Spending our time with the whole family in a popular eating place is an activity that many of us often enjoy. However, we often need to pay above normal market price when we need to eat in restaurants. Eating out is a relatively more expensive thing that our family can do. Fortunately, it is possible for us significantly reduce the overall cost. We should look for effective ways to do that. Obviously, the best way to save money on restaurant is not to go to the restaurant itself. But, it doesn’t make sense and this can hardly be called a solution at all.
First of all, we should consider the common scenario. A family of five could spend $60 for a meal and this could give them mostly food with average quality. In this case, we should consider what we can cook at home with the same amount of money. Eating out at the restaurant will require zero hour in preparation, cooking and cleaning time.
On the other hand, we could spend a couple of hours or more to cook great food for the family. In general, we can ensure that the food match our preferences.
We should look closer at this situation. We may often need to serve mediocre food at home because we need to save the overall cost. So, if we finally have some money to splurge, it may be a good idea to cook at home. The family may have been craving for that big juicy king prawns from the local market.
Buying them at the restaurants could be exorbitantly expensive and we may save more money or buy more prawns with the same amount of money. Our kids may also prefer personal pasta or pizza, with ingredients that they prefer most. Customized meals can be difficult to find in local restaurants and this is another reason why we should eat at home. This is particularly true if we can buy a pound of king prawns for just $10 from the local seaside market.
If we want to have great meal at house without much hard work, it would be a good idea to cook with the whole family. Kids as young as 4 years old should be able to help. They can set the table and wash the dishes. Parents could do the more demanding and potentially risky tasks, such as peeling, cutting and cooking. We could ask our children whether they are up for the challenge.
Many husbands find cooking an interesting activity if they do it with the rest of the family. It may not be a good idea to pay children to do the chores, because cooking is a common daily activity.
This way, we can have great meal at lower cost or it is possible to invite grandparents, as well as other relatives, if we still plan to spend the same amount of money. This activity could be performed during weekend on the afternoon, so the food will be fully prepared for dinner. Many ingredients in the local market are available for relatively lower prices, so we should take advantage of this opportunity.