What?! My budget for food is set to $955. I've always considered my food budget to be high for one person, but I also make a decent amount. I love food (not in a fat way), but in a "try new things" hobby way. I eat out a ton, and I almost never cook my own lunch.

That $955? Yea, it also includes my booze budget of about $185. I also pay for meals on dates. I may go about $100-200 over that $955 depending on the month, but it's in that general range.

I can't imagine regularly doing $1500-2000/mo on food. Even when I was my worse without budgeting I don't think I ever did that much in a month on food on myself. I don't know if that's possible without deliberately trying to do it like I'm in Brewsters Billions. Even during months where I travel a ton and eat out every meal I don't come close to that.

$12-20 for lunch? Jersey Mikes is not $12+. It's a sub. If you're paying over $12 on a sub, you're doing it wrong. Chipotle is about $10.

Here's where I think you're spending assloads on eating out - you're buying sodas. Eliminate that. Get water. You already are saving $2-3/meal which is about $6-9/day -- almost $300/mo on soft drinks. You're probably also opting for the meals that include chips/cookies. That's another few bucks a meal. Start by fixing your lunch - if you're getting a sub, get the sub. Nothing else. If you're getting Chipotle, get your burrito/bowl and nothing else. You don't need those extra calories anyways.

The same goes for breakfast/dinner meals - don't get soft drinks. You'll save a ton by eliminating that stuff.

As far as date night - where the hell are you eating that you're doing "a few $100+ meals a month"? I go to nice restaurants regularly on dates a few times a month without bothering to look at prices. With me and my date, we usually do about $60-75 including tip on the high end - often times including a couple drinks.

I just don't know what to tell you. Short of living in NYC, I don't think there's a fix for how you're pushing $2000/mo on food. It sounds more like you have a very poor diet and you're overeating/over-ordering. Again, I'm far from frugal with my food and I'm shocked how you regularly push that budget.