Eating Expenses

Updated on October 14, 2011
L.A. asks from Houston, TX
9 answers

Hi , I am just curious as to what is the average eating out expenses you think is decent for a month for a family of 3 including a 4yr old.I

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K.G.

answers from Boca Raton on

We are a family of 3, (5 year old son) just eating "out" I'd say we spend about 200 per month.. We don't go to fancy places with a 5 year old.. It's more like Chilli's, Chick Fila, Outback, McDonalds...

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

It really depends on where and when you go. On Wednesdays, our local Chili's has a kids eat free with paid adult entree special. Or our diner has specials for kids on Tuesdays (usually with a theme). We recently spent $65 for our family of 3 adult sized people and a toddler, which included a few extra Thai iced coffees.

The other factor is "can you expect more meals?" That Thai meal fed us all at least twice.

We also do not eat out often. We will eat out again for DH's birthday but that's only 2x this month.

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S.G.

answers from Washington DC on

When we eat out at a restaurant we will spend about $15-35 depending where we go. We have 2 kids that share a kids meal as that is plenty for them. We also normally get water for all of us. Kids don't need all that sugar in the juice and they actually always ask for water since that is all they really know. We used to eat out twice a week but now we are living more frugally. So now we do go out about once a week. That once a week is either at a restaurant like Chili's where we spend the $30-35 or at Steak N Shake where kids eat free and then we'll spend about $15-20 that week. And also outside of our family outing, my husband does eat out at work about once a week and spend $7-10. The other days he brings his lunch. Also, I do occassionally get my starbucks which is maybe once/twice a month and maybe go to fast food once a month so that would be an additional $20/month.

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K.R.

answers from Sherman on

we spend about 500 a month on food. that total includes eating at home and out. sometimes it more of one, sometimes more of the other.

1 mom found this helpful

G.R.

answers from Dallas on

75-100
dlls a month i think is fair

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V.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

It's such a subjective question...
Not knowing your budget or income it is impossible to make any general statement about what is 'decent'.

For my family, at our income level, (2 adults, 1 teen, 1 pre-teen) who are on the go a lot, and typically eat out a few times a week, though not always at dinner, nor at 'nice' places... sub shops, picking up pizza or KFC probably once a week, getting fast food maybe once per week, AND going to Outback or Longhorn or Bonefish Grill every other week or so... we spend around $250/month eating out. That might be "nothing" for some families on some incomes, or it might be Extremely Extravagant for other families with other incomes.
You didn't give us much to go on to "judge" what is "decent".

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A.W.

answers from Kalamazoo on

We don't eat out at all on a regular basis. 1-2 times per month we order pizza ($25). Once a month we MIGHT order in Chinese ($40) and sometimes if my husband and I are both working at home, he will run out and get us some sushi ($30). I'd say our average is less than $100 for a family of 4. I should also ad that I work from home so it's not a big deal for me to make all of our meals.

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C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

Eating out?

It all depends on where you go!! :) Fast food or sit down or take out..I don't know your income nor do I know your habits for saving or anything else...I can tell you what, we as a family of 4, do.

I don't know your budget or your tastes...we are a family of four with two boys 9 & 11 and for 10 years we went to the SAME place every Saturday night for dinner - it was usually $80 not including the games we would let the boys play. So that was $240 a month in food alone. When we brought friends with us - look at another $10 to $20 and we usually had one or two of our boys friends with us...

I don't know what your plan is either. Are you saving for something but don't want to be soooo tight with your money that you end up getting angry? I would budget about $200 a month if you can afford it...

J.✰.

answers from San Antonio on

In my family of 3 including a 3.5 yr old, our monthly eating out expense is probably around $40 or $50. And that includes the grilled cheese or quick $1 burger I will buy him for lunch on those days when we need to grab a quick lunch on the way home. We don't eat out hardly ever - maybe once a month. We will rarely buy him his own meal, as he and I can share a meal most of the time, depending on where we go.

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