# How to save on food and drink Eating out usually costs about five times more than eating at home. Either the cost or the low-quality food will sabotage your willpower to save money. ## Dining Out Calculate your tip into what you're paying. Avoid the promoted menus since they tend to be much more than the standard items. Don't get dessert, fries, alcohol or soft drinks because it's almost pure profit for restaurants. - Even in combination meals, drinks, and fries are rarely worth the cost. Try to only eat with discounts. - Use promotional sites that index online coupons. - Look in your mail for coupons. - Take the customer survey on receipts to chain your discounts each visit. - If you ask, you can almost always get a discounted children's menu If you must eat out all day, eat your most hearty meal at lunch since that's when most specials run. Buy what they're likely to throw out. - Call any pizza place and ask if they have orders people didn't pick up, then negotiate a discount. - Near closing, most food establishments are trying to get rid of their excess: - If you're courteous, you can often request more items for free in your order near closing time. - Just before closing time, KFC sometimes throws extra chicken into the order. - If you ask, most bakeries will give you a trash bag full of day-old bread. Look for a small list of value items tucked in the corner of the menu. - If you're a senior citizen, browse their menu as well. Combine cheaper menu items to make the same thing for less. - Make an affordable combo by getting value fries with a $1 sandwich. - Make a root beer float at McDonald's by asking for a cup of ice cream topped with root beer. Some restaurants have unadvertised promotions. - You can download the app or join the email list to get free stuff, then use other devices and emails for the same. - At Domino's Pizza, ordering online is less than half the price of in-store. - Five Guys gives extra bacon and extra cheese for free. - Use the code 25OFF at Papa John's online for 25% off. - Use a Starbucks gift card five times for unlimited tea and coffee refills for a year. If you have kids, only go where they eat for free. In a coffee shop, baristas will occasionally overfill your order if you get a medium drink in a large cup. Since you're paying for convenience, avoid vending machines as much as possible. - When you use one, insert the lowest-value coins first to ensure the machine works. - If your food is stuck, buy the item above it instead of the same one to knock it loose. ## Buying groceries Buy a large freezer to store food when it goes on sale. Avoid one-item trips that waste gas and inspire additional purchases. Never buy food on impulse: - Make a list before you go. - Eat right before you go. - Go alone to avoid peer pressure to buy more. Communicate with your spouse, partner, or roommate about plans to prevent a double-purchase. Buy produce through a food-sharing website or a co-op. Some food is *always* over-priced for convenience or inferior quality: - Bottled, prepared or powdered teas - Boxed rice or side-dish mixes - Frozen pre-formed meat patties - Gourmet frozen vegetables - Individual 100-calorie servings of anything - Parmigiano Reggiano cheese - Pre-mixed alcoholic drinks - Salad kits - Snack/lunch packs - Spice mixes - Girl Scout cookies (Keebler sells them year-round under different branded names) Compare choices before committing to buying. - Canned goods are sometimes *pricier* than frozen or fresh. - Canned store-brand items sometimes use more water than branded ones. - Store-brand milk is sometimes watered down. - Store-brand spices are sometimes ground together with inferior portions of the plant. Engineer your grocery store experience to save money: - Set a time limit to avoid buying more as your inhibitions drop. - Get through the store faster by listening to upbeat music. - Grab a smaller cart or a basket to avoid the urge to fill a larger one. - Avoid the deli counter and fresh bakery. - Time your visit for days the store stocks its fresh fruits and vegetables or clears its old inventory. - Visit during the slow part of the day like late at night or late morning to avoid stress from other shoppers. - Look at the price per ounce, not for the container. - Store brands are usually far cheaper. - Many brand coupons only mark their products down to store-brand price. - grab quickly perishable items, like milk or eggs, from the back of the rack. - Look in the clearance bins, discount areas, and meats on Manager's Special. - Don't buy anything you don't need just because it's cheap, even with coupons! Try all the stores at least a few times to find out which items are most affordable in each: - Use the weekly online ads through the Sunday newspaper or online clearances to find things to stockpile. - Find the weekly and seasonal pattern that your store sets sales and discounts by tracking on a spreadsheet. - Look for in-store sales and specials. - Note the expiration dates on the food, then come back a day or two before it expires to see it in the clearance rack - Avoid buying *anything* at corner stores, gas stations, and convenience stores that design themselves for impulse buys. - Try discount grocery stores where you rent carts and bag your groceries. ## Cooking Cook every meal possible at home. Create a weekly meal plan to make easier spending decisions in less time. Find every possible way to avoid throwing food out: - Use items in the back of the fridge first. - Learn [the best way to store food](cooking-shelflife.md). - Cook and store large batches to freeze, can or repurpose for other meals. - Turn spoiled food into compost or pet food. - Use every part of each vegetable for something. - Make "leftover meals" to combine multiple leftovers into another meal. Pack lunches for work: - Make an ice pack for a cooler by freezing a water bottle or wet sponge/paper towel in a plastic bag. - Make packs that get cold but not hard by mixing one part rubbing alcohol and three parts water in freezer bags. - Improvise a bottle holder by running tube socks over a bottle. - Keep a cut apple from browning by wrapping a rubber band around it. - Make condiment storage containers: 1. Squirt the condiment into a straw. 2. Pinch the straw with needle-nose pliers. 3. Heat one side of the straw with a lighter to seal it. 4. Pinch and heat the other side of the straw. - Make individual coffee packs: 1. Fill a coffee filter with coffee or tea. 2. Tie the filter with unscented dental floss or string. 3. Store the filter bags in plastic sandwich bags for use later. Drink plenty of water in between meals to [cut down](body-diet.md) on how much you eat: - Drink more water and tea than milk or sweetened drinks. - Don't buy bottled water and keep a portable filter or drink tap water. Learn [how to be a better cook](cooking.md) to make better meals with less. - Buy tougher cuts of meat and cook or slow-cook them on lower temperatures for longer. Use more affordable staples: - Eat less meat, more vegetables, and more rice. - Breakfast - oats with raisins or a banana, milk, tea bags, 3-egg omelet with peppers and cheese - Lunch - peanut butter & jelly sandwich, banana, leftovers from dinner - Dinner - rice and beans, ground beef, cheese, avocado, homemade bread, homemade salad, pasta - Snacks - granola, carrots, produce When it makes sense, make your own food: - Baby food (throw whatever you want a blender) - Bread (more straightforward than it sounds) - Brewed coffee and coffee mix drinks (get a coffee machine or a pour-over cone for better quality for less) - Frozen fruit bars (store fruit juice in the freezer with popsicle sticks) - Fruit (plant trees of what you want) - Gourmet ice cream (mix your favorite candies into ice cream) - Granola (bake oats and your favorite fruits) - Pickles (seal cucumbers in a jar with vinegar and let sit) - Tomato-based pasta sauces (mix tomato sauce with your favorite spices) - Trail mix - Sandwiches Most food manufacturers set expiration dates *long* before food spoils. - Early expirations dates make more profit for manufacturers. - Stores, however, still honor those dates and will sell it near the declared expiration date at close to half-price - Instead, honor how the food smells and looks. Avoid junk foods or anything easy to binge on: - High-sugar cereals - Chips and snack foods - Frozen dinners and snacks - Candy Keep quick-prepare meals for the days you feel too lazy to cook.