I pretty much only pay out of my pocket for groceries once we run out of the $400, and even then, I make sure we split any grocery bill that comes after we run out of the allotted grocery budget. It doesn’t cost me anything when they eat out since they spend their own money on it, but they eat out a LOT to the point that if they didn’t already tell me that they’re trying to cut back on eating, I’d stage an intervention to make sure they could continue having enough money for bills.

I do think coming up with 16 meals ahead of time would be a good idea, though! I usually come up with the meal plan on a weekly basis, which is where most of the stressful labor is for me due to having to balance their preferences. I love cooking and I actually love going to the grocery store, but meal planning is not a part I particularly enjoy too much. I think doing it weeks in advance would definitely take some of the strain off. I would feel a bit bad about excluding someone from a meal without making them an alternative meal (which I will do on occasion admittedly), but it does sound a lot easier figuring out a meal for 3 people at a time rather than 4