$40 a day, for twice as many and half as much

Last Updated on Thursday, 10 December 2009 07:11 Written by Robert Tuesday, 1 September 2009 03:02

A little late posting this, but thought some may find it amusing. Many of you are probably familiar with the Food Network show, “$40 a day.” Last wednesday, my wife and I managed to have all three meals for the day outside of the home, for less than $20. Each food stop involved coupons that we had received, or a great deal that was going on that day.
Breakfast for two from McDonalds including juice: $5.65 (had some great coupons for chicken biscuits and hotcakes w/ sausage. We almost always share a big orange juice on the rare occasion we dine in at McD’s for breakfast. Lunch: That particular day, Papa John’s was running the deal of all deals. Celebrating the retrieval of his old Camaro, the founder of Papa Johns decided that all Camaro owners, on that one day, could go to their local Papa Johns and get one free large 1-topping pizza. We paid a couple bucks extra to make it a large pepperoni with half onion and half pineapple. In all, it cost us $1.80. For beverage, we stopped by a local Handy Mart store and purchased two 32oz Gatorades for $3.20. Dinner: Dinner took us back to McDonalds, which is conveniently right up the street. It’s rare that I eat McDonalds for dinner these days, but with the coupons I had received, I wasn’t about to pass it up. She had a 20 piece McNugget, while I had one of their new Mushroom Swiss angus burgers. We shared a drink and fries (she doesnt eat many fries, and the refills are endless on drink). All together, dinner was $7.77. So there is is. For $18.42, including tax, we both ate three meals. So take that Rachael Ray! Of course, days like theses are the exception rather than the rule, but I still think that most couples could have breakfast, lunch, and dinner quite often for less than $40 a day, which cuts it in half.