I NEED this thread. Food is one of our largest expenses (two adults). A *conservative* estimate of our restaurant costs is $1,000/month. This includes take-out, delivery, brunch, lunch out during working hours almost every day, restaurants almost every night, etc.
In addition I subscribe to one of those meal kit services where they send you a box of food to cook every week. This actually *saves* us money since I don't go out when I have one of these meals to eat (six meals per box = $10/meal). Using this service has taught me how to cook over the last year. So I consider it worth it, though eventually I want to wean myself off of it.
But then we ALSO have very wasteful grocery store habits. I'm constantly buying more food than we need and throwing away the excess.
We probably spend at least $1,500/month on food, if not more, making it our biggest expense.
(Part of the problem is that my spouse has particular dietary needs that I do not share. So we have to make meals separately when we eat at home.)
I want to transition to making big crock pot/casserole dishes and storing them so I can eat all week on a few meals. Does anyone have favorite web sites for finding good recipes?
Advice for how to safely store the cooked food would be good as well. I've gotten over my long-time aversion to leftovers, but I am still not in the habit of freezing anything. How to maintain freshness? How long will it keep in the fridge before we need to freeze? How long will it keep in the freezer? This kind of knowledge would really help, so if anyone has tips, I am all ears!