Every so often I remind myself I need to keep better track of those little expenditures that add up and explain why my bank balance isn’t where I wanted it to be at the end of the month. By far one of my biggest financial sins is paying for fast food or snack food while I’m away from home. I bought a 2-liter bottle of Coke at the grocery store today for $1.25. At the checkout counter, the store was selling chilled 20-oz bottles of Coke for somewhere around $1.25-$1.50. I could have bought 24 bottles of Snapple iced tea for $13 - or a single cold bottle for 2-3 times as much as a single bottle from the case. A little thinking ahead can save a lot of money.
Actual meals are even worse. If I don’t eat, that’s obviously bad. But once I leave the house, my options are school cafeterias and fast food courts. Most of the time I don’t even enjoy the food I get from these places, but because I didn’t bother to pack anything, they’re my only option. (A caveat - there’s a food court at Temple where I can get either a really good cheesesteak or a really good chicken kebab sandwich. Treating myself to one of these places every once in a while is actually one of my favorite things about being back at Temple.) I was stuck at 30th Street Station a few weeks ago, and in trying to eat something but eat cheap, I grabbed a couple of tacos from Taco Bell. Not only did I not enjoy that meal very much, but a few days later the e. coli story hit. Great timing, eh?
So part of my resolve to eat better and spend more wisely is to cook in bulk on the weekends. I made two batches of tomato sauce, some fried chicken for the fridge, and shredded beef for tacos. (That last dish owes much to Rick Bayless’s cookbooks, and is really in an entirely different universe from the unfortunate Taco Bell incident.) I think it’s a good habit to get into, but the next trick is going to be making sure I save enough of the food to last through the week.