How to Save in Eating at Fast Foods?

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Do you have a program or plan that applies to how you manage your food expenses outside your house? Minimizing the money you spend in fast-food without you getting unsatisfied is a great ingredient of personal financial management.

As you learn valuable lessons and tips on how to manage your finance by reading published posts in this blog as well as those upcoming ones, you might wonder “what else should I do to really save money to the fullest?”

Well, I would say why not squeeze more savings in eating at fast food chains? That is if you still eat at fast food restaurants.

Nowadays, eating at a fast food outlet is inevitable. Especially for a busy person and those working in the field. The only thing that differs between a frugal person and a regular guy is frequency.

Look at him! He doesn't have a soda, does he? He lives frugally, and so he cuts on his food expenses.

A man who is into saving will surely minimize eating at fast food. Thrifty individuals always think of the food in their homes when it comes to eating.

Why? Because at the back of their mind is the financial management that they already put in place. LINK THAT TO Financial Management for Ordinary Working People

They rather hurriedly go home. For them, it would be a big deal if they don't spend that money which, just minutes ago, was intended for a fast food meal.

Yes, there's always an induced minor guilt every time a frugal person needs to spend even a little bit. I should know, I am one. No wonder they really prosper in the long run.

If you really can't skip eating at a fast food restaurant for the reason that you are really famished, there are ways you can save some money out of a meal.

The main thing that you must do is to mull over those disadvantages of eating there. I will tell you why later. Meanwhile, here are the disadvantages.

Fast food disadvantages

Whatever way you eat at fast food, you can't hack it and give you enough nutrients.

1. A fast food combo meal contains more additives and usually cooked in unadulterated fats, which make them mouthwatering.
2. Sodas and other drinks in fast food chains contain a high level of sugar to compensate for the large quantity of ice they mix.
3. Additives added to fast food meals are proven to be containing carcinogenic with some products having a high level of sodium.
4. Fast foods look sumptuous only in their fosters and advertisements, but in reality, they are the lowest quality of food one can have.
5. Fast food causes obesity. Increased level of calorie, process upon which cooking is done, too much fat and sugar are the ultimate reasons for this fact.

Why think of disadvantages?

• Each disadvantage of eating fast food will help you to minimize your variant. You will be quick in deciding what will be your order considering you really need to eat something.
• You will pass unnecessary part of combo meal which will translate to savings.
• You get to realize that every time you eat at a fast food chain, it added up to your chance of spending money in the future for illness brought by unhealthy food.

How to save money when eating at a fast food outlet?

Yes, it's the cozy ambiance while eating a fast-food snack that makes it enjoyable. Aside from that, nothing else.

You can start by being intelligent. For example, in your zero-calorie soda, instead of upsizing, you can go no-ice. And request for extra glass with ice. The availability of service water now in most fast food chains make the request agreeable and appropriate.

If you look into it, the content of an upsized drink is the same in the amount of the regular size drink with no ice. Every time a crew asks me to upsize, it piques my intellectual faculty like an insult. And I would say — no, reminding them to have the drink less-iced or no-ice and I ask for plastic cup with ice.

See? This is financial management at work — making calculations and computations. By doing the above, you're unknowingly instituting a bit of financial management. That is if you're not yet a follower of it.

1. Replace if the food served is cold

Whether by electric or a wood-fired oven, your order pizza must be freshly baked and hot when delivered to your table in a fast-food restaurant.

Don't accept the food that looks like it has been sitting in their counter for an hour before bringing it to a customer's table.

Believe me — it's a waste of money. The food is cold when it is not supposed to be cold.

Nothing beats the taste of a newly cooked meal.

Learn from what I do

It happens to me from time to time, and I don't accept it every time.

The last incident was in the popular pizza chain.

A slice of Hawaiian pizza that's been air dried with its pineapple chunks lost the succulence, and a bowl of spaghetti that looked more like cold spaghetti salad was delivered to my table.

I immediately chided the crew, and I demanded to replace it with smoking hot ones. And they obliged.

