You probably don’t think twice about dropping by a drive-thru after practice, stopping for fries after a Friday night football game, or swinging by Starbucks before first period. It feels like a harmless routine, something that everyone does. But once you stop to do the math, those quick purchases add up to be more than you would expect, and the numbers reveal just how deeply fast food and coffee runs are pickpocketing our wallets.
Furthermore, in a study done by Emily Rodgers— the 75+ Fast Food Consumption Statistics, Emily surveyed 950 fast food consumers—and found that the average American spends around $148 a month eating out, which adds up to nearly $1,800 a year. In fact, the U.S. fast food industry makes more than $400 billion annually, a number that emphasizes just how ingrained takeout has become in our lives. What used to be an occasional treat is now a built-in budget item, especially for teenagers who treat fast food as a social activity and convenience.
Think about it like this: if you buy a meal or drink three times a week, around $7 to $10 each time, that’s around $25 a week. By the end of the month, you’ve spent about $100, and by the end of the year, you would have spent well over $1,000. Add in the extra tips, the occasional late start providing time to grab a coffee, or splitting fries with friends on the weekends, and that original total quickly doubles. What looks like a small change becomes a major money vacuum after realizing the excessive spending back and taking time to track your expenses over time.
Coffee runs make the appalling impact even clearer. Over the past week, I’ve noticed the same vibrant drink in the hands of countless students: the one and only strawberry acai refresher. When I asked a few of those students how often they buy it, most said at least twice a week, and often the same venti strawberry acai. Among juniors and seniors who drive themselves to school, the pattern was even more obvious. Some admitted to going once a week, others as much as four or five times, but the most common number was twice.
The average Starbucks drink, which is commonly known as the, the acai refresher, is around $6. The same price goes for other popular Starbucks drinks. Twice a week, that’s $12 a week without batting an eye. By the end of the month, you’ve spent nearly $50, and by the end of the year, that “little treat” has cost you close to $600. If you’re someone who buys a drink five days a week before school, the total jumps even higher: $30 a week, $120 a month, and over $1,400 a year, just on coffee alone. That’s the equivalent of a concert ticket every month, or even a used car by the end of the year. Compare that to making a drink at home, brewing coffee, making a smoothie, or whip up your own lemonade refresher; the same amount could buy you hundreds of delicious drinks for pennies per cup. The difference is dramatic, and yet many of us still choose the drive-thru.
So why do we keep going back? The answer isn’t just about taste. Fast food is quick, it’s easy, and it feels cheaper than cooking, a fun drink, or any sort of treat at home. But it isn’t. It’s also social: meeting friends at Starbucks before school, hanging out at Chick-fil-A, or driving over to In-N-Out after a game feels more like a lifestyle than just a purchase.
The catch is that those habits don’t stay small. As we grow older, the routines we set in high school often carry into college and beyond. What feels like $5 here and $10 there becomes thousands of dollars a year, money that could have gone towards a trip, car, or savings for the future.
None of this means you should never get Starbucks or fast food again. Fast food is fun, convenient, and a crucial part of teenage Gen Z culture. But it’s worth asking ourselves this: do we actually love the food, or do we just love the act of buying it? When the numbers are this drastic, maybe it’s worth rethinking what our “small treats” are really costing us.
