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Sunday, January 8, 2017

Personal Chef

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The news that, in 2015, for the first time, the amount of money Americans spent on eating out surpassed the amount spent on groceries is quite disturbing to me.

I realize, however, that I bear witness to it every day and the “lifestyle” is not limited to the millennials in my life.  Concern about the health issues associated with a diet of restaurant and fast-food/take-out meals is fodder for another post.
When and why did eating out become so commonplace?  The person who helps with my tech support on this blog, we’ll call him “Bob” (who is a frugal millennial), recently had an interaction at work that made us both laugh, if only at the absurdity of today’s mindset:   he mentioned to a co-worker that he brought leftovers from the last night’s dinner for lunch. The co-worker asked, “Where did you go for dinner?”   Bob replied “we cooked dinner at home”.  What a radical idea, dinner at home.  Who DOES that??
When approached by some younger people at work or my own kids at home about what they can do to better their financial situation (which happens fairly frequently), I’ve asked if they can afford a personal chef.  They always say no, and then I tell them that every time they order take out, or pick up a breakfast sandwich, or a smoothie from a trendy health food place they are, in effect, hiring a personal chef: someone else you are paying to prepare your meals.   
I work with people who come in to work with their take-out coffee and breakfast sandwich, and who order their lunch out EVERY day.  So, between the breakfast and lunch, they are spending $13.00- $17.00 per day just on breakfast and lunch.  If they ate breakfast at home and packed a lunch, that cost would be around $5.00- $7.00 per day, a savings of 60%!    That $9.00/day difference X 20 days/month = $180.00, and that’s not even counting the money on dinners out or weekend meals.   
I can think of a lot of things to do with an extra $180+ a month.  
You all read articles and tweets ad nauseum about the latte factor or the benefits of brown-bagging, so I won’t go on about that.  I just want to open some eyes as to the importance of small everyday decisions and the impact they have on our finances and health (and therefore our goals, dreams and freedom).
Do you want fries with that? Is that for here or to go? It all boils down to priorities, people.   If you don’t know what “boils” means, you’re probably not spending a lot of time in your kitchen.
No need for feedback from or regarding people who live in food deserts, etc. This post is intended for thoughtful consideration of those that are fortunate enough to have choices and options.  I fully appreciate that not everyone has frequent access or transportation to a grocery store.

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