A Few Simple Changes to Food Habits Can Save Big Money

I completely understand what it feels like to work all day and not want to go home and cook. But fast food is not the answer. Not only is it a nutritional no-no, but it also leads us into a financial hole. Let's look at this more thoroughly.

Fast food

To keep it simple, let's assume that we went to our favorite fast food spot and purchased meals for the whole family. Whether an adult meal or a kid's meal, we will assume that they cost $5.00 each. With five family members, we are talking about spending $25.00.

If we did this once a week, that would add up to $100.00 a month. If that $100.00 were to earn 10% interest annually, it would grow to $20,145 after 10 years.

Restaurants

This can look even worse if we go to a restaurant as opposed to eating fast food. Restaurant meals are usually a lot more expensive than fast food. For example, if the restaurant has an average meal price of $15.00 per person, the cost for a family of five may run about $75.00. Doing this once a week would have a monthly cost of $300.00.

If we saved $300.00 every month for 10 years at 10% interest, we would have over $60,000 saved.

I know that this may not be very realistic. We can't just give up all eating out. So, let's just try eating out twice a month. That reduces our monthly expense to $150.00. Saving the money from the other two weeks would give us about $30,000 at 10% interest over 10 years.

Rushing can cost us

I have also been known to rush to get myself and my daughter out of the door on weekday mornings, not having enough time to eat breakfast or to pack a lunch. But buying coffee and donuts on the go or buying fast food on lunch breaks can get dangerous for our wallets.

Many of us enjoy Starbucks, or some other gourmet coffee, on a regular basis. These coffee beverages can easily run about $5.00 each. As a regular donut eater, I know that donuts are usually somewhere between 75 cents to $1.00. I usually buy two at a time.

If we were to buy coffee and a donut every day on the way to work, that would add up to $6.00 a day, $30.00 a week, and $120.00 a month.

Buying lunch adds up, too. It would not be hard to spend $10.00 on lunch. Doing that every day would also add up to $200.00 a month. If there are two spouses doing that, the cost doubles. Children buying snacks out of vending machines and school cafeterias could add another $100.00 a month to the bill.

Let's put this all together. When we add up all of the areas where we tend to eat out during the week, it is easy to see why our money runs out so quickly.

These miscellaneous food expenditures can easily add up to several hundreds of dollars a month. When we add that to the regular grocery bill, we might that we are spending $1,000.00 or more each month on food.

Making better choices

Our money stretches much further at the grocery store than at any convenience food location - and we are able to feed our families much healthier meals and snacks.

If we eat breakfast at home, buy lunch and snacks during our grocery store trips, and cut back on our fast food and restaurant meals, we will have more money available to save toward our children's future education expenses, our own retirement, or any of a number of other dreams that we may want to reach.

Ozeme J. Bonnette is a financial coach, speaker, and author. She began her career at Merrill Lynch, and now works to increase financial literacy. She teaches and speaks to groups and organizations throughout the U.S. She earned 3 Bachelor's degrees at Fresno State and an MBA at UCLA's Anderson School. She blogs at http://www.povertynorriches.com. Send questions and comments to ozeme@thechristianmoneycoach.com.