I'm surprised that you can manage it down to $3 a person for a meal cooked at home (I know I can't do that with most major meals... though I can do it with lunches for Kiralee and Cindy). Different dietary needs and food sources and types will produce different results.
I can understand the cost of eating out... that's why we don't do it that often (about once a week for Kiralee and I, and once a week for Cindy and I if she's around on the weekend at all).
I would highly recommend getting a good electric coffee grinder, and home drip pot, and getting your wife weaned off of buying coffee out since that adds up very quickly. You should be able to buy beans fresh for about $9 a lb, which gets the cost of a cup of coffee way down from the takeout ones you've noted she drinks regularly.
Lunches are harder, especially when dealing with work, if your company sort of expects folks to gather to gather for lunch someplace outside the company (I don't know if you have that problem, some folks do).
$30 a meal for three is a lot... but then again we have a lot of buffet places around here and sandwich shops where you can do lunch for $6-$9 each....
My problem in money is the amount of organics and high quality foods I need to buy as per my doctor's dietary restrictions. I'm not supposed to do pasta or rice more than once each a week now, which cuts down on the inexpensive meal options something fierce... especially when I'm supposed to be eating non-redmeat proteins and can't digest a lot of salad foods...
You might want to go for trimming down to 1 meal out a week to start... eating out for many people is a stress reliever of sorts as well, especially if the chief cook only knows so many dishes to cook. Variety in diet for some folks is vital for their mental well being as well as biology.
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I can understand the cost of eating out... that's why we don't do it that often (about once a week for Kiralee and I, and once a week for Cindy and I if she's around on the weekend at all).
I would highly recommend getting a good electric coffee grinder, and home drip pot, and getting your wife weaned off of buying coffee out since that adds up very quickly. You should be able to buy beans fresh for about $9 a lb, which gets the cost of a cup of coffee way down from the takeout ones you've noted she drinks regularly.
Lunches are harder, especially when dealing with work, if your company sort of expects folks to gather to gather for lunch someplace outside the company (I don't know if you have that problem, some folks do).
$30 a meal for three is a lot... but then again we have a lot of buffet places around here and sandwich shops where you can do lunch for $6-$9 each....
My problem in money is the amount of organics and high quality foods I need to buy as per my doctor's dietary restrictions. I'm not supposed to do pasta or rice more than once each a week now, which cuts down on the inexpensive meal options something fierce... especially when I'm supposed to be eating non-redmeat proteins and can't digest a lot of salad foods...
You might want to go for trimming down to 1 meal out a week to start... eating out for many people is a stress reliever of sorts as well, especially if the chief cook only knows so many dishes to cook. Variety in diet for some folks is vital for their mental well being as well as biology.