Quick trips to the drive-thru while out can bust a budget, but sometimes this seems inevitable. If you are out all day your family needs to eat. To keep from spending way too much money on food that is bad for you anyway, we keep a few “fast” foods in our house that we would not normally buy. When we are leaving the house, and I have a feeling that we might be gone during a meal, I put these foods in a bag and take them with us. I have one friend that keeps a rubbermaid full of snacks in her car all the time. Then if we are out, and the kids are hungry they can have a snack that will fill them up until we get home and we can eat a real meal.

Here are some fast food ideas.

Gummy snacks

Fruit roll ups

Goldfish

Ritz Bitz

100 Calorie packs

Beef Jerky

Granola bars

Cereal bars

Cheese and crackers

Individual cereal boxes

Juice boxes

Small water bottles

For those of you who are thinking that these items are all overpriced junk, I agree. But they are less than the overpriced junk you will get at McDonalds. These are also items that regularly go on sale at the grocery store and coupons are readily available. All these items will keep for an extended period of time in your car or in your house. Just make sure you keep them separate from your other food. These things are all considered special treats in my house and would be gone in heartbeat if the kids knew they were available!

For more frugal tips visit Frugal Fridays.