Eating In VS Eating Out For the Single Person: Saving Money VS Saving Time

by Stacey Carroll, Contributing Writer

When it comes to eating, I often fight between saving money and saving time. To spite the numerous 30 minute dinner articles, I’ve never found a dinner that took 30 minutes. Usually, it’s more like an hour to an hour and a half, not including cleanup. I don’t have that kind of time. Chances are if I’m cooking, I also need to be doing something else. Tonight was no different. I needed to eat, go to the gym, and write.

One solution was to put on my gym clothes, run to subway, buy a $5 sub, go to the gym, and skip the writing, or try to write after the gym in the hour that I’d have before bed.

The five dollar sub saves time, but it costs money. I have frozen chicken patties in the freezer and frozen Rallys French fries. Both take 20 minutes to bake, and I can write while the food cooks. Since I had already eaten out twice today (breakfast and lunch), I decided no matter how healthy Subway is, I didn’t need to spend $15 on food for the day.

I opted to save money versus saving time.

Now, let’s say I really wanted that sub, but I didn’t want to go to Subway for it. Buying a sub kit can cost anywhere from $8 to $13, but that also means that I need to drive to the store, buy the sub kit, drive home, assemble it, and eat. I’m not saving money, and I’m not saving time.

The third solution involves everything separately during my normal weekly shopping run: ham, turkey, lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapeños, mayo and a package of sub rolls. A half pound of ham and a half pound of turkey will run me somewhere between $7 and $8. Shredded lettuce is $1.50 to $2. Tomatoes run $1.50 a pound. Mayo I can pick up for $2 and jalapeños run about $1.80. The pack of sub rolls could cost me anywhere from $1.50 to $4. The out of pocket cost is around $20. I know I can make at least four subs taking my per sub cost down to $5.00, and I can use the leftovers for other things. However, if I don’t feel like making and eating four subs in a week, the food rots which translates into wasted money.

For the single person, it’s the eternal catch-22. Do I potentially save money and risk wasted food, or do I save time and spend more? It depends on the day. However, for the sub example, I’ll almost always eat out. It’s cheaper, faster, and I don’t have to worry about rotting food in my refrigerator.

Author Bio:

Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia.  She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Pipe Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design.

She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know.

She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing.

Other books by Stacey

• AVIA II
• AVIA Memories

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