Eating healthy can be expensive. Without really realizing it, our grocery bill had slowly crept up over the months until we realized that between going out to eat and grocery shopping, we were spending WAY more than we should. Today I’m sharing how we cut $200 off our grocery bill from one month to the next while still keeping a healthy menu and giving you action steps for doing it yourself!

P.S., If you’re looking for more ways keep your grocery bill low, this post gives five tips for eating healthy on a budget!

Look At Your Habits

Together, we looked over the previous few months to see what had changed. We noticed two main trends: we were eating lunch out a lot, Andrew was picking up breakfast a few times a week. I tend to plan meals for Monday through Friday, but weekends were more of “we’ll figure it out” (which always turned into us eating out). While it’s cheaper to go out for lunch vs. dinner, it’s not any cheaper if you increase how much you’re going out😉

We decided we would have one dinner out a week together and each could have a lunch out. Sometimes that lunch is together on a Sunday or sometimes it’s separate if it’s during the work week. Sure, we could cut eating out even more and save money, but we treasure our lunch and dinner dates. To me, it’s worth it to spend the money to get out of the house and have quality time together. Investing in your marriage is always a good idea!

For the picking up breakfast habit, we started meal prepping Andrew’s breakfasts as well. It’s a little challenging when your guy doesn’t like overnight oats or egg white muffins (my staples), so here are some of his go-to breakfasts. Some weekends he’ll prep them and some weekends I will:

• Breakfast casserole
• Freezer breakfast burritos (He makes his with hot breakfast sausage + eggs + shredded cheese)
• Scrambled egg muffin + bagel/biscuit

Action Step: Look at how much you pick up meals or go out to eat. Consider limiting that by planning your meals or meal prepping your breakfasts.

Is Shopping Wholesale Really Saving You Money?

We love going to Costco.

We once had a Friday night date that involved dinner and a Costco trip.

Any other Costco/Sam’s lovers out there? We could wander the aisles all day and be happy campers.

In theory, shopping wholesale does save you money- but not when you’re going every weekend. Without fail, we would add to our cart a pair of 40-oz reusable water bottles, or a casserole dish set that surely we needed, or a 45 pack of snack bars. And because it’s Costco, each one of those items was likely no less than $20.

If we had a chest freezer or extra fridge/freezer in the garage, I would likely make a Costco trip once a month to get what we need. However, because we’re living the apartment life, we’ve cut it down from going (almost) every weekend to going twice a month. And we’re working on the whole sticking to our list thing😉

Action Step: If you’re a wholesale shopper, look at the frequency of your visits and what you’re buying. Cutting down the number of times you go will save you money.

Avoid Mid-Week Grocery Trips

I get it, sometimes you really need to make a trip. When you need tortillas for taco tuesday, you NEED tortillas.

But there are times when I think, “You know what would be really good on tacos tonight? A mango black bean salsa,” when I know we have ONE of the 7 ingredients required. Insert trip to grocery store where I inevitably buy more than just the ingredients for the mango black bean salsa. See the issue?

Lately I’ve been trying really hard to “make do” so to speak. Let’s be real, those tacos will be just as delicious with the toppings I had planned. I do not need to stop and buy an entire basil plant to make my easy walnut pesto for dinner. The world will not end if I only have white wine and we’re having red meat.

Action Step: If you tend to make trips to the grocery store during the week to pick up extra items, try planning ahead instead so you’re only going once a week.

Be Flexible With Your Menu

Here’s my routine for planning meals: Write out what we already have. Create meal plan for week. Write grocery list. Buy said groceries.

A recent change: instead of knowing I needed zucchini specifically as a side vegetable, I’ll buy a vegetable that’s on sale or in season. By being flexible with your sides, your grocery bill. Also, there is no shame in frozen veggies! You can typically pick up bags for close to $1 each. Steam or saute frozen veggies and add in seasonings, herbs, a squeeze of lemon, or some other fresh veggies to punch up the dish.

Action Step: Buy in season or on sale fruits, vegetables and protein and build your menu around those.

(You can read a more in-depth tutorial for planning meals in under 10 minutes here)

Try Meatless Dishes

This tip and the next are going to be hit or miss with some of y’all- and that’s okay! Recently, I’ve been trying more vegetarian meals for a few reasons, but most relevant is that beans, tofu and tempeh are cheaper than meat. Despite what everyone likes to say, you can still get your recommended amount of protein on a vegetarian diet. A few times a week (when the husband isn’t eating with me- haha) I’ll substitute chickpeas for chicken in a salad or add an egg instead of meat on a quinoa bowl. It’s fun to try new dishes and foods, and it saves money!

Action Step: If you’re willing, try swapping in a few vegetarian meals during the week.

Be Okay With Repeat Meals

In my meal planning, I used to always try to plan 5 different breakfasts and 5 different lunches. I like variety, y’all. As delicious as it was, it’s both time consuming and expensive to do. I was spending hours meal prepping on Sunday afternoon. No thanks.

Recently, I’ve been doing 2 different breakfasts and 2 different lunches (I alternate so MWF are the same and T/Th are the same). It cuts down on the amount of meal prep and saves money since I’m buying less ingredients. Win-win!

Here are some recipes I’ve been loving to prep for multiple breakfasts or lunches during the week:

• overnight oats (pumpkin version coming soon!)
• egg white frittata muffins (I’ll pair 2 or 3 with a slice of avocado toast)
• a fall salad similar to this one
• these grain and veggie bowls

By making all of these changes, we were able to cut our grocery bill by more than $200 in the first month! We’re still making adjustments here and there, but overall I’m so pleased with our progress. It’s my hope that these tips help you as well!

P.S., you may have noticed that this “reduce our grocery bill” mission had both me and my husband on board. If you need some help on how to manage your budget as a couple, this post has been so popular on Pinterest!

Follow along with the healthy dinners we make on a budget on Instagram: asimplifiedlifeblog

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Thanks so much for reading,