How to Drastically Lower Your Food Bill

A List of Obvious but Necessary Tradeoffs

As any financial advisor worth her salt will tell you, saving money is a habit that most Americans don't cultivate enough. Instead of self-tithing, we get further and further into debt. Scraping by in your twenties while you get your career game going is one thing, but doing so while dropping down coin for $10 martinis, quite another. Here's a simplified guide on how to maneuver when your spending habits have gone way over.

Face the Music and Dance

You pay through the teeth for packaging. That includes rice in a box, or even a pre-made meal that seems like a steal. Any time that a food substance has been altered, interacted with, shrink wrapped, and had its label designed, you are as much as quadrupling your food bill. Getting rice, beans, vegetables, and fruits as-is will not only provide for your nutritional needs, it'll save you a bundle.

Location, location, location. Finding foodstuffs that haven't had to travel far to get to you: also key in saving money. If you can buy directly from a farmer, such as at an outdoor market, all the better. And then, for those of you lucky enough to have gardens, getting your goods from your backyard is not only nearly free, there's no fuel cost to factor into mealtime.

The food chain. Eat lower on it. Not only will you be able to eat for less, there's all those lovely health benefits that go with cutting back on meat and dairy.

Minimize eating out. How on earth can you keep up your social world if you're not frequenting restaurants and bars? Simple: have your friends over. Cook together. Go out on picnics. Order in. And when you do hit the bar scene, stick to house wine or beer on tap.

Joneses: 1, You: 0

Yes, it's true. Cutting back is simply not glamorous. It means that you will have to hold off on some of those Thai cravings. It means that preparing dinner is going to take a little bit longer. And that you'll have to practice telling your friends that you've decided putting away money in your savings and/or getting out of debt is much more important than a $24 piece of grilled fish eaten in public. It doesn't mean you have to become monastic and don a wimple: just that you're actively considering the true cost of purchases that in the past you didn't question. One $50 night out actually costs much more, if put on credit--as opposed to the much more it could be earning you in a Roth IRA or savings account. And what do you walk with for your cash? A few extra pounds and a drunk dial to apologize for?

Sweet Victory

Thankfully, habits eventually become less and less effortful. I'm in month five of making these changes: and believe me, the reward of cutting back my food bill by about $300 a month is more than worth it. I (almost!) fit back into my skinny jeans, my social network has grown richer as I spend more time with friends and less money doing so, and I get immense pleasure fixing fabulous meals out of simple and cheap ingredients that give me the energy I need to Bikram yoga my heart out.

Yes, I miss ordering everything on the menu, and going back to the store if I don't feel like eating what's in my fridge, as well as picking out things unnecessary for my survival and health. But like all true medicine, it stings going down, and ends up making you feel a whole lot better. In the end, there's so much we just don't need.