Tacos single handedly saved our finances.
You heard me right. We went from over $120k in debt to living a life of financial freedom thanks to tacos.
No, we’re not taco tycoons with endless income and franchising opportunities. We didn’t buy stock in Taco Bell. Nor did my great great grandmother invent that delicious taco seasoning. We just love tacos!
One of the biggest hurdles in budgeting is food. It’s a necessity and even the most minimalist of frugals out there has not found a way to eliminate food from their budget. BUT, it is the most controllable of your spending.
We brought our grocery budget down from over $1,200 per month to between $400 and $500 per month for our family of three. Hold on one second and I’ll let you do the math. That’s up to NINETY SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS PER YEAR that we saved.
I know what you’re thinking. How is it possible to save that money without living on ‘rice and beans’? A little bit of creativity and a whole lot of tacos!
Seemingly Endless Options
The absolute COOLEST thing about tacos? You can put nearly anything on them. That means they are 100% customizable to your tastes and dietary needs.
It also means that you never get bored. We have eaten everything from traditional Carne Asada (insert link) tacos to Italian sausage tacos with peppers and onions. Heck, we even have lunch meat tacos on occasion and let me tell you, they are DELICIOUS.
It also means that you never get bored. We have eaten everything from traditional Carne Asada (insert link) tacos to Italian sausage tacos with peppers and onions. Heck, we even have lunch meat tacos on occasion and let me tell you, they are DELICIOUS.
I’ll save those of you who don’t want to hear me rant and just include a full list of the tacos we’ve eaten at the end of this post. There will be recipe links for some, but most were created by letting our imagination run wild! Get ready for full on Forest Gump style “shrimp gumbo, shrimp salad, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp….”
Stress Relief from the life of Budgeting
When we were creating our budget we noticed we were spending over ONE THOUSAND dollars on groceries each month, and that was just for the two of us. Ridiculous.
What was just as ridiculous was seeing me trying to plan our new grocery budget. I had no idea where to start. Between sales, couponing, extreme couponing, shopping at wholesale markets, etc. My head was spinning.
It took some time, a little bit of Google research and a whole lot of trial and error to figure out what worked for us. Every family is going to be different based on what you like or need to eat, but the key is consistency.
You can see the full article on how we saved thousands on groceries here, but basically we have created a list of ‘staples’ for our family.
This takes the guess work out of sticking to our budget. I know I need X pounds of chicken from the wholesale store once a month, X pounds of ground turkey, a few sale meats for variety, veggie staples plus a few sale items, and our pantry goods.
Even though we eat amazing food and very rarely eat the same dish twice, we buy almost the EXACT SAME ingredients each month. Yep, you heard me right. The same thing every month.
This takes the guess work out of budgeting for groceries. One less thing to think about and one less thing to stress about when it comes to sticking to your budget.
There is always a little wiggle room left in the budget for trying new things and new flavors. This is what allows us to create entirely different and unique dishes out of the same, boring, ingredients like chicken, rice and veggies.
Tacos are Fast!
It’s fast so you’ll be more likely to stick to your plan
The second coolest thing about tacos? They have to be single handedly the fastest ‘gourmet’ meal you could ever prepare.
Picture this. You’re out running errands with your family. The first person that mentions they’re hungry gets the rest of the car’s stomachs rumbling.
You’ve got two choices. Run by somewhere and grab lunch or go home and make lunch.
At first thought you want to just get something as quickly as possible. No one likes the feeling of being hangry. Hello Panera, Moe’s or Jason’s Deli! Who wants to spend 30 minutes at home cooking before they can eat?!
Enter my favorite tip: deep breath. Hold on a second. Not only is it going to cost you upwards of $8 a person to eat lunch, but is it really saving you any time?
Not in the land of tacos! In the same time you can drive to the restaurant and order food, I can have a healthy, delicious and SUPER BUDGET FRIENDLY meal on the plate.
The key is a bit of prep!
Generally speaking we always have something to eat at home. We meal prep most weeks, always have leftovers, and stock up lunch staples like deli meat and veggies. You just can’t have an empty fridge. If you do, you’re missing a key component of the budgeting lifestyle because you’re clearly not eating at home.
Ok, back on track. Take anything, and I mean ANYTHING, you have in the fridge. Combine the leftover pot roast with a few slices of raw onion and lettuce drizzled with ranch dressing. Throw that on a taco and BAM you’ve got lunch in the time it takes to reheat pot roast in the microwave.
Doesn’t sound good to you? We always, always, always have chicken of some sort prepped in the fridge. Chop a chicken thigh up, grab some shredded cheese, barbeque sauce, sour cream and pickled jalapenos and throw that on top of a toasted corn tortilla. Again, within minutes you have a DELICOUS meal that cost you nearly nothing.
In a pinch? Slather your favorite hummus on a tortilla, slice up whatever veggies you have on hand and top with a little vinaigrette or lemon juice. Healthy, fast, and somehow even easier than stopping at that drive through on the way home!
Easy is what helps you stick to your budget. If It takes extra effort, you’re less likely to stick to your plan.
So, take a deep breath, stop and think before choosing to “grab food” over eating at home! It’s literally saved us thousands of dollars 😉
Cuts Down Portion Size. Win, win, win!
When you’re on a budget the most expensive part of your grocery bill is inevitably meat. Meat prices are insane these days, especially if you’re trying to eat organic or hormone free.
Our solution to sticking to our budget without compromising on our favorite foods? Tacos of course!
For each meal we eat between 2 and 3 tacos. We’re full, happy and never eat to the point where we feel miserable.
Unlike when you eat a meal on a plate, eating your meal on a taco provides a restriction you won’t even notice. I mean, you can only fit so much meat on a little corn tortilla!
Secretly portioning your food not only saves on the budget, but it saves on the waistline too!
Like it or not, the majority of us eat too much. As a country this has gotten wildly out of hand, but even in our own house I was noticing we were doing the same.
Hubby is an incredible chef and would create amazing, flavorful dishes that had you going back bite after bite. This may have been okay pre-baby, but post-baby me was not loving the fact that the scale wasn’t moving. Solution? TACOS!
I still get to eat the same, flavorful and gourmet meals but in moderation!
Time for TACOS!!!
- Lunch meat tacos
- Asian chicken tacos
- Italian sausage, peppers and onion tacos
- Cheeseburger tacos
- Chipotle chicken tacos with lime crema (fancy name for flavored sour cream)
- Traditional ground beef tacos with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese and sour cream
- Breakfast tacos with egg scramble and siracha
- Fish tacos with garlic, lime crema
- Chicken thigh tacos with bbq sauce, cilantro, and topped with coleslaw
- Carribean jerk shrimp tacos with jicama slaw
- Roasted Cauliflower and black bean tacos
- Buffalo chicken tacos with blue cheese and chopped celery
- Korean bbq beef tacos
- Buffalo roasted cauliflower and chickpea tacos with garlic aoli
- Greek Chicken Tacos
- Braised Short Rib Tacos with quick pickled red onion
- Traditional Carnitas
- Italian antipasto tacos with roasted red peppers and fresh mozzarella
- Sweet potato hash tacos topped with cilantro and sour cream
- Crock pot Honey BBQ Chicken Tacos with mango salsa
As with all of our recipes, use your creativity! They’re YOUR recipes. Make them your own!
A little bit of creativity can add up to a whole lot of savings.
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Mmmmm, I absolutely love tacos! We had grilled fish tacos with cabbage, salsa & spicy mayo last night. I will have to try some of your suggested combos! A great way to use up leftovers & save money.
Seriously…one of the best budgeting/food articles I’ve read in YEARS!! And the answer was right in front of me (in my kitchen) all these years! I thought taco-night had to be complicated. Never thought of putting a bunch of random stuff together in a hurry. Restaurants charge a fortune for this stuff…and call it culinary cuisine! Plus…my kids are always complaining about my cooking.