How Much Should I Budget for Eating Out?

Ah, the unwieldy eating out budget. Feel like it’s out of control? Well, you’re certainly not the only one. And you’ve come to the right place.

According to 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, the average American household spends nearly $4,000 on restaurant meals every year, or around $330 per month. And that’s not even counting their grocery budget. To put that into perspective, average person spends just over $6,000 on food at home, so dining out is a very significant portion of Americans' average cost of food.

But before you go setting your plan at a neat and tidy $330/month and move on, there’s a more important question you should be asking. What are you really craving?

Spending a huge amount of money on dining and takeout is an easy trap to fall into for a lot of us. We get coffee on the go, grab lunch with friends and leave work too tired to cook at home. Over the course of a month, all that eating out can really take a bite out of your budget.

If your restaurant dining is keeping you from reaching your financial goals, it may help to ask yourself…

What are you really buying?

Your restaurant budget is just a microcosm of your total budget—its job is to help you organize your dollars to best support your priorities. So, when you spend on food away from home, what priorities are you satisfying? (This isn’t just about a full belly!)

To answer this question, turn a critical eye to your motivation. The restaurant gets your dollars, but what’s the best part of the trade for you? If it’s not the food, then maybe it’s:

• A treat to get you through your commute or workday afternoon (a break/distraction)
• Quality time with coworkers and friends at happy hour (closer bonds/time to socialize)
• Outsourced meal-planning (less to do/automation)
• The game to save even more money with restaurant offers and discounts (the thrill of getting the deal)
• A helpful option when you need the convenience

In these examples, the food is secondary, and there might be a thrifty way to get the thing you truly want.

Find low-cost alternatives

To move the needle towards more satisfaction for less money, try a low-cost substitution without running up your grocery bill:

A treat

If your morning coffee is the carrot you need to get out of the house on time for work, how about a lesser splurge? Would the cost of a good thermos and a reasonably-priced brand of coffee entice you? Make a daily ritual of waking up early enough to prepare and enjoy the coffee. Pick a spot that’s agreeable—it doesn’t have to be in your kitchen, or even in your home.

If your afternoon snack is just the excuse you need to take a break, then buy treats at the grocery store, and keep them in your desk. A little intentional grocery shopping can go a long way toward keeping costs down without feeling deprived. Or replace your snack with a walk! 

Quality time

Instead of eating lunch at restaurants with your favorite coworkers, maybe you could meet them in the park or cafeteria (so that cost-conscious friends can brown-bag it).

If your weekends are the problem, why not invite friends over for a potluck? Or you can grab take-out together. Even if you spend a little money on the spread, staying in can be far less expensive than a night out on the town.

Outsourced meal planning

If your transaction history is full of mid-priced family restaurants, then meal-planning may be your weak link. Make it easy, and commit to themes! I’ve never heard anyone groan about Taco Tuesday. While you’re at it, how about pasta on Wednesday and stir-fry on Friday (stir-Fridays)?

Choose some easy-to-fix favorites and you’ll always have a food plan that gets you into your kitchen, even when you’ve had a hectic day. Toss in a grocery store rotisserie chicken night, and you’ve nearly got the week covered and it’s money spent well for convenience!

Or plan one big batch of something that you can cook on Sunday—make enough to cover meals for at least a few nights. If you’re a single person, planning for leftovers is key, because recipes often assume more than one serving. 

You could also compare the food cost of a meal-planning service that delivers everything you need right to your door. In most places, the costs may be comparable. But if you live in a high cost-of-living area—like New York, for example, where diners save on average $19.40 per meal(!) by eating food at home because of high food prices—using a meal-planning service might save you a bundle on its own!

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Dig in to your food budget

To supercharge your focus on cutting down your food spending, try reorganizing your budget to highlight the reasons that you spend at restaurants. Here’s how it works:

Scrutinize your food cost history

Spend 10 minutes reviewing where you spend money most on food. If you use a money-planning app like YNAB, you can easily tap on the dollar amount next to your activity to see your transactions:

If not, just pull up a recent credit card statement and scroll through it to get an idea of your spending habits.

Do you see a ton of Dunkin’ Donuts? Loads of Chipotle? Or a surge in weekend spending on drinks and appetizers? How does your average grocery store trip compare to a night out? Make a note of your motivation (treats, socializing, automation, or something else).

Now, write down no more than three priorities that you cater to when you spend your ‘Dining Out’ dollars. Which one do you spend the most on? Does your spending reflect choices that are aligned with your priorities? 

Prioritize your dining out dollars even further

Split up food spending even further with a category group for Dining Out.

Under this group, make a list of your your most common underlying priorities:

• Time with friends
• Work Lunches
• Fast Food
• Date night
• Convenience
• Coffee Break

Put your money where your priorities are

Now, it’s time to align the ‘Dining Out’ money that you have left for this month with your new ‘Dining Out’ categories—or, as we like to say, it’s time to “budget.”

When it’s time to budget next month, you’ve got a much clearer framework for your priorities, so allocate your dollars, accordingly! How much do you want to spend on these new categories? How can you stretch your monthly cost for dining out to better match what you truly value?

A final tip

While this might seem a little too granular that what you’re used to, it can help get to the root of what you truly want and give you a way to line up your dollars to get there.

If your eating out budget is far more than average, or far less—it’s all up to you and your priorities.

Not using a zero-based budget to get this kind of clarity in your own personal finance? Try YNAB free today!