With some thought, I'm seriously considering Barry Egan's post about cooking your own food still being more expensive, and I can't think of any scenario where this is true.
I currently personally prepare:
my breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. On Sunday I make a salad that lasts me the entire week which I eat for lunch. I switch the recipe on a weekly basis to try new things.
On a good week, I spend no more than 20 dollars on food a week, often less. Sometimes more if I need more spices.
Compared to fast food:
Most joints have meals as 5-8 dollars, even more if you order a large. Let's say you have three people in your family and you order a pizza and you order two pizzas. Depending on the chain, and what size, that could be somewhere between 20-30 dollars. If you eat out everyday, even if it's not fast food, it'll probably be between 5-10 bucks for that meal, even if you're eating at a semi-healthy joint like a local restaurant. Multiply this by the day, that's a lot of money.
Now, I eat out for lunch or dinner every now and then, but not very often, especially since I refuse to eat out without the ability to leave a good tip. Overall, if I do eat out that week, I'll have spent maybe 30-35 dollars on food for that week. While it can cost a bit to spend money on spices, spices take a long time to run out. It takes me upward of half a year to run out of salt/pepper and it costs 2 bucks.
