I've flown with multiple pilots whos meal expenses during our trips probably exceed my mortgage.  Eating healthy is very difficult with our lifestyle but eating on a budget may prove to be even harder.  I think most of us would be surprised what we actually spend every month on food, especially those of us who eat airport food or head out to a restaurant every night.  
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There are a lot of variables in our food expenses so its hard to estimate what yours might actually be.  I'll show some examples which will hopefully help clarify my points.  This will be based on what I consider to be somewhat typical but might not be accurate for those of you with specific dietary requirements or lavish cravings.  These are also based on you buying your meals, not bringing them with you.  

 

 

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Dining out
Ideally, breakfast would be free at our hotel but it's common for us to depart prior to it being available or we stay at a hotel that a complimentary breakfast is not available.  for planning purposes, I'll use $5 as an example breakfast meal.
Lunches could vary drastically depending on your taste.  A simple sandwich and a drink could be as cheap as $6 but from what I've seen a typical lunch would be around $15.  This could obviously be much higher at an airport restaurant if you feel the food court dining is not enough for you.
Dinners will depend on if you are still at the airport, at the hotel, or if you get a ride to an actual restaurant.   Depending on your tastes, there is no limit to how high this bill may be.  For my example I'll assume you get a cheaper meal, a drink and leave about a $5 tip, this would put your total somewhere between $25 and $30. 
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Using an example 19 day work month with $5, $15, and $27.50 as example meal prices, you'd be spending over $900 a month on food and that is only accounting for your work days and does not include any snacks, additional drinks, or extravagant eating habits.   Adding those in, your bills could easily be over $1300 a month.  For a young first officer, this may be almost half of your monthly salary and won't be sustainable. 
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although I can't change your eating habits by simply writing my recommendations, I'll share some information that will hopefully make you want to change.  Remember, my goal in this section is to guide you with a financial focus.  The nutritional aspect of this is covered in depth in the health and fitness section, here I'll just focus on saving you some money.
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Be sure to ask about employee discounts, especially at the airport.  10-15% is fairly common

 

Meal prep
buying in bulk and prepping your meals ahead of time is one of the best financially savvy techniques that you can do.  You can take this to whatever level you like.  for example, you can buy chicken and rice in bulk from Costco and potentially spend less than $4 per meal.  If you shop smart at your local supermarket then this could possibly be around $ 4-7 per meal.  Assuming you prepped 3 meals a day, that could be less than $300 a month for your workday meals, less than 1/3 of what it would cost you to buy each of your meals.  There are some concerns with bringing your meals, they include the prep time, the space required, and the refrigeration requirements.  In the near future, I'll create some videos and other links that show you how to conquer these problems.  

View our meal prep page under the health and fitness page for shopping lists, recipes, and other advice. 

One thing to remember is that you are cooking in bulk and freezing your meals, the expiration date isn't as critical as if you were leaving it in your fridge and cooking daily.  I've found great deals on meats and vegetables that are a day or two from their sell-by date.  This is perfectly safe as long as you cook it before that date and don't let it start growing in your fridge.

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Meal prep with a meal replacement plan
Another option and one that could save you even more money is to combine your meal prep option with a meal replacement plan.  This has some significant health benefits that are discussed further under the Health and fitness link.  In addition to the health benefits and cost savings, this method also helps eliminate some of the concerns with simply doing the meal prep option.   Instead of trying to fit 12 meals into a cooler for a 4 day  trip, you could potentially just pack 4 (only 3 if you will be home on your last night)  Meal supplements don't require refrigeration which is another great benefit since ice packs won't typically last for your entire trip and many of the hotels we stay at don't have refrigerators in the room, or at least not freezers for our ice packs.    
Replacing 1 meal a day could save you at least $50 a month, two meals would obviously save you $100 or more.  From the $900 or so in our original example, we are potentially down to about $200 a month if you do meal prep with a replacement plan.  For a young FO just starting out, still trying to pay off their flight training debt, and potentially supporting a family, that extra $700 a month is substantial. 
The product I use comes in single serving packets so I don't need to worry about measuring anything out before the trip or packing an oversized container.  I don't want to push a specific brand or product on this website, but if you're interested in the ones that I've found to be the best option, contact me at support@aviatorsedge.com.   I can give you some additional information about this brand as well as some ways to get save even more money with it.  Believe it or not, using this technique, I'm only spending about $100 a month to cover 3 meals a day for all 19 working days.  

 

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Saving money on groceries 

There are two money saving tips that we'd like to share. 

 

The first was already mentioned above,  If you are going to meal prep and then freeze your meals, you can buy foods that are discounted due to being near their sell-by date.

 

The second may not be as noticeable for its savings but bear with us.  We recommend you check your preferred grocery store and see what they have for online order and pick up or delivery options.  The first reason for doing this is actually for the convenience.  During my trip, when I have a little downtime, I'll build my shopping list and put everything in my cart.  When I land at my home base at the end of my trip, I'll place that order and the timing works out perfect for me to pick it up on my way home.  You'll set your pick-up time during the checkout process.  Some stores need much more notice so you might need to place your order before your last leg or potentially before that day even starts.

The second reason to do this is the money savings which comes in two areas.  Since you don't need to go into the grocery store, you won't be suckered by your cravings as you walk around a store with so many things you'd like to eat.    This method causes you to stick to a specific shopping list which could save you a ton of cash if you have poor discipline on your normal shopping trips.    The other way it saves money is that you won't have a bunch of unused groceries spoiling in your fridge while you are out on a trip.  you'll only buy what's on your list to cover the food you need for your days off and for the meals you will prep for your next trip.  There are a few challenges with learning to shop like this but I promise if you stick with it, it will pay off.

 

Don't forget to sign up for the store's membership/loyalty card.  It will open up some better savings and also build points towards free stuff or other discounts.