You know days like this one. Everyone is tired, maybe a little sick. Dad has been at work all day, Mom has been spring cleaning all day, kids have been entertaining themselves all day. Suddenly, everyone looks up and thinks “Hmm. I’m hungry.” and you realize it’s 6 o’clock. There’s nothing ready or even planned for dinner.

So, what’s the default? “Hey, let’s go get some burgers.”

Well, the last time we decided to do that, a meal from A&W for all seven of us was $66(!!!). That includes burgers, drinks, fries and extra onion rings. When we get it home and put it on a plate, it’s not really all that much. Sure, it’s a billion calories and a tonne of fat, but it’s not really that satisfying a meal.

Recently we’ve been taking those “Hey, let’s get fast food.” days and turning them around by going to the supermarket. Chicken fingers and fries, perogies and bacon, pizza pops. They’re all just as fast as burgers and far cheaper, and healthier too.

Today I went to Superstore and came back with this:

That’s:

• 16 beef burgers (healthy ones too!) — 1 meal worth (!)
• 24 All-Grain rolls (this kids love em) — 2 meals worth
• 1 mega bag of frozen crinkle cut fries — 4 meals worth
• 3 cans of concentrated Cranberry Cocktail (Jenn’s favorite) — 3 meals worth
• 24 cans of club soda (I drink it instead of pop) — 2 weeks worth
• 1 bottle of Lime Cordial concentrate (a dash in some club soda, yum!) — 1 weeks worth
• 1 bag of fresh cheese Tortellini (just add a basic cheese sauce or canned tomatoes) — 1 meal worth
• 1 jar Polskie Ogorkie pickles (like crack for us) — 2 meals worth
• 1 jar Yum-Yum sweet sliced pickles (for the burgers) — 2 weeks worth
• 4 packages flavoured rice crackers (low fat snacks for me) — 10 days worth
• 1 bag organic Pink Lady apples (our favorite) — 2 days worth
• 1 bag organic Gala apples (can’t buy them fast enough) — 2 days worth
• 1 double size box of Cheerios — 4 days worth

So, that’s dinner for tonight that ends up being far better and more satisfying than A&W, breakfast for the next 4 days, lunch for tomorrow (bunwiches!), dinner for tomorrow night (we love tortellinis!), snacks and drinks for the week for me, a box of Jenn’s favorite cookies, plus fruit for 3 days plus extras.

All for $72, pretty much the same price as eating out. And I didn’t even scrimp. We bought what we wanted, not what was cheapest. For essentially the same price as one unsatisfying meal at A&W.

If you really want to save money, this isn’t necessarily the way to do it. You can get a couple of boxes of No-Name Mac and Cheese for $1 and drink water. But if you’re already set on eating out, try getting far more bang for your buck, a far more enjoyable meal and a bunch of bonus extras by hitting Superstore instead of Burger King.

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