Dinner Economics

One of the best ways to save dollars in college is grocery shopping. But, there are many reasons kids avoid it. It’s fun going out to dinners with friends (duh), and trying every spot in college-town is a goal I’ve seen many attempt. Some even succeed. Restaurants have drinks too, and these meals can only cost you $15-20. It’s a social thing, and tastes amazing. Pizza, sushi, noodles, whatever you’re into.

Grocery shopping, on the other hand, usually means roughly $50 per stop. Its also further away than your corner restaurant. And, if you’re anything like me, you want everything you see in the store, except for the random foreign items that literally only three people ever buy.

Well, you gotta weigh your weekly costs. One grocery stop of $50 could mean weeks worth of pasta, soup, sandwiches, and cereal. Not bad. One week of dinners out could mean $100-$150 of fried food to the face and booze to the gut. At the end of the week, which one are you going to be happier about?

It’s counterintuitive, because going out to dinner is a relatively small hit to your wallet, while the grocery store stop seems to be, and in fact is, a larger hit. But those dinners add up, and pretty soon your staring into your fridge Saturday morning and all you see is a leftover box from the Asian restaurant. Wouldn’t it be nice to have eggs, veggies, milk, and some Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

Identifying your time-money constraints in college is just one of the many ways to achieve financial success, or at least survival.