So how is going out to eat a single scoop of ice cream frugal? I was sitting here at the end of July contemplating how hot it is and how great ice cream would taste. But we have none in the house. Usually when I want ice cream we go out to a store and buy a cone. It’s a VERY expensive treat when you think about what you get for $4.
But here’s the thing, I probably eat ice cream 1 month or even longer. The last time we had ice cream was Fourth of July when we had dinner with friends and ice cream later. And previously I think might have been Memorial Day weekend. So yep we don’t eat ice cream.
I realize for $4 I could buy a gallon of store ice cream or even a pint of haagen daaz or ben and jerrys. But the truth is that it’s better for me not to have ice cream around. If we bought a gallon we’d be eating it every night to finish it before ice crystal form. And that would probably mean I would be overeating every night. I’d have dessert every night!
For some people it’s fine. Unfortunately I gain weight just by eating lunch out everyday. So I’m better off controlling what I eat. Long term it’s better for me to not be overweight and watch my health. So I consider my investment in a $4 ice cream cone cheaper than getting fat by eating ice cream every night.
As weight watchers and other diets say, it’s better to stock your house with food you can eat than to leave temptations in your house for you to indulge. So I consider leaving ice cream a huge temptation to eat it every night. So to me it’s more frugal to pay more to have a treat than to have it easily available.
Plus the cost of going to get it and how expensive a cone is, makes me less likely to eat ice cream and easier for me to avoid. This helps me manage my weight better. People who are like my DH and can eat anything and never gain a pound, well I hate them and they can have as much ice cream and chips as they want.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Jenna // Aug 3, 2008 at 11:24 am
Looked at as a $4 expense for a single serving, yeah… not such a great deal.
On the other hand though? Like you, I get ice cream once in a while (even worse for me, really. I get Strickland’s, a local chain which has more then twice the butterfat as icecream. Worth it though!) and would waste the carton if I bought a whole one. Also, I look at it like this. I get ice cream one a month during hot weather as a nice date night out with the hubby. $8 total for a date is pretty cheap – and the resulting walking and cuddling together are even better.
2 Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet // Aug 3, 2008 at 11:38 am
That’s exactly what we do… go out for ice cream to avoid having it around. Plus it’s more fun to go out for it.
We were going to do it yesterday and when we pulled up my 2 year old saw Jamba Juice and wanted to go there instead! A two year old talked us out of going to get ice cream. lol. That has to be a first.
3 Meg // Aug 3, 2008 at 11:56 am
Cheap? No. Frugal? Yes. I think there’s a lot more to being frugal than just how much you spend. Being frugal is also about the wisdom of knowing yourself, including what you really enjoy and what bad habits you have. In our case, too, we really enjoy the (very) rare trip to have ice cream out with friends and we know better than to think that we can just keep some in the freezer ; )
4 Grace // Aug 3, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I’m with Meg. Oh and I hate your DH and friends, too.
If you have an Entertainment book, there are BOGO coupons for Ben & Jerry’s, Baskin Robbins, and Coldstone Creamery — that would make you frugal AND a good friend if you invited someone along to share!
5 Andrea // Aug 3, 2008 at 4:13 pm
We eat Breyer’s double churned light ice cream. It’s only like 80 calories a serving, the no sugar added version has even less calories like 70 I think? It tastes very similar to regular ice cream. Other than that we can’t stock ice cream in our house, we just love it too much.
6 frugal zeitgeist // Aug 3, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Ice cream is a huge trigger food for me, so I can’t keep it in the house. Even knowing that, though, I can’t go with the $4 cone. Once in a long while, I buy a $4 pint and call it dinner.
I just love being a grownup.
7 Debt Dieter // Aug 3, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Did you enjoy it? If yes, then great, money well spent in my book.
It’s not like you’re buying a cone every day, which would be not so frugal, but once a month is a better option than buying tubs if you don’t eat it much.
8 Todd the Bod // Aug 4, 2008 at 2:30 am
Your lack of portion control in no way makes a $4 cone frugal.
9 LivingAlmostLarge // Aug 7, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Yep Tod, the lack of portion control is something I struggle with personally. I have to do it with all my food because otherwise I would be overweight.
But I am not alone in my struggle with my weight. I am conscious of it and I do have to do little tricks like this to control my portions.
It’s just my thing. My DH is not like me and can drink 2L bottle of coke a day (regular not diet), eat candy and desserts whenever, put away tons of regular food, a beer with dinner, and still be a BMI of 22, low cholesterol, low blood sugar, etc ALL without working out.
Even the doctors say it sucks. I’m not like that and while I dream, it’s not happening. So I gotta try to be “frugal”.
So my DH gets soda in the house and occasionally chips/snacks. BUT I can’t keep it around or else I might be tempted to just keep eating it.
10 BarbC // Aug 8, 2008 at 9:39 am
Just last week my BIL was complaining about the $7 ice cream he bought on Wall St. He usually checks the price before he buys something, but didn’t ask this time (cause he thought he sounded cheap) so when the server asked for $7 he was shocked.
Of course after that ice cream for my kids sounds like a bargain.
Barb
11 Livingalmostlarge // Aug 8, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I think the most expensive ice cream I’ve had has been $10, but that was either in Switzerland or Tokyo. But say la vie. It’s hard to buy cartons while travelling.
13 TheSnackHound // Oct 3, 2008 at 11:56 am
People are forgetting one thing. Going out for an ice cream might be expensive when you think of it as just an ice cream, but it is a cheap date! You can have a wonderful time with your family, spouse or sweetie just by going to the ice cream shop. Pick one nearby, but its fun to go to one in a little downtown area or at least where there is something to look at or a place to stroll around.
One of my favorite ice cream shops is near a stream. I used to watch the ducks there with my parents. Another is next to a place that has a bike night or classic car night.
So for 99 cents to a buck 50 for a fast food place ice cream, or a buck fifty or up to 4 bucks for a gourmet ice cream, you can have a great together time without paying park admission, or paying for a lunch or dinner just to have an environment to chat in etc.
14 LivingAlmostLarge // Oct 3, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Great point! Thanks I forgot as a date it is good. Better for a first date if you don’t want to be stuck for hours!
Carnival of Money Stories #72: Back To School Edition — Broke Grad Student - Aug 12, 2008
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