Near my college campus are two fast-food restaurants that used to be known for cheap eats: McDonald’s and Taco Bell. There is also a Taco Time, and a Chick-fil-A, the latter I don’t go to for personal reasons.
Eating out, even as a low-income college student, used to be somewhat feasible, but lately, with the rise in prices from food chains, materials, groceries, and everything else one can think of, it seems like there really isn’t any cheap dining these days.
Personally, for me, I plan on packing my lunches in an insulated lunch bag along with some treats, but even with that, I know there are going to be days when I might want something near me.
So here is how I plan to dine out on a dime as a broke college student, who really does not have the budget to eat out if I don’t want to worry about food for the rest of the month.
If I end up going to a fast-food restaurant, my rule is going to be looking at the value menu, continue to carry my water bottle, and pair up a value item with a personal snack on campus.
So that might look like buying a cheesy bean and rice burrito, my bottle of water, and a packet of my favorite salted caramel peanuts.
Sometimes I’ll order two of the same burritos or two value menu items, so I can dine in. Sometimes that looks like ordering water with the burrito, and I’ll sit in a booth.
I am not a huge soda person, and I don’t like to drink added sugar or excessive calories, so combo meals rarely work out for me. During the times I am craving a soda, I look for Zevia on sale, a naturally sweetened soda made with stevia, natural flavors, zero sugar, and calories.
I can always pop a can into my lunchbox, still buy a burger or burrito, add a side like peanuts, chips, or popcorn, and enjoy a nice fast-food meal.
What About on the Days I Am Craving Something More Expensive Like Thai Food?
I still keep the same plan. I might spend a bit more; for example, my local Thai place has Pad Thai for about $14, plus tax, which makes it about $16 plus tip, making it come out to around $19 -$20.
That is a lot of money to spend on a meal when I can buy a couple of boxes of whole-grain pasta, two Italian sausages, frozen peppers, two jars of spaghetti sauce, and whatever else I need to make my favorite frugal pasta.
However, when I am craving Thai food and nothing else is satisfying, I stick to the plan, buy one entree, no extras or drinks. Sometimes I’ll even run to the store and pick up a juice beverage or have Zevia, which allows me to save money on the costly Thai teas plus I’ll have a surplus of whatever is left over from the store-bought beverage for other meals.
I also have a Domino’s near me, and they often have a takeout deal for $7.99, any size pizza, one topping. Again, I do the same, get the pizza, make sure to drink what is at home. Often times I have cold crystal light in the fridge.
The Pad Thai and Pizza often leave me with leftovers, which is nice, especially if I get the Pad Thai for dinner. If not, the Pad Thai usually will last me all day.
I’ve Learned to Be Careful with FOMO When Dining Out: Understanding Social Facilitation
Even as a college student on a budget, there are ways to find cheap eats that work for you, especially when most restaurants and places give student discounts if you show your student ID.
The key is to not get caught up in the FOMO of eating everything on the menu just because it’s there. It’s easy to tell ourselves, ‘well tomorrow isn’t promised, you only live once, live a little,’ and then deal with the consequences later.
I prefer to be pragmatic as much as possible, find a way to enjoy the joys of life while understanding reality and how things are in the now.
Even when I see other students and people ordering whatever they want on the menu, I have to remind myself that I have a budget.
I am choosing to be more frugal so I can enjoy the fruits of my compounded efforts down the road.
This is also why I often don’t dine in because you’re more likely to order more when you sit down at the restaurant and see everyone ordering more than one food item.
Social influence is real and can be subconscious especially in an environment where everyone is more relaxed and ordering good food.
The Last Reason I Prefer Not to Dine In
Lastly, maybe it’s just me, but I noticed I get a lot more when I order takeout. For some reason, the food is a greater portion, or maybe it’s an illusion.
There was an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, about a restaurant bar and people were taking home a lot more than what they were eating at the restaurant, and Ramsay pointed that out.
I believe his reasoning was that people shouldn’t be able to take that much home because it means that too much money is being spent on the cost of food taking away from restaurant profits.
For me, I think that could be the reason why when dining indoors the portions might be on the smaller side with the exception of take out orders to go.
However, it could be just an illusion due to the size of packaging, being that the food is packed and not spread out on a plate, either way it helps me save money because I feel like I get more bang for my buck from ordering takeout, so even if it’s a psychological play, it’s still worth it for me.
The Broke College Student 
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