If you are on a budget, one of the first things to cut is extraneous expenses. By cooking for yourself, you can have the possibility of better tasting and more nutritious meals, lowering your food budget, and saving time.
Why spend $12 on panera when you can make a chicken breast sandwich for $4?
I think the food expense is pretty high too. At the very least get a brita filter or something and carry around bottled water to drink. Some people do eat a lot more though.
And it's worth noting that cooking for yourself doesn't always save time. After you consider preparation and cleanup, sometimes it consumes more.
It can also be stressful if you don't have a nice kitchen, or if you have to share your kitchen with others. Although probably one of the benefits of having founders living together is optimizing your kitchen.
Cooking for yourself definitely saves time. Are you counting travel time and time spent waiting in line? But it does take slightly more effort, and require the right tools.
You can always stick to the basics.
Ramen takes ~10 minutes for boiling water and clean up.
Chicken breast takes 2 minutes to season, 14 minutes to cook and clean. Tuna takes no effort right out of the can.
Boil or steam vegetables for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Rice or oatmeal are cheap sources for carbs.
With these ingredients, you can eat well for under $10 / day where I live (Providence, RI). Just make sure you invest in a good spice rack.
my point was not about food cost alone, but opportunity cost?
how much do you loose by not meeting new people?
I go out to talk to people while i work, most of our team does not, they are introverts, but I need to be the extrovert for the group, plus if these guys are bringing their wives or traveling back and forth, they can spend some of the food budget.
Why spend $12 on panera when you can make a chicken breast sandwich for $4?