After I had the meal, I felt elated because it's like I had paid a fraction of a cost of what I had ordered.

It was really a superb meal. Unlike when in the previous similar situation when I didn't assert myself and just ate what they'd given me, I was mad at myself for allowing that to happen and I felt cheated with my money just went down the drain with some rubbish prepared food.

From that time on, I always examine the food the crew delivers, and if I see a sign of poor quality, I have it changed. It is how to be a smart consumer.

If it happens to you, don't be timid and gullible. Otherwise, you will end up feeling you have thrown your money after having the meal.

If the food brought to your table is in the state that you're doubting, you will not get satisfied especially its warmness, demand to have it replaced, with a newly cooked, smoking hot meal.

2. Say no to soda or any drink

No to soda in fast-food means you avoid the additives found on them, which helps you in safeguarding your health. You save on the meal. You save on health.

No drink. That means you will opt out on sodas and ask for service water.

If you do that, you lowered the price considerably. That is savings.

What's in the drink, anyway? Too much sugar which causes heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

Now if the variant you ordered would not be satisfying without soft drink like pizzas, then always prefer no-calorie soda.

And don't upsize but have it — no ice — and ask for a separate glass of plastic cup with ice in it.

3. Say no to unlimited rice

Opting out of unlimited rice in fast-food saves you money today and in the future for the reason that too much rice is bad for the health.

In a popular Filipino grilled-chicken fast food chain, a variant of roasted chicken thigh, regular size soda and unlimited rice costs 115 pesos.

While all at the same time, they have the same variant for only 75 pesos with a drink and 65 pesos without a drink.

The major difference is the size of the chicken. The budget one is a bit smaller.

Now, which would you prefer? It's pretty obvious for a frugal person.

But a lot of us still go for unlimited rice. Well, let me wake you up.

Too much white rice in your body causes diabetes as well as rice, specifically white, is starchy sugar. When you eat plenty of rice, that means you are eating plenty of sugar which can lead to diabetes. You already paid costly in your meal, yet you also run the risk of getting struck by dreaded health condition. Oh, do I need to mention that rice gets stored in your tummy and it's the culprit for having those big bulges at waists?

Notwithstanding the above, haven't you got a lot of rice at home?

And your primarily purpose in eating out in fast food is because you're famished at the moment. You only need to get by.

At home, a nutritious meal should be waiting, either prepared by your spouse or needed only to be microwaved or reheat in a pot.

So, if you're really want to save money, pick the budget size without the drink. That's gonna give you almost 50% savings.

4. Skip fast food meal and grab a fruit pie

Fruit pies in fast-foods is a boon when it comes to saving money, and you're hungry but won't spend more. Just grab one and head home. The sugar in it energizes.

Now this one is not supposed to be a way of eating in a fast food restaurant while saving money.

But it will surely help you save money significantly.

Just grab a fruit pie and head home.

A Filipino fast-food chain has it. Yes, you are so hungry because the sugar in your body has depleted caused by both physical and mental activity in the field.

Once you increased the sugar, you will regain the energy temporarily enough for you to reach home where a more quality food should be waiting.

Final thoughts

Every time we eat in a fast-food restaurant, we waste money in terms of — the unhealthy food we ingest, additives that get toll in the body in the long run, high mark-ups on their meal prices, etc.

If you are a frugal person and bent on your goal to save money, limit the time you go to a fast-food for a bite.

On the flip side, eating at fast-food chains with the goal of minimizing costs rock bottom is a financial management training for a newbie and a way of life in buying for a seasoned follower of it.

Do you believe you can squeeze some savings when you eat in fast-food chains? What are some reasons that you think most of us depend on fast-food meals? Let us know what's in your mind in the comments' box below.

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Vernie Mallorca

Vernie Mallorca is an entrepreneur and blogger with years of experience in selling to institutional accounts. He gradually shifted to blogging when he found out that it is his calling to write timely and helpful articles online that can help others to save money, make money, and secure their future by handling their income smartly. In this blog, he shares both managing your finances, however small it is and valuable information on running a small business.