Fast Food hacks for Frugal Families

[Tybee]

Our Market Basket has a nice place to sit and eat the sub, with booths and tables and views of the mountains.

[Tybee]

If I were going to eat Fast Food with a family, I would buy something large and split it up, or two large somethings if you have several kids.

[rosarugosa]

Our Market Basket has a nice place to sit and eat the sub, with booths and tables and views of the mountains.

Nice! Ours has a cafe, but definitely no mountain views.

[Tiam]

I think the answer to not eating out is a bit of planning and some food prep. Having a meal prepared and taken out of the freezer in the morning and ready to heat is the answer. Sometimes I do a prep the night before. I don't have kids, but I still have trouble getting meals made in an efficient time sometimes. So, I may make the filling for something or the sauce the night before and only have to cook up the rice or the pasta, or heat something up. It's really much more frugal.

[early morning]

Prepping ahead is a great idea! But I think the OP was concerned about frugal eating out when they hadn't planned to BE out. Crap happens, lol. The game has a rain delay, Mom calls because she fell and needs help and the car is full of hungry people, errands or appointments run later than you thought they would, making it impossible to stop by the house and eat before heading to the next appointment/game/meeting. Packing snacks is a good stop-gap, but sometimes, people are hungrier than a snack. Sometimes, the drive-thru is much appreciated! But driving thru without tapping out the wallet - that's the rub here, I think.