Dining Out: Taming the Budget Blower!

While the folks at YNAB have no opinion on how you should spend your money (that's a highly personal decision and up to you to decide), there's one thing that just keeps coming up: restaurants! Over and over again, new budgeters find that much of their money is being spent dining out at restaurants and ordering take out, and many of those budgeters decide to cut back on it after realizing this fact.
So today Ben and Ernie continue their discussion on food spending by sharing their strategies for keeping the dining budget in control without depriving yourself too much. It turns out, you CAN eat out without blowing the budget, with a little bit of planning and some careful category management.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:35 Do Ben and Ernie prioritize eating out?
12:05 How the nerds budget for eating out
22:14 Handling tips
31:30 Arbitrary rules around eating out
37:10 Tips for saving money on eating out
44:30 #YNABwins
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[@nicolagerry1204]

I fall into the emergency freezer pizza camp. Having oven dinners that you can whack on a baking sheet and hiff in the oven while you zap some frozen veg in the microwave is a lifesaver some nights.

[@corkspa]

I have no kids and love going out to restaurants alone. A good book, a good meal I didn't have to make? Sign me up!

[@NettieFIRE]

When we order fish & chips (for two adults) we realised that there were far to many chips. So now when we order (every 3 months or so) we select ‘fish & chips for one’ + extra piece of fish and that does us fine. We also make a salad or coleslaw at home to go with it - one of us collects the order while the other makes the salad. Cost of takeaway is kept smaller and salad is a healthier option and ensures less waste from our own fridge. It’s guilt free fast food and we get a home-made salad or coleslaw which balances out battered fish. Our fish & chips stores 🇦🇺 also offer pan fried fish (no batter) which is still tasty but is the healthier option.

[@ksk881]

When my husband was alive, he did most of the cooking (I was still working & he was retired). We would eat out maybe once a week and do takeout once a week. As his health declined, he would call me while I was at work and ask me to pick up something on the way home probably 3 out of 5 work days. We had enough income then that it didn’t really cause us issues. Once he died seven years ago, I just didn’t care about eating for the first couple of years, so whatever I ate, I ate at home. When I got sick, I had to go on a gluten and dairy free eating plan, so I had to learn to cook, and I developed a love for Salmon. My household income dropped significantly when he died, and I still had to cover the rent, utilities, cell phone etc, and GF/DF eating is not cheap, so eating out was an option I chose to eliminate. Besides the cost, I had to be able to control what was in my food. Now that my food choices have loosened up a little bit, I have more flexibility with what I eat, but it’s still mostly a fresh food, lean meat, poultry, and fish menu. I have gotten hit pretty hard with the way grocery prices have increased, so I shop carefully and I don’t eat out at all which is fine with me. I’m retired now, and eating out is not even on my priorities list at all, so I don’t have an eating out category anymore … which is fortunate for my budget, since the increase in my grocery bill needed some extra $$$. I just shift the money from one category to another to make it all work! 😀 These Budget Nerd videos help me keep my head in the game, my budget balanced, and my money where it needs to go. Thanks, guys!

[@karalawrence1037]

Keep rounding up! We love the extra 27 cents. It gets added up and taken out just once at the end of the night.

[@allisonkielty2827]

Server here! The check thing is not how it works! However most restaurants do round up or down on what they owe you to the closest dollar. So there is no change being handled most of the time.

[@YNABofficial]

Thanks for letting us know! ~Ernie

[@ericajohnson9786]

Ernie, my dad is semi-retired, and the membership fee at his golf club went up. Instead of renewing, he took a part-time job at the nicest (and most expensive) country club around to be able to play golf for free. Going from a salaried executive job to an hourly customer service job was eye-opening for him, but he still got his golf!

[@YNABofficial]

Oh, that's cool! And good for your dad! ~Ernie

[@elizabeth1234..]

Whenever I cook if I can marinate and freeze a second or third while I'm doing it or cook double or triple to freeze when something is on sale I will. It makes it so easy to whip out 'fast food'

[@Natazavrik]

Oh I love that!

[@elizabeth1234..]

@@Natazavrik My big tip is always label and date the food. If I make chicken curry I’ll prep all the veg and chicken and spices then divide it out and label the bag +1 can coconut milk so I know what’s missing. Or a casserole I plastic wrap then aluminum foil and label. But rip and label the aluminum on the counter so you’re not struggling with food. When you’re ready to heat throw it all in the oven so make sure all the plastic is covered by aluminum. It’s how food is stored in catering places most often as well and the plastic doesn’t melt. And when traveling the casseroles and meal prepped frozen stuff acts like ice blocks to keep everything cold.

