One of the biggest tools for saving MASSIVE amounts of money is cooking at home and meal prepping. Honestly, it’s easier than most people think, and it doesn’t have to be perfect — it just has to taste good. These are some of the meals I’ve looked up and enjoyed, and I usually try to make 3–4 portions at a time. Keep in mind, I practice intermittent fasting and only eat once a day (a big meal near the end of the day so I can sleep well), so making 3–4 portions for me is basically 3–4 days’ worth of meals. My meals go into 36 oz containers, plus drinks. I’m no professional chef, but I’d rather make a plate of pasta that tastes like Cheesecake Factory for $3–5 per plate per family member than pay $10–20 per plate plus tip for the same thing (and yes, I know it tastes like Cheesecake Factory because of my kids). A lot of my meals are higher in protein because I’m working out at the same time — a healthy lifestyle saves money too, it’s just harder to see in the short term, and you simply feel better. Think about it: even at $5 at home versus $12 eating out (including tip), that’s well over a 100% markup. It makes more sense to spend the time cooking once and stretch it across multiple meals — meal prepping is the most efficient way I’ve found to save that money. A lot of it will be pasta, rice bowls, simple stuff — because we’re BROKE — but that’s okay. It can still taste good.

BTW: I buy most of my main ingredients from Costco (Pastas, meats, spices [if I can]). But I do buy smaller portions of things that I only need for that recipe at the super market. For example, I don’t think I would be able to finish a tub of cottage cheese from Costco. So I’ll buy a smaller carton from Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons, etc. Just saying.