food,  money-saving tips

switching to meal prep: how we save hundreds of dollars on meals

February 16, 2019 /

Isn’t it crazy to see how much money we spend on food? Food is one of our biggest areas of daily spending, and we were so tired of spending so much money on it! Eventually, we learned we could save hundreds of dollars on meals by switching to meal prep!

A few years ago, Nathan and I sat down and created our first budget. We had just moved in together and we had to be very clear on how we spent our money. Although everything looked great on paper, we still had trouble with our money and really needed to figure out what was going wrong. Here’s the craziest part: due to a job change in 2017, I actually took a huge pay cut! We were able to afford this because of how we changed our spending–especially on food!

going off-budget

Our original budgets didn’t work for us because we weren’t sticking to it. We didn’t give ourselves room to spend on any outings, and we were going out a lot more than we are now! We had a better understanding of our spending habits after we specifically budgeted for dining out. After that, we ended up visiting less restaurants because we wanted to stay within our budget!

RELATED: 12 easy money-saving tips!

hidden costs of food

Keep in mind that visiting restaurants also calls for leaving a tip, using gas, and possibly paying for parking. We had to factor in those costs when we considered dining out. Usually, if we felt we were going to spend more than $40-$50 for the whole outing, we decided to stay at home or find a cheaper restaurant. We been able to save hundreds of dollars on meals by making better decisions on where we buy our food.

One thing we also learned to look out for are the hidden costs for certain orders! Some restaurants charge extra money for add-ons or substituting sides. For example, Chipotle charges extra for guacamole, Starbucks charges extra for espresso shots, syrup and sauce flavors and non-dairy milks, McDonald’s gives you a “drink up-charge” if you get a different beverage than the one included with your meal.

cooking at home

Thankfully, costs of cooking at home are pretty straightforward. Once we stuck to our shopping lists and prioritized cooking at home, we found we were spending less money! We had a tiny kitchen in our first apartment and it wasn’t always easy for both of us to be in there, but the money we saved on eating at home was so worth it.

eating leftovers

Because it was just the two of us, the meals we made often made leftovers! The leftovers were so convenient for me, because at the time, I was working two jobs. I just grabbed a container and dashed out the door. By not buying lunch, I personally saved anywhere between $5-$15 a day! That means I was saving hundreds of dollars on meals every month!

switching to freezer meals

Wanting to see if we could do more with our at-home cooking, I made a few freezer meals! If you’re unfamiliar with freezer meals, they are prepped, ready-to-cook (after thawing, of course) meals. Usually, these meals have easy cooking instructions, like they only need to be baked, or thrown in the crockpot, or cooked in one pot on the stove! Freezer meals work great for a busy day–in the morning, move the meal to the fridge to defrost. In the evening, cook as per instructions!

meal prep

Although freezer meals were convenient, we preferred meal prepping ready-to-eat servings. I think I would like to keep a few freezer meals on hand, because we find that if we have food at home, we’ll cook instead of dining out. I loved using slow cooker freezer meals! Those were great because if we had a busier week, they helped us keep up with meal prepping.

Meal prep has made a huge difference on our spending. I used to eat take out almost five days a week, and the takeout would always cost anywhere between $5-$15. The convenience was nice, but my wallet was hurting! Thankfully, I learned that switching to meal prep can be just as convenient if I set myself up for success. A lot of that was changing my mindset; one way costs me more money, and the other costs me more time–which one was I more willing to pay? Once I reconciled the time investment of meal prepping was worth it, it was a lot easier to jump into the lifestyle.

We’ve had some stumbles along the way, like making too many meals per meal prep session or making meals that didn’t taste great when reheated, getting bored of the same meals…but we eventually figured out what works for us and we now save hundreds of dollars on meals!

currently, we save hundreds of dollars on meals by:

Have you meal prepped before? How did it affect your family’s spending? Let us know in the comments!

Love,
The Platz family