Millions of people say, “I spend too much on food!” every single month. The great news is that food costs are controllable. The easiest and best way to control food expenses is to shop for groceries and cut out on eating out so often.
I know what it feels like to spend so much on food. I personally only used to spend approximately $300/month on food. However, with record high inflation, my food budget skyrocketed to around $750/month on good. It’s insane just how much more money I spend these days.
After graduating from university, I spent very little money on food. Not only was inflation more manageable then but I was more disciplined in cooking. I cooked every single Sunday and stored meals in the freezer to eat until Friday.
I had zero wants and needs for fine dining so I was OK spending the time to cook cheap food. However, that discipline went out the window now. These days, I spend too much on food and I have no other choice because I have so much other interests that require my attention.
I need to save that time cooking because there’s much more pressing things that requires my attention. Things like blogging, Twitter, catching up with family, and the like. However, that doesn’t mean I will let food costs run out of control.
I am implementing the steps below to lower my food costs.
I Spend Too Much on Food! 9 Ways to Stop
If you keep saying, “I spend too much on food!” Below are the 9 ways to stop doing so. We all have a way to trim the fat and cut down on expenses.
1) Shop for Groceries
During Black Friday, I got a Costco membership. Through the Costco membership, I now buy in bulk at almost wholesale prices at Costco. That is amazing! I was amazed at how low they kept their prices even during high inflation times today.
There are important beverages I need to buy every single month for my health. The biggest line items are coconut water, oat milk, coconut milk, and almond milk. Instead of eating out and paying marked up prices for these beverages, I now shop for groceries and pay wholesale prices.
A win. Something that goes even beyond beverages is food. Even though grocery bills are through the roof, that doesn’t mean that eating out is still cheaper than cooking and making your own food. Not only that, you get to learn how to cook as well.
You get to learn what seasoning makes food taste a certain way. That is a valuable skill that comes in handy throughout your life. I spend too much on food but that’s only because I haven’t regularly cooked yet. Once I do, I know my food costs will be cut.
2) “I Spend Too Much on Food!”: Plan Meals in Advance
Many people eat lunch in the office without thinking planning. So they go to a restaurant during lunch at an expensive downtown restaurant, without really thinking about what they want to eat. They mindlessly go out to eat because they were so busy and entrenched with work throughout the day.
That’s why people say, “I spend too much on food”. They don’t really plan their meals out in advance to be intentional about their meals. You don’t want to mindlessly go through life. You want to be intentional about what you’re putting in your body and how much money you’re spending.
The biggest expense we spend is food, transportation, and housing. We have to be intentional about the biggest line items because that’s what drives our savings and net worth. Creating a budget and planning which meals to eat in advance is a high impact and necessary decision you have to make.
We can’t just mindlessly go through every day hoping things work out. Without intent, we become lost on our journey.
3) Take Advantage of Fast Casual Dining
The way to keep food costs at $600/month is to take advantage of fast casual dining. They’re not so fancy you need to waste time dressing up and the like and they’re not so cheap that it’s like a McDonald’s. The best fast casual dining restaurants are Chipotle, Chick-Fil-A, and Panda Express.
They not only have affordable meals but it’s quality meals, especially Chipotle. Two meals a day from one of those restaurants equal to about $600/month. Considering inflation, that’s really not too bad. If you are saying I spend too much on food, you may be picking the wrong restaurants.
Every restaurant I attend seems to be a minimum $20, just for the entree alone, these days. Small portions at that! Shrink-flation hit every single restaurant across the globe. The best way to beat it is to frequent quality restaurants that offer food at affordable prices.
They are life saving and crucial when it comes to dealing with inflation.
4) Stick to a Food Budget
Food items are a part of our essential expenses. When it comes to our essential expenses, we have to minimize them as much as possible. My food budget currently sits at around $750/month. They’ve increased substantially in the recent months because of inflation.
I didn’t even know food costs were getting this high because I was so used to eating really cheap food. However, regardless of which, I always stick to a food budget and make sure I don’t go over it. I’m not above using coupons and finding deals, either.
Whenever I can find a cheaper price for the same quality, I jump on it without hesitation. Budgets may just stop you from saying, “I spend too much on food!”. Everyone is in control of their financial destiny and future. Planning your meals and costs in advance is a surefire way to succeed by the end.
You don’t have to continue overspending because there are an infinite number of alternative options.
5) Don’t Waste Leftovers
I am not above asking for leftovers when we have a company meeting with plenty of leftovers. They last me an additional 2 – 3 days, because it’s so much food. I’m not above eating leftover pizza, sandwiches, and the like. Leftovers taste amazing in the first place!
Leftovers are the saving grace of a budget conscious consumer. If you say I spend too much on food while throwing away leftovers every single day, that’s not the way to go. I save every single leftovers I can. Some days, I order pizza for myself and leave the leftovers in the company fridge.
That’s my next meal the next day that I take full advantage of. Too many people just don’t realize how much good and edible food they throw away on a daily basis. Food waste is at 30 – 40% of the total food supply in America. Perfectly good and edible food!
There’s no point in throwing perfectly good food away.
6) “I Spend Too Much on Food”? See if You’re Overeating
We should have no excuse in keeping our BMI in accordance to the healthy levels. When you say I spend too much on food, you may just be overspending on food. You will absolutely be shocked at how little food we need to survive.
When I was in college, I lived on a triple decker sandwich and 2 Spicy McChickens… for the entire day. My weight dropped to the midpoint of the BMI scale thereafter. It was astonishing just how little food I needed to survive. This was after running around all day, chasing after classes.
I was impressed, myself. Somewhere along the way, I lost that lesson I learned and subsequently gained 20 pounds in the 6 years after graduation. However, in recent years, I controlled my eating habits much more. I now trimmed back down to the midpoint of the BMI scale to slightly below.
It’s been life changing and eye opening so far. We overeat more than we know. I can easily live on 1,000 calories a day now.
7) Avoid Expensive Restaurants
There’s no reason to eat at expensive restaurants every single day or even every single week. Expensive restaurant is any bill that comes above $50 per person for eating out. I personally tried the fine dining experience before. One day, my then girlfriend dressed up to go to an expensive restaurant.
The bill came up to be $250 plus tip. I didn’t even enjoy the food there and the portions were so tiny, I needed to eat fast food thereafter, anyway. Fine dining is overrated. When you keep saying I spend too much on food, it may just be you have expensive tastes and appetite.
There’s no reason to eat at expensive restaurants, even if you have the means to do so. Mark Cuban loves eating cheap food. He eats Cheetos and Doritos just like anybody else that I know. Expensive restaurants are so overrated.
It doesn’t even get the job done for why you go to restaurants in the first place. It leaves you feeling hungry afterwards.
8) Buy in Bulk
There’s no point in buying so much food in bulk that you end up throwing away everything by the end. However, the ability to buy in bulk is a huge advantage that many pass on. Companies offer products for cheaper as long as you buy in bulk and spend more money overall.
The bulk food that I love buying from is Costco. I recently got a membership there because they had an amazing Black Friday deal that sold the latest MacBook Pro at an unbelievable price of $899.99. I visited numerous times afterwards and the membership is worth it in spades.
You make back the membership from the bulk foods you buy.
When you say I spend too much on food, it may be because you buy individually packaged food. Individually packaged food is one of the worst value for your buck. Vending machines have great profit margins because they sell cheap products at exorbitant prices.
That’s no good. It’s time to buy food in bulk because that’s where you get the most value for your money.
9) Stop Only Shopping at Whole Foods
I get it, healthy eating is great. However, Whole Foods is healthy… at the cost and expense of your wallet. The quality to cost ratio is off at Whole Foods. There’s nothing wrong with shopping organic at Whole Foods once in a while. However, not on a regular basis.
Healthy eating is great but healthy eating that breaks the bank is not. They sell quality products but it’s gotten too expensive to shop there even if you have a Prime membership and use the Amazon Prime credit card often. It’s just not worth it.
It’s great that the public became more health conscious, especially in recent years as bottled water sales surpassed soda sales. However, we don’t want to take it too far. Sometimes, the cost of organic food far outweighs the benefit of it.
When you say I spend too much on food, it may be because you spend too much food on organic foods. Groceries should not break the bank.
“I Spend Too Much on Food!” All is Not Lost
The great thing about food costs is that they are 100% controllable by you. You are the person solely in charge of what to put in your body. No one spoon or force feeds food onto you. You look out for those foods yourself.
When you say I spend too much on food, you have complete and total control over what you buy. Therefore, you can actively lower your food bill without sacrificing or lowering the quality of them. There’s nothing wrong with using coupons and discounts to get a good deal.
Just because inflation is at multi decade highs doesn’t mean your food budget has to be at multi decade highs. Especially when you find out that you’ve been overeating all this time. That is music to your ears because all you have to do then is buy less food.
It took me a while to realize I’m overeating because I am not in control of myself when I am in the middle of eating. Therefore, I overestimate just how much more food I can take in my body. By overestimating how much food I need, I over-order by the end.
However, once I realized that bad habit, I stopped doing so because I now make conscious decisions to stop that kind of behavior. When you say I spend too much on food, pay attention to how you feel during mealtimes. You may be losing self control throughout it all.
Then it’s time to control your decision making skills because they save you from making bad decisions. For both your wallet and health.
“I Spend Too Much on Food!”: 9 Ways to Stop Shortlist
- Shop for groceries
- “I spend too much on food!”: Plan meals in advance
- Take advantage of fast casual dining
- Stick to a food budget
- Don’t waste leftovers
- “I spend too much on food”? See if you’re overeating
- Avoid expensive restaurants
- Buy in bulk
- Stop only shopping at Whole Foods
