’t have the time to prepare it.  Diners, pizzerias and many restaurants offer their regular menu for take-out orders.  You just call ahead and place your orders.  While the price will depend on what you order, you can expect to pay around $9 to $15 per meal, but keep this in mind:  the portions are much larger than what you will eat in one sitting (for most people).  That $9 dinner can become at least two meals, which means you’re only paying $4.50 a meal.  That’s budget friendly, and you still get the convenience and taste of ordering dinner rather than trying to find the time to make your own.

Chinese Food-  Here’s another take-out option that goes a long way.  We’ve discovered that we get more meals out of buying the individual containers of various foods over buying the “combination plates” that come with an egg roll and rice.  We pick out three or four different items from the menu and get a pint of each, costing us under $20, and everyone takes a spoonful of each- like our own mini-buffet!  There is usually enough leftovers for one or two lunches the next day, as well.

Subs- Our local grocery store makes it’s own bread.  They have this Perisian loaf of bread that is to die for- soft on the inside with just a touch of crispiness to the outside!  You can have subs made on this bread, that are about 18 inches long, and for under $6.  Think about when you stop at Subway… you get a 12 inch sub for about $6, and they don’t even put much meat on it for that!  When you get subs and sandwiches from deli’s and supermarkets, they actually measure the meat that goes on them and you will always get more than you get from a franchise sub shop.  Our entire family can split one of these subs they are so large and filing.  We just cut it into 4 pieces and dig in.  Don’t rule out your local grocery store when thinking about where to pick up a convenient, low cost meal.

By the way… have you  noticed the containers that take-out food come in lately?  Plastic, reuseable containers.  They’re washable!  Stick them in the top shelf of your dishwasher or wash by hand, and re-use them. You can stop buying those disposable plastic containers, and avoid the high prices of Tupperware.  Just another bonus of take out food!

Just because you’re watching your budget and trying to cut back expenses doesn’t mean you have to eliminate eating out or getting take-out all together.  The trick is to cut back the amount of groceries you are buying at the supermarket if you’re planning to get take out once or twice during the week.  Plan for your leftovers as part of your meal allowances, and you’ll stay well within your grocery/food budget.



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