[@vladimir.zlokazov]

With tips we have this system here: the receipt for the food has a qr code printed on it, you scan it and proceed to the tipping page, enter an amount and pay. So the meal and the tip are separate transactions.

[@sunnyash18]

When I was a server, my tips were put on my paycheck. If the customers gave me cash, I just took that home.

[@margaretcraig6538]

Wow! I live in Canada and when you pay for a meal, the server comes with a portable machine that takes both debit and credit and you choose how much the tip is. You get the receipt right there and your card never leaves your hand.

[@midnightbudgets]

Earlier tonight I watched the recording of one of the live Q&A's with Ernie. It was one of my favorite YNAB videos to date, hands down. Ernie talks in the video about the tool of scheduling recurring transactions. This got me thinking that I would like to try scheduling coffee a few days a week and 1 or 2 restaurant meals a week as well; I'm hoping to test this out and see if I can use this sense of anticipation to curb unintentional coffee shops, dining etc purchases.

[@YNABofficial]

Glad you enjoyed it! And I love this use of scheduled recurring transactions you're trying. Keep us posted! ~Ernie

[@van_full_of_richards]

Happy meal hack- they all want nuggets so we order a 20 count nugget and 2 medium fries and divide it proportionately. Sure, they miss out on the toy but with 5 kids I don't need 5 toys in the house.

[@Bubblehead9-kw5wo]

It’s so funny, coming from a household where there were 5 kids, I’m instinctively conscious about my meal choices when dining out with my in-laws (they always insist on paying). My husband not so much, but he was raised as an only child. I balk at ordering an appetizer or a soup, or any extra outside of a middle range entree. 🤣

[@anniemilakovic7683]

Our problem is that eating out tends to make us eat healthier as opposed to less healthy. For us, the difficulty is in keeping fresh produce, salad ingredients etc around from our bi weekly or weekly grocery trip. We’re both employed full time no kids work approx 60 hours a week. So at home the option might be to throw in the frozen pizza or lasagna in the oven, versus pick up a tasty healthy salad from a local place. We’ve fought it but it seems there is just no way to be happy and healthy with food, instead of feeling like we spend every waking hour slaving away just to work and eat, if we don’t have a large dining out budget.

[@lavs23]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that adds the tip so the total bill amount is a full dollar amount.

[@DebbiOverweg]

We have 5: Dining Out Family Dining Out Dates (even if a 2 person take-out for home date) Dining Out Kids (school lunches) Dining out hubby Dining out me We do individual Dining out budgets separate from hobby spending since our workplaces have different cafeteria costs so that allows it to be balanced so we could each eat out from work regularly but scaled to cost at the location.

[@williamwarren9448]

We save eating out up - we will go two - three weeks and then eat out - COVID saved us THOUSANDS of dollars honestly - now we save it for travels with great restaurants included - glenda

[@elizabethgadsby9641]

I don't have a separate dining out category because I so rarely pay for it myself. I get paid to eat out by mystery shopping 😄 My food is reimbursed and I earn money! Excess funds are used to fund the rare non-mystery shop dining out through my Fun category.

[@YNABofficial]

Getting paid to eat out?-sounds like a dream job! And, honestly, this is a really cool and creative way to fund fun categories. Well done! ~Ernie

[@RandomFandomDragon]

What company do you go through? I've been interested in mystery shopping, but most of the sites I've found seem like scams.

[@elizabethgadsby9641]

@@RandomFandomDragon I contract with MarketForce and have for almost 4 years now. I've tried about half a dozen other companies over that time and none have lasted. You won't replace regular income, but it's steady and reliable.

[@RandomFandomDragon]

@@elizabethgadsby9641 - Thank you so much!

[@joliechabot7489]

Several times I laughed out loud throughout this video. I am also a budget nerd and you guys are so relatable. Team Ben with a lot of my budget tendencies. 😅

[@BudgetingGranny]

When going through a drive thru - order your pop with little or no ice. Otherwise, you get a cup full of ice and one inch of pop if you were to remove the ice. Since no refills in a drive thru, at least get a respectable amount of pop for the money you spend. :)

[@pmblu]

When money is really tight, I will try to remember to take drink flavorings that come into the tubes (like Crystal Light) and then order water and flavor the water with the drying flavoring crystals.

[@Peter-kt2gb]

😂 I do the same thing with tips. It's gotta come out to an even dollar amount. Or sometimes with a latte I'll round up to the nearest .50.

[@Natazavrik]

OMG you blew my mind with type of Target needing to be Monthly Savings! Thank you!

[@RandomFandomDragon]

100% I round up the tip so the total is even! One hack I like (your mileage may vary) is getting kids' meals from restaurants. We almost always do pickup orders so we can eat at home, so this is great option. Obviously it depends on the restaurant offerings and you might need to experiment, but Red Robin is a good one for me. I order the kids' meal burger, change it to a chicken breast and do a few more free customizations, and basically get my teriyaki chicken sandwich meal for half price.

[@YNABofficial]

You are blowing my mind right now! It's like menu hacking.

[@pmblu]

When we eat out, I always try to make sure I have Cash so I don’t have to let the server take my card away. If I am able to run my own credit card through the machine. I leave a cash tip either with the waiter or on the table. I don’t know if it helps, but I don’t want them to have wait for their tip or to have to split the tip with other workers. Don’t know if that actually is the effect, but that is my goal.

[@mikailagray]

I live with my sister and nephew and it can be hard to divide up food expenses in a way that I can accurately buffet for as we both just pick up the bill based on different circumstances. Groceries and eating out are the 2 hardest things for me accurately budget when I’m living with family.

[@carrjar]

I love to cook and prefer recipes with quality proteins and ingredients. Steak, salmon, heck even chicken breast are too expensive now. This results in eating less healthy recipes, which leads to "well, if I'm going to eat less healthy" some fast food options with rewards/coupons are similar in cost and way more convenient. The only way we've been able to stay on budget with Dining and/or Groceries in 2022 is to eat less healthy.

[@elizabeth1234..]

I've been couponing and putting pennies to the side for when chicken or other cuts go on sale so I can buy more for the same price. Then I meal prep and freeze. It causes it to go up but then it's all a wash in the end

[@ClareSwindlehurst]

Why do waiting staff STILL take the card away in the US? It is so strange. Add to that the way they change the amount based on the piece of paper. It's crazy. In the UK ever since they introduced chip and pin the wait staff bring a portable card reader to the table and you insert your card - some of them then let you add on a tip on the machine.

[@ClareSwindlehurst]

I use the tip to round up the overall charge to an even number too!

[@joanhall3718]

This is where I blow my budget !

[@lakeisharhyant2045]

Sounds like m6 daughter. When she 2as young I always got the two burger meals now that she is 13 well startingbwhen she was 12 started ordering more food because she's a growing girl so at minimum we are spending at least 25. I always get the least expensive because I don't eat much. But I don't eat put as much as nearly as I used to.

[@krincica]

How to categorize cc payments, weekly paycheck and transfers from one bank account to another? I would really appreciate your answer. I asked on your TikTok account but the creator didn't answer. Thanks

[@Tiredmum]

You get refills at some places in the UK

[@melissadavis7410]

We almost never eat out. Just something we stopped doing once we became empty-nesters. So this is an area I can't cut from. It's like when I'm trying to lose weight, people tell me to stop drinking soda. I haven't had a soda since 1998....lol

[@RandomFandomDragon]

oof, I feel that "cut out soda"! I mostly drink water, so that tip has never been useful for me, lol

[@Tiredmum]

Ben, Happy birthday to your son.

[@buickjam]

I can't get help but making a mashup with your names Bert and Ernie... Ben and Jerry... Ben and Ernie!!!

[@YNABofficial]

Bert & Jerry! 🌻 Hannah

[@Tesla-Cannon]

Calling me out, I see 🤪

[@justinlindholm2679]

When you do the tip at the restaurant, which category does that come out of? Would that come out of the eating out/restaurant category or the donations/giving category. Because giving a tip is being courteous and nice, because you don't have to leave a tip, even though I do every time, I just never thought about which category the tip came out of, it has always been the eating out/restaurant category, I think I might start doing the donation/giving out category so I have more in the eating out/restaurant category.

[@BudgetingGranny]

I consider it as cost of eating out. Yes, it takes more from your budget, but it accurately will reflect what you spent to eat that meal.

[@YNABofficial]

I also consider it a cost of eating out. ~Ernie

[@dawnkoplitz1825]

Ben, do you have a babysitter category for date nights?

[@YNABofficial]

Hey, Dawn! Sorry just seeing this. Yes, I have a separate category for babysitting. ~BenB

[@lakeisharhyant2045]

Find copycat recipes of items from your favorite resturant