Frugal Food: How to incorporate a food budget into your debt management program

You've incurred significant debt, and now, you're on a quest to improve your credit score. You've embarked upon a debt management program, you're seeking credit counseling, you save all of your receipts, and you've renounced family vacations, at least for now. However, you're still sinking. Where else might you cut back to avoid getting into further debt?

Ever thought about food?

The purpose of this article is not to suggest that you should fast or starve yourself – quite the contrary. An unfed brain begets muddled thinking – the sort of thinking that is wholly unsuited to a comprehensive debt management and credit restoration plan. However, it is wise to take a long, hard look at exactly where your food dollars are going, and devise a plan to spend less of them, every time.

Fast food and restaurant trips: Two big budget downfalls

Eating out isn't cheap. And, if you do it frequently, the dollars really do add up. A value meal at a popular hamburger chain might only be 4 or 5 dollars (a quick phone call to the Wendy's on 8 th St. in Manhattan, New York confirms this), but that's a lot of money spent on relatively nutritionally empty fare. If you make all three of your daily squares fast food, you'll be doing damage not only to your cardiovascular health and your waistline, but to your wallet as well.

Busy people find take-out or home delivery options like Chinese food and pizza to be attractive. However, frequently ordering takeout is a major budget buster, and might be contributing to your debt. Consider: You can easily rack up a bill of 30 or 40 dollars (based on a cursory survey of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania delivery restaurants) per meal for a family of 3 or 4 – and then, there's tipping the driver. In order to manage debt and whittle away at your credit card bills, avoid takeout. The same can be said of eating at restaurants. Not only do most restaurant menu items – especially sodas and alcoholic beverages – feature outstanding price markups, but you'll still need to tip the wait-staff after you've chowed down. And fat- and sodium-laden, gargantuan restaurant portions aren't good for you, either!

The workplace can be another area where precious dining dollars are lost. According to finance blog Lifehack.org, you can save almost $1000 each year by bringing your lunch from home. By purchasing a loaf of bread, a pound of lunch meat or cheese (or, a tub of hummus for the vegans), and some pieces of fresh fruit, you can eat a healthy lunch for under 15 dollars a week, based upon BLS Consumer Price Indexes for the year 2007. And, why not mix it up? You can arrange tuna on a bed of lettuce, treat yourself to tortillas with Jack cheese and tomato slices, or enjoy peanut butter and jelly – PBJ is one of the most cost-efficient lunches, incidentally, according to Lifehack.org. And, there are always leftovers.

Here's one caveat: Avoiding social lunches all of the time can actually lower your dispensable income. Sources as varied as blogger Ricky Spears and Forbes magazine state that eating out now and then provides you with an effective career networking tool. By getting face time with your boss outside of the office, you get to know him or her better. You can learn of new opportunities, might get a chance to work on special projects, and might even receive a raise. Lunch out now and then can pay off – and increasing your income goes a long way toward debt management.

Eating on the cheap

So now, you know what NOT to do when it comes to figuring food into your debt management plan. How do you save money on food?

Buy in bulk. Stores such as Sam's Club and Costco allow you to buy food items in bulk, which gives you major savings on cost-per-unit. Other big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Kmart often have deals, too.
Focus on staples. Cheap eats include rice, pasta, beans, legumes, and other grains that can be purchased in large quantities. Throw some sauce and cheese on top of ziti, add chicken slices, green peppers, and jerk seasoning to rice, or stir curry spices and a dash of olive oil into legumes. Bonus: You'll have enough for leftovers.
Become acquainted with the dollar store. At many dollar stores, you can purchase generic canned goods, pasta, sauces, coffee, crackers and cookies, drinks, and spices at deep discounts. And, quality generally doesn't suffer – many generics contain the same ingredients as their name-brand counterparts, so you're essentially saving dollars by saying 'no' to paying for a name.
Shun sodas and sugary snacks. Besides contributing nutritionally empty calories to your diet, they can be pricey, and you might see the costs of excess sugar in your dental bills later. If you want something sweet, snack on raisins or an apple. If you need something fizzy, sip seltzer or flavored seltzer cut with water.

By budgeting your food expenditures, you can continue to mange your debt well.