Simple meal plan on a budget?

Tortillas, head of lettuce, shredded turkey, and little ranch makes a healthy, low calorie and cheap lunch.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/

Go to facebook and check out a group called Plant Based on a Budget. I sub in lean meat to lots of their recipes and the directions are clear and easy to follow.

Thanks!!

This site is full of ideas:
http://agirlcalledjack.com/tag/jack-monroe/

My better half and I usually spend about 50 dollars per two weeks of groceries for the both of us -- it's totally doable! (We eat mostly vegetarian but some meat for him gets in there too. Not sure of your dietary prefs.) I think the key for me is a lot of grocery stores have their flyers online, and here they get released on thursdays/fridays, so I just look at the new ones and coordinate my shopping on the weekend. Obviously not everything will be in the flyers, but often they have really great deals and it's good to plan around that kind of thing.

Alsoooo I hate to say it but meat and dairy really sucks up the budget! See how low you can go for these categories -- your dollars will usually go further elsewhere. Similarly, stay away from frozen food section and the pre-cut veggies part of the produce section, since those are usually way more costly. I'd really recommend dried beans and grains, since those last forEVER (A moderately sized bag of dried chickpeas for... I think it was 3.99 lasted me over a month and there's still a bit of cooked ones in the freezer for hummus). It's way cheaper if you do things yourself, like cut and wash veggies/soak and cook beans.

Nooooot sure how relevant it is but www.poorgirleatswell.com used to have great tips and such. I DO recommend, though (she doesn't say this) to do as big a grocery shop as you can manage at once -- we get a lot more in one 50 dollar trip than we do in two 25 dollar ones, if that makes sense, because often bulk-but-worth-it items still tend to cost a bit more.

I don't tend to use coupons too much but depending on where you live you might find more are available to you. For me (Canada) they tend to only be for packaged things that already cost too much, but if you see something you would normally buy it's a great idea.

NOW as for recipes; seconding the lentils! very cheap and great. Also good with caramelized onions and brown rice (here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lentils-and-rice-with-fried-onions-mujadarrah/detail.aspx)

lol sorry for the long thing. I get so intense about grocery budget! tl;dr i think the best advice i have is 1) check the flyers online and make a plan, and 2) make what you can yourself. good luck! feel free to bug me if you want to know more/have questions.

I plan weekly by the sales circular. If chicken is on sale I plan chicken, if ground turkey is on sale I plan that. I use the sales and Pinterest for most all of my meal planning

My plan is always changing depending on sales.
Basically whatever is on sale is what we eat like this week, carrots & pork chops were cheap so we're eating carrots and pork chops, twice. :P

Also if you can find out when your store does markdowns on meat you can get so much more for your money.
Just check that the dates are not like a week old or anything. And really those dates are just suggested.

And I quit buying chopped salad in the bags. I can get 5 whole heads of romaine for $4.99 and the bag is like $3.49 for a few leaves.

I do a lot of canned tuna, cabbage and soups. Soups can be super filling. Oh and instead of just buying chicken breast, I buy a whole chicken and cut it up myself. (You can learn how on youtube in like 2 minutes. ) Same price for WAY more meat.

Oh and spices, if your grocery store has an International foods aisle get them there. Much cheaper just check for MSG.

Hey everyone, I wanted to know if anyone had suggestions on *simple* and healthy recipes... that are also on the cheap. I don't mind eating better... it's actually pretty easy for me. But, I'm on a very strict budget of about 150-200 for groceries a month. I know it can be pricey to eat better so if anyone can message me with advice on cheap recipes or meal plans that are also healthy (and most of all easy... I'm by no means a good cook lol)... that would be wonderful. Thanks!

go youtube bodybuilder meal 50$ or something like that , a pro bodybuilder shows how he can eat for 50$ a week....i'm sure while adjusting the rations accordingly for u , it'll be more than enough

Breakfast - Eggs
Oats

Lunch : Chicken Breast or Ground Turkey
Rice

Dinner : Tilapia, Chx Breats or Ground Turkey
Potatoes or Lentils

Buy all in Bulk and of course hit a farmers market for cheap fresh veggies or fruits

Doesnt get much cheaper, you'll probably end up saving money eating like this.

I love making soup this time of year. My family is on a budget so we eat meatless at least one dinner a week to save money.

Soup suggestions:

Rachel Ray: Salsa Stoup and Black Bean Stoup
Alton Brown: Lentil Soup

I also cook whole chickens a lot. I mix olive oil lemon juice and chopped rosemary and put it under the chicken skin and pour some over top. I put squeezed lemons inside the chicken and bake accourd to weight instructions on package. Put water the bottom of your pan so dripping don't cause smoke. Serve with favorite veggie.

I will pick the extra chicken and make soup as well. I sauté carrots, onions and celery till soft. Add chicken stock and picked chicken. Season. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 min. Then serve. You can add noodles or squash if you like.

Also taco salad with either ground beef or ground turkey is always cheap and healthy as long as you weight the meat and doesn't load it up with too much cheese.


Good Luck!


I can't wait to see teh other ideas.

I didn't say it abouve but we also mkae almost all of or chicken and vegetable stock. It's cheeper and has less sodium. I tend to buy beef stock as I don't use it as much but we make it when you can.


to make chicken stock cut medium onion, 2 carrot and 2 celery stocks into chunk. You can save and use the tips of your celery or carrots too. Put in pot with chicken bones from a previous meal. Add peppercorms and a little salt. Fill pot with water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and simmer for 1 - 2 hours.

For veggie stock do the same thing with a bit more veggies and no bones.