Question about eating out budgets - a friend changed my mind

I used to think $50 a week on takeout was no big deal, but my coworker Sarah pulled up her Mint app during lunch last Tuesday and showed me she saved $1,200 in 6 months just by meal prepping on Sundays. That number hit me hard because I realized I was basically burning my emergency fund on burritos. Anyone else have a friend who made you rethink a habit with a simple math lesson?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_nathan2d ago

Not to be that person but $200 a month is actually around $46 a week, not $6 a day. Slightly bigger number when you break it down like that. But yeah I get what you mean about the chicken and rice thing, nobody wants to eat sad meal prep every day.

carr.lee1d ago

Wait, $46 a week?! Okay that hits different. I thought it was basically spare change, not a whole grocery trip. Suddenly the chicken and rice plan feels less dramatic and more like "yep, I'd be eating beans too.

milesbailey2d ago

$1,200 over six months is only $200 a month. That's like six bucks a day. People spend more than that on coffee. I knew a guy who saved $3,000 in a year by giving up his daily energy drink habit and then blew it all on a weekend trip to Vegas. Meal prepping is fine if you LIKE eating the same chicken and rice five days straight, but calling it an "emergency fund" situation feels dramatic. You could cut your takeout in half and still have plenty leftover for burritos without turning into a spreadsheet warrior.