Yeah! Trader Joe’s is great for saving money on food. And I’ve found that most of their store-brand stuff is at least as good as the equivalent name-brand.
Just wanted to say – I’m SO glad you asked this question! I have a terrible drive-thru habit, it’s been an issue for years!
Off to read the suggestions…
Do you shop at Trader Joe’s? There is one in Ann Arbor, its on Packard not too far from where it meets Washtenaw if I recall correctly. The great thing about Trader Joes is they have lots of convenience food (both fridge and freezer case) that are much more made of food than comparable grocery store frozen meals. They have great shelf-stable stuff too. I used to keep Thai curry tuna packets in my desk at work. Yummy.
This won’t help if you’re trying to save money or don’t need to lose weight, but I broke my horrid drive thru habit when I started taking Alli capsules. “If I eat that I’ll poop my pants.” really is a great incentive to not hit the drive thru.
I’m going to vote against the frozen meal option. When I tried that, I found them so not tasty that I’d always find an excuse to go get take-out. Instead, get those fresh prepackaged sandwiches and stuff from the grocery. They last a couple of days so you only need to hit the grocery store a couple of times a week. Always go to the same grocery so you know where stuff is and just swoop in and out for fresh food; dont’ make it a big trip. DO it on the same days like every Monday and Thursday and you won’t think about it, it’ll just be routine. Also, try making your own sandwiches at home, easy to make right before work and just take with you.
Just something to consider if you want to drink less of the soda - A few years ago I stopped drinking it. I was trying to save $$$ and it seemed like a easy empty calories to cut from the budget. I changed very little else - no drastic exercise regimes or diet changes. After about 10 months 17 pounds were gone! That stuff is killer for your health! I slept way better, too.*
As for the groceries - If you really, truly hate it, do any supermarkets in your area have an online shopping option? You can make up a list for the week, and either arrange to have it ready for pick-up at a certain time or delivered (usually for a small fee or free on larger orders) This also helps avoid the temptation of buying not so good for you food that’s oh-so-tempting when you’re shopping. Just be sure to get a bunch of ziploc type containers and you’re good to go.
- Now, I have no idea if excess weight or insomnia is something that you are concerned about, just wanted to share a bit of my experience.
Ahhh, creepy stalker moment! You have no idea how close I live to the exact area you are describing, and how many times I’ve been to that TJs. It is good, but their selection can be a little lacking after a while. I just spent $192 at Hiller’s. I think I have enough food for a month!
I am taking some combination of the ‘‘fast food moratorium’’ to heart, with an idea mentioned upthread… creating my own version of the things I like to eat. So I love that Caesar salad and ham and swiss on Rye sandwich at Panera? I just bought stuff to make a Caesar salad and Ham and swiss sandwich exactly like they do. Probably for a fraction of the price.
I appreciate all of these suggestions. We got a slow cooker when we got married, but haven’t gotten around to using it. I may have to start!
Didn’t you say you were a Buddhist in some other thread? Is there nothing in Buddhism condemning gluttony? 
Last year I got into the habbit of stopping at Burger King on the way to work. Two whopper juniors and a large coffee: $3.40 a day adds up quick. The reasoning I used was that I didn’t want to get up any earlier than I had to, and this was more productive than making breakfast.
The way I managed to wean myself off that was a slow cooker. Pretty much anything you make will be microwavable and portionable into containers. Chili, beef roast, saurkraut and sausage, you name it. Lasts for lunch all week and probably didn’t cost more than $5.
Speaking of which, my saurkraut for the week is probably almost done.
1 jar of the best quality saurkraut you can find
1 cut up polish sausage
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 bottle of the darkest beer you can find, currently using Guiness Extra Stout
Total cost: $8. Probably last about 5 meals.
MmmmMmmm, now tell me with a straight face that doesn’t sound better than any fast food.
Sure! And Panera’s the ‘‘Middle Path.’’ I’m sure that’s exactly what Buddha would say…
Since I live alone and don’t mind eating the same thing three or more days in a row. Ill often cook a big meal, example; a big roast and potatos. Then sustain myself off that for days. Ill fry the same leftover potatoes for breakfast with eggs & whatever.
Oh I got a quick breakfast I like; an egg and corned-beef hash with melted cheese sandwich on buttered toasted bagel. Did I say that right? Anyhow messy but goood…
-TM
Not exactlyhealthy, but what I do (due to my sheer laziness) is buy a 12pack of sodas and a big bag of doritos to last the whole week.
I still hit the drive-thru’ for lunch but all I have to buy is a 99cent double cheese burger.
