EXISTING ECONOMICALLY

When I moved in with my new roommate, we decided that we wanted to cook almost every night. Until the beginning of this week, we hadn't cooked too much...just grabbed a pizza on the way home from class, or some taco bell on the way home from the library.

This week, we have successfully managed to (so far) cook dinner every night. [Note: by we, I mean me...and I've cooked for the roommate and the boyfriend, which I'm pretty proud about because I'm a horrible cook].

Monday Night: Baked breaded chicken with a honey lemon glaze and carrots.
Total Estimated Cost: $3.00/person
Estimated Cost at a Restaurant: $9.00/person

Tuesday Night: Crock-pot mexican chicken with beans and rice
Total Estimated Cost: $3.00/person
Estimated Cost at a Restaurant: $6.00/person

Wednesday Night: Spaghetti with roasted garlic mashed potatoes
Total Estimated Cost: $3.00/person
Estimated Cost at a Restaurant: $8.00/person

For Thursday night, I'm planning on cooking breakfast for dinner & Friday I'm not sure what I'm going to cook yet (feel free to leave suggestions!).

Total Estimated Cost at a Restaurant: $23.00/person (for three days)
Total Estimated Cost at home: $9.00/person (for three days)
Total Estimated Savings: $14.00/person (for three days)

This may not seem like much, but if you change your habbits from eating out 7 days a week to eating out 4 days a week, in one month you can save roughly $56. That is $2,912/year.

Just something to think about :)