Cheap Eats and Drinks

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By Selena Maranjian (TMF Selena)
February 24, 2003

Q. What are some money-saving tips related to eating and drinking?

A. Obviously, opting for canned tuna now and then instead of Chilean sea bass will save you a few pennies. But there are other possibilities, too:

• Take your own water to work instead of buying bottled water regularly. Better yet, encourage your employer to look into providing filtered water for everyone. These kinds of tips might seem silly and make you roll your eyes, but if you spend an average of a dollar a day on bottled water, this tip alone could save you $250 per year.
  
  
• Take your own coffee to work, in a thermos. Again, if the alternative is a $3.50 cup of java at Starbucks, brown-cupping it just three times a week will net you nearly $10 a week, or about $500 per year.
  
  
• When you're hungry for a snack, consider drinking a glass of water first. That should decrease or even eliminate your hunger. It's win-win -- saves you money and perhaps keeps a few pounds off, too!
  
  
• Take brown-bag lunches to work. Leftovers from dinner the night before make great lunches. Brown-bag it just twice a week, instead of spending $5 per lunch, and you'll save $10 per week or $500 or so per year. Brown-bag it every day, and you can save more than $1,000 per year (unless your brown bag contains truffle-and-caviar sandwiches, of course).
  
  
• Have friends over for dinner instead of going out to a restaurant. Play some board games, while you're at it. (Here's a great website that offers little-known but much-acclaimed games -- and their top 50 games.)
  
  
• Host potlucks and picnics. Your friends might love you for it, as you're saving them money they might have spent dining out. Pop into our Recipes/Cooking discussion board for ideas on what to prepare.
  
  
• Use restaurant coupons. And supermarket coupons. Fifty cents here and a half-priced entree there can really add up.

You'll find many more handy tips where most of these came from -- on our Living Below Your Means discussion board. The board's directory of tips is especially handy (free trial required). Once you've saved some money, put it to work for you -- learn more in our Short-Term Savings Center (which features some good interest-rate deals).

If you have any questions, thoughts or opinions on this column, share them with others on our Ask the Fool discussion board.

This question and answer is adapted from The Motley Fool Money Guide: Answers to Your Questions About Saving, Spending and Investing. For answers to this and 499 other common money questions, check it out -- it's a handy resource.