You’re driving and you see one of your favorite fast food spots.

“Well I didn’t eat,” you think to yourself. Or, “I don’t have time to cook..,” or “there’s no food in the house to make…and it’s on my way.”

Sound familiar?

Sometimes it can be challenging to resist going through the drive-thru, but not keeping fast food spending under control can waste a good deal of money.

I used to give in to the drive-thru WAY too often. There was a time I was getting something every day, and sometimes more than once a day. I was frustrated because I didn’t want to waste as much money as I was on fast food, and I had trouble getting my drive-thru spending under control.

But I was determined to spend less on fast food. Now I didn’t totally ‘quit’ fast food, and full disclosure, I still enjoy eating out at different places. But I limit it now to a much more reasonable degree.

So here are the 5 best tips I can give you for how to control fast food spending.

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1.) Meal plan before you go grocery shopping so you always have food to eat at home.

Use the steps and tips in our Free Printable Flavorful Meal Plan Guide to plan what you’re going to make before you go shopping.

And make sure you always go grocery shopping before your pantry and fridge get too bare. It’s also good to have some quick snack and/or meal options on hand for days you don’t have a lot of time or willpower to cook.

2.) Eat before you leave the house or bring food with you.

Sometimes we aren’t buying fast food for the taste, but simply out of convenience.

But if you have food with you or already have a full stomach, you’ll be less likely to give in to the drive-thru.

3.) Make tasty meals at home that taste just as good- or better- than fast food.

You can even search up copycat or similar recipes, and try out different variations until you find something just as good or even better than what you’d buy out.

One thing I will never ever buy out is taco salad, because I found a way to make it that tastes good to me- even my current vegetarian version! (Now I just need to come up with recipes for the rest of my cravings and I’ll be all set!)

You don’t have to be an amazing cook to make dishes that compete with your drive-thru favorites- all you need is a decent recipe and some practice!

If you’re consistently disappointed that fast food doesn’t taste as good as what you make- chances are you’ll be a lot less likely to waste money on it.

4.) Set limits on how much you’ll spend on fast food or how often you buy it.

There are different ways you can do this. You could limit your fast food by deciding to only eat it once a week, once a month, etc.- whatever you feel is reasonable for you, your health, and your wallet.

Including a certain dollar amount in your budget for it can be helpful as well. This will also help you to be conscious of how much you’re spending.

5.) Take time to reflect on why you don’t want to overspend on fast food.

For me, it’s because I know we can use the money for more important things. And I also think about how much time is involved in making back the money I would spend.

Truthfully, you can make just about any sacrifice if you have a real reason for doing it. So when it comes to not wanting to waste money on fast food, you need to remember what your personal reason is.

So those are 5 tips for getting fast food spending under control. By keeping tasty food stocked in your home, eating before you leave or taking your own food to go, setting limits on how much you spend, and remembering why you don’t want to buy too much fast food, you will be able to curb your drive-thru habit.

That doesn’t mean you can’t ever eat out. It just means you’ll better control how much you spend and how often you spend it.

Take it from someone who loves all things food, snacks, and convenience- if I can do it, you can too!

Don’t forget to grab our Free Printable Flavorful Meal Plan Guide before you go!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!