Like I said, not healthy, but the way I see it, I save myself a good $25 or so a week.
I could not agree more. I read this book 3-4 years ago, and I haven’t had fast food chain food since. I just don’t feel like it anymore. I don’t mind going to the local grease pusher once in a while, though, but no more cardboard food for me.
I started doing basically what Anaamika said - I do a Chef Boyardee every day along with a grapefruit or a baggie of cereal for the morning, some crackers (takes two seconds to put in a baggie the night before), some kind of dessert (right now I am ho-ho-ing it) and I drink water throughout the day. The nice thing is that none of it requires a fridge and takes only a minute to make in the micro at work. I have saved a ton of money this way. Frozen dinners are also good - I was buying the Banquet ones when they were $1 each - they don’t need to be in the fridge either (I eat them four hours after I get here - they don’t have time to toally thaw out). It was just a matter of setting my mind to it then making it convenient.
I used to eat fast food every day at work. The way I weaned myself was to set very low limits for myself at first. That is, instead of five days a week, I could only have it on four. I tried to pick a regular day (maybe Wednesday) to be the off-limits day. But if I muffed it, it had to be Thursday or Friday. That was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but since it was only one day, I felt I could exercise that small amount of willpower.
I didn’t set a strict schedule for myself in terms of upping the number of off-limits days. Because my biggest problem was cravings, I would maybe let a couple of weeks go by (until the cravings subsided a bit) before adding another off-limits day. I figured that since I had built up this bad habit over a long period of time, I had to be gentle with myself and rebuild a better habit over a long period.
Eventually with this system I got to where fast food was a once-a-month treat, or even every couple of months (which is where I’m at now). What I found interesting was that the “yummy” feeling I got when I thought about fast food eventually disappeared and was replaced with a gross feeling of “I can’t believe I ate that rat burger,” which of course helps discourage me from wanting more fast food.
To help with the “I hate cooking,” I found a couple of dishes that I love passionately and that are easy to make. My favorite right now is shredded boiled chicken breast with a ginger-onion-salt dip and white rice. MMMM yummy! It takes a while to make the dip, but I do it with my sweetie as a “fun activity” while we chit-chat or whatever. We make a huge vat of dip and freeze it. That way when we’re stumped for dinner, we just pull some chicken and dip out of the freezer, get the rice boiling, and ta-da! Nutritious dinner that no one had to cook, cost next to nothing, and is to die for.
Sounds great, could you knock out the recipie?
And while I’m cyberstalking (not really, I just used to live in Ann Arbor for many years) I’ll also recommend a visit to the Asian grocery store, I can’t remember the name but its in the same shopping complex as the Outback, on the other side of Oak Valley Drive from the Target.
You can buy a big bag of frozen dumplings for $3 – same quality as what you get from local takeout/delivery. Various stir-fry sauces for quick meals. Frozen broiled eel, such as is used for eel sushi. Bill ol’ sacks of rice and a cheap rice cooker. Fancy Korean and Indonesian ramen. Basically, all sorts of stuff that’s just as easy as takeout but much cheaper.
Sure, I’ll post it this weekend.
My fast food intake dropped abruptly after I bought my George Foreman grill. I can now can make four hamburgers for the price of a single Burger King hamburger. Takes maybe 10 minutes including grill warmup time. I keep baps in the freezer too; 90 seconds on defrost in the microwave. Also, Sainsbury nut cutlets are to die for. Yum!
Because I promised I would, here’s the ginger chicken recipe. I got it from Food and Wine, so I’ll list their original first and then note my modifications.
1/4 cup minced green onions
2 tablespoons grated peeled ginger
2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (I prefer boiled; anything will do)
2 cups hot cooked rice
Combine first four ingredients in a bowl; whisk. Serve on the side with the chicken and rice.
My modifications:
Substitute 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil for an equal amount vegetable oil–it rounds out the flavor
More ginger! (I love ginger)
I prefer to use gray salt, as it gives the dip a nice mineral-y balance
I boil the chicken with some five spice
And you can mince the onions and grate the ginger if you want, but I think that’s WAY too time-consuming and I just blend the hell out of all of it. There’s no noticeable textural difference, and the ginger fibers get small enough that you don’t notice them in with the shredded chicken.
Don’t be surprised at how salty the dip is; it balances the blandness of the chicken and rice. The dip is extremely forgiving, so it’s easy to play around with to get it just the way you like it. It freezes beautifully and the flavor actually improves with freezing. If possible, give the dip some time to mellow before serving to let the flavor open up. I think it’s tastiest when it’s chilled.
If anyone tries it, I’d love to hear what you think!