Mylee and I are on the road full-time and have noticed how much the cost of eating out has gone up. Many of the meals that used to be around $10 are closer to $20, (especially because we never tip under 20%).

Here are the tactics I’m using to reduce our food costs. We’ve even taken to traveling with an Instant Pot and making most of our meals in a hotel room. You can see me give a tour of vegetarian meals under $5 that I make on IG.

I am not a dietician or doctor. Please work with a professional if you’re looking to overhaul your diet. These are the ideas that worked for me. Your results will vary.

LEARN HOW TO COOK FOR YOURSELF

I didn’t learn how to cook until I was nearly 30. It’s never too late to improve your cooking skills. When you cook for yourself, you save money and eat less calories. 

Restaurants that serve a fixed menu are at the mercy of ingredient price increases. They are also paying higher wages than ever and can still be short staffed. On top of all that, they’re paying up to 30% to DoorDash. All this equals menu prices doubling at some restaurants. 

Don’t get stuck ordering the same food at higher prices. By learning some flexible recipes, you can use higher quality ingredients on sale. 

EXPERIMENT WITH NEW INGREDIENTS

Trying a larger variety of fruits and vegetables can lower your grocery bill. I’ve really enjoyed getting a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box that makes me try new stuff. Search for local farms or farmers markets to join a CSA. Find a grocery store that has good relationships with local farms. Berkeley Bowl is my favorite in the Bay Area for produce.

LOOKUP INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS

The internet is your friend for figuring out how to replace any ingredient with any other. Stunned by honey prices? Ask the internet what replaces honey in recipes and you’ll get a ton of possible solutions. 

MAKE SOME FOOD BEST PRACTICES

For most of human history, it has been hard work to get enough calories to thrive.  Only recently have cheap and plentiful calories made over eating more deadly than under eating. 

As a white Canadian-American I have access to many more calories than my body needs. These are the practices that are working for me (yours will be different).  

• Picking 8-12 consecutive hours to eat each day and only drinking water/tea during the other hours.

• Eating a diet of 50-75% fruits and vegetables.

• Quitting alcohol and hormonal birth control pills.

• Minimizing gluten, dairy, and animal products.

• Not multi-tasking while eating.

• Drinking 64+ ounces of water a day.

I had a complicated relationship with food. I was shamed when I was overweight and praised when I was underweight. The list above is to illustrate some eating practices that worked for me.

I encourage you to get help in creating your food best practices. Some of the resources that you may want to research are: nutritionists, food allergy testing and counseling. My favorite book on releasing body shame is The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor.  

SLOW DOWN YOUR FOOD

In our hyper-productive capitalist culture, I had forgotten the multi-course meals of my European ancestors. I was eating while I did pretty much everything—driving, working, or relaxing. I was overeating partially because I wasn’t paying attention to my eating. 

Here’s what I did to slow down my approach to food…

• To interrupt my pattern of eating all the time, I took a weekly dose of psychedelics and fasted until dinner.

• I decreased my work hours and increased the time I prepare and eat great meals.

• I try to chew each bite of food as many times as possible.

• I no longer multi-task while I eat. With the exception of having a good conversation, I try not to combine eating with work.

WHAT WORKS FOR YOU?

What tips do you have for folks looking to reduce their food costs while eating healthier. How have you adapted to this new reality? Leave me a comment!