Meal Planning on a Budget
nolanjsimmons
Posts: 2 Member
Does anyone have any good meal plans or tips for creating a meal plan on a budget? Thanks in advance!
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Replies
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Depends on the budget.
I mean get your meat, frozen vegetables and some kind of rice/bean/pasta and that covers your protein/carbs/fats right there. That's as basic as it gets.
Cook a large meal for a family of 3-4 (really just for you) then divide it up into tupperwear for several meals.5 -
Eggs for cheap protein.
Tuna, chicken for pretty cheap protein.
Beans, rice, potatoes, etc for dirt cheap.
Canned or frozen veggies are usually cheaper than fresh, but of course no frozen lettuce for salads, so check both options.
Stir fries, egg muffins, sheet pan dinners are a great start until you find some recipes you like.
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Chicken chicken and more chicken.
I also eat chop meat (buy the family sizes of both as they are usually cheaper and can freