Are you a drive-thru diva? Take this quiz and be honest!
How many times a week do you do the fast food drive-thru?
Have you ever added up how much you spend each week on fast food?
Do you go to the fast food drive-thru to grab breakfast on the way to work?
Is the Starbuck’s drive-thru part of your daily routine?
How often do you find yourself in the fast food drive-thru line for a quick lunch or after school snack for the kids?
When your kids ask what’s for dinner, is your answer the drive-thru?
Fast food has become the American way. We use it as a crutch whenever we’re in a time crunch, but in an effort to save time – we’re wasting money and nutrition.
If you’re ready to give up fast food and save money, try these 5 tips.
- Save the Money – Take an entire week off from the drive-thru / fast food, and put the money you would have spent in a jar. Will you have $30, $50 or $100 at the end of the week? Why don’t you use that money to treat yourself to a pedicure or a new pair of shoes, or better yet, pay off some credit card debt!
- Let Your Kids Do The Cooking – If your busy work schedule leaves you no time to cook, and your children are old enough, it’s time they did a little cooking!
- Learn to Love Your Crock Pot – The internet is filled with crock pot recipes! Put a few ingredients in the pot each morning, and your dinner is ready and waiting! Try The Budget Diet’s easy crock pot recipes.
- Stop by Costco or Sam’s Club – Instead of the drive-thru, buy prepared foods from a warehouse club. They’re cheaper than fast food. How about a Chicken Enchilada Bake from Costco – 5 servings, 5 minutes in the microwave, $12.49? Of course, it’s always cheaper to cook from scratch, but if time is not on your side, prepared food is a good alternative.
- Be Your Own Barista – Buy a coffee pot, some Starbucks coffee beans and a few fancy flavored syrups. The internet has plenty of recipes for copycat Starbuck’s beverages, so be your own barista and save money!
Once you give up fast food, you’ll be well on your way to saving more money!
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Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Some good ideas here but I urge everyone who buys non organic mass produced meat, and dairy and pre-prepared foods to consider the long term health costs of regularly consuming these. Fast food- forget it for health as well as financial reasons.
So true! I’m just trying to get people to take the first step & prepare food at home.
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Great post! For the most part I have ditched the Drive Thru. Occasionally I’ll slip but soon after: regret it. Awesome tips!
Love the tips! We actually live in a pretty rural area with almost no fast food so I actually am the opposite. I WISH I could have it more often. But I guess that’s a good thing.
Believe me…those $5 trips to the drive thru quickly add up!
Stumbled!
The crock pot is the answer to my prayers! 😉
Great post. I think the money alone is SUCH an eye-opener when you stop and calculate it. My cousin used to have a tradition of getting a Carvel chocolate shake numerous times during the week. She stopped to calculate the costs and couldn’t believe how much she was spending (they were nearly $3 each time). Since the Carvel was located next to the nail salon, she decided to do exactly what you said – take that money and pamper herself and on those days ONLY she would also treat herself to a shake!
Great Post! I love tip number one. I think people would be surprised by how much they spend on fast food in just one week. Think of what else you could do with that money!