Eating out is often one of the biggest budget killers, one of the places we spend our money without even thinking about it. If you’ve been tracking your spending, add up how much you’ve spent to eat out in the last month. Our budget is $150/month, though we grossly went over that in May (for various budgeted reasons).
We used to spend $400/month on eating out, though, so our normal $150 a month was a pretty major cut back.

How did we do it?
It turned out to be a couple simple things, actually. When we cooked, we cooked enough for two meals, so that on nights when we were tired and didn’t feel like cooking, there were leftovers at home. They were quicker, easier, tastier, and cheaper than eating out. Its really kind of nice.
We also decided to keep our pantry stocked with simple staples that we can make a quick meal from any time, and that we really like. For us this means rice (we love our rice cooker), cream of mushroom soup, pasta, and tomato sauce or paste. You can spice either of these up with a protein, but you don’t have to. Either way, its a quick and easy meal without going out.