Are you trying to ensure your family is eating healthy? A meal plan is the best way to plan your meals and keep everything as healthy as possible. Many people can attest to the fact that healthy, fresh meals can seem way more expensive to make than their not as healthy counterparts. Today, I'd love to show you how to make an inexpensive healthy meal plan.
Buy or make a cheap calendar
First of all, the best plan of action is to write your meal plan down. It's nearly impossible to stick with a plan unless it's written down. I like to use a traditional calendar to write out what we will have for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Once you have a place to write down what you will make, you can move on to the next step.
Make a list of healthy foods your family likes
I have learned (by trial and error :)) that you will save money by buying what you know your family will eat. If your family loves bananas, apples and carrots, then spend your money buying those delicious fruits and vegetables. You can always try adding one new fruit or vegetable a week in small quantities.
Create a list of healthy meals that are inexpensive
The only way to create an inexpensive healthy meal plan is to make a list. Make a list of all the healthy meals you can think of that keep you on a budget. You may want to put google or Pinterest to use helping you find ideas. I also really like Budget Bytesfor recipes! In my household, we try to stick to a main dish, veggie side, and rice/potato side. This helps keep things on budget and simple. For example, barbecued chicken with a side of mixed veggies and baked potato.
Plan Meals around Sales
This is a very effective way at saving money on your grocery bill each week! When you look at your list of family favorite meals and your inexpensive meal ideas, also be sure to look at what's on sale that week. Pick the meals from your lists that correspond with the sales. For example, maybe oatmeal is on sale. You could buy that and eat oatmeal for breakfasts that week. Or maybe chicken thighs are on sale. Pick meals that can use those items that are on sale.
Make a shopping list
When you are meal planning healthy meals, you need a shopping list. You don’t want to forget what you need to buy and it helps keep you accountable to eat the healthy meals that you’re planning. A shopping list will help you save your sanity. Write a note in your phone or jot it down on a piece of paper. Depending on the store you shop at, you can even make a shopping list in the store app.
Check out The Meal Planner! I created the printable Meal planner to help make meal planning and saving money easy! The PDF includes:
18 pages
Monthly, Weekly + Daily meal planning worksheets
Meal brainstorming worksheets
Food inventory worksheets
Grocery lists
Price matching worksheet
Party Planning worksheet
Stay on budget
When you’re planning an inexpensive healthy meal, try to stay on budget. You can do the math of what a meal will cost before you even head to the store. This will help you know how much you need to spend before you even spend it. For example, chicken is $3.99 a pound and you need 3 pounds to make this week’s meals. That’s rounded to $12, which can make about 2 meals for a family of 4.
There you have it, the steps to making an inexpensive healthy meal plan for your family. Take your time, create a budget, and plan each meal out. The most important part is sticking to the meal plan that you took the time to create.
Get a set of 6 Airtight Food Storage Jarsfor $30.98 from Amazon.ca! (reg. $39.98). Be sure to clip the $3.00 off coupon from Amazon to get the deal price. Here are some details:
Set includes 6 containers in 3 sizes , Cereal container set includes 2 Medium Containers (1.2L/1.0qt), 2 Small Containers (0.8L/0.7qt), 2 Mini Containers (0.5L/0.4qt), and bonus 10 reusable storage bin labels, 1 chalkboard marker, Variety of shapes and sizes can fit all your storage need.
100% airtight to keep your food fresh, Our kitchen storage containers come with transparent locking lids and built-in black silicone gasket that makes them airtight and leakproof, help protect your food from air and moisture to get a prolonged storage. all food storage bin can not only store dry food like flour, cereal, pasta, brown sugar, snacks, rice, grain, beans, nuts, coffee, tea, also ideal for holding Liquids such as juice, soup, milk.
Shaped for maximum space efficiency, Stackable design makes these pantry containers ideal for kitchen organization, helps you to use every inch of your kitchen and pantry. These containers are made of high quality BPA-free plastic, will not leak or alter the taste of the food inside. The clear material make it easy to see what's inside and how much food remains. Thick plastic body and ergonomics design make our containers anti-mice chew through and easily-grip.
Compared with other air tight containers for food, containers feature upgraded lids, which are made of high impact resistant and durable ABS plastic that will not crack. The lids of these containers are interchangeable, so you don't need to waste your time to find the right lids anymore.
This LEGO pink hot air balloon toy from DreamWorks Trolls World Tour movie lets kids recreate their favorite scenes for lots of role-play adventures!
Kids can use the flapping hearts to alter the position of the balloon, play with the minifigures (and the Trolls’ hair!), then find the collectible musical string hidden in the metronome
With 3 Trolls minifigures in this set, (Poppy, Branch, plus exclusive character Biggie (and Mr. Dinkles), and a stack of Trolls-inspired extras, the play begins right away and the fun goes on after the model is built
This awesome LEGO Trolls World Tour movie building toy sparks imagination, offers endless build-and-play fun, and is a creativity-filled holiday, birthday or anyday gift for fans of Trolls toys ages 6+
With the balloon measuring over 8” (22cm) high, 6” (17cm) long, 5” (13cm) wide, this cute Trolls gift for girls and boys is a great size for role-play fun
