Food Costs

Food Costs are broken down by the Bureau of Labor Statistics into Food at Home and Food away from Home. It is interesting how detailed the Food at Home is further broken down in the survey, but we will not dig into that detail. If you are interested, it is shown in this table.

Food at Home comprises 6.73 percent of the total expenses for our retired couple and Food away from Home makes up 4.92 percent. It looks like seniors like to dine out.

Food at Home

Lowering Food Costs at Home entails many methods to cut pennies here and there such as buying house brands, using coupons, cooking frugal meals in bulk, etc. We will break these methods down into several smaller categories.

This is a work in process so please come back soon for more on this topic.

Food away from Home

Seniors get breaks on Food away from Home since many restaurants have senior discounts and senior specials. In some cases, if they do not have a senior plate, they will allow seniors to order from the children’s menu. Another way to cut dining out costs is to split a normal order. Many American restaurants serve obscenely large portions that will easily feed two seniors. You may be charged for an extra plate, but you can ask and evaluate the economics of one order and an extra plate or two individual orders.

Another way to lower dining out costs is to use the Internet to find restaurants that offer a free meal on your birthday. Search the Internet using the search term “free birthday meal”. You will find a lot of businesses offering this freebie. Call ahead to make certain that the local store accepts the national promotion, since some local franchises may opt out.

Use the Internet to find discount coupons. Linda and I do not go to Pizza Hut without printing a coupon from the Internet. Sometimes the Hut has coupons at the counter if you ask for them.

Sometimes we will order an appetizer as the main course. This is usually a great tasting meal and is about the right portion.

Jump in here an tell us about your ways to reduce dining our costs. We all have our favorite ways to save money while enjoying dining our.