Money-saving food

So I've been doing pretty well so far in eating the pasta I cooked.

Monday - dinner + Lawrence's dinner
Tuesday - lunch (I had 2x $1.25 fish tacos from Rubio's for dinner)
Wednesday - lunch + dinner
Thursday - lunch

Assuming I finish off the last bowl of pasta tonight for dinner, that would mean my $10 pasta has lasted 7 meals. That comes out to about $1.43 per meal. Comparatively, I would typically spend anywhere from $10-$15 for lunch each day, and on top of that maybe a drink from Starbucks that cost ~$4. Then, on top of all of that, Lawrence and I would eat out for dinner. That turns into anywhere from $20-$35 for dinner for the two of us.

I would love to make a spreadsheet for myself but I'm feeling rather lazy about it. I would probably log into my Mint account so I can see all the restaurants we've eaten at to extrapolate an average amount spent, and then compare that to future expenses if I cook all my food at costs of <$2 per meal. That's too much effort, but maybe I'll get around to it if I'm bored enough. What I really need to do is come up with some options for myself. I need figure out proper well-balanced meals that I can make in a large batch and then bring to work for lunch.

Granted, there are other areas I can save money...like for breakfast I could probably go cheaper than the $1.50 cups of Greek yogurt, I probably shouldn't be getting random $.75 bags of chips from the office snack shack, and $3.50+ for a Starbucks espresso drink is probably not very cost effective. Baby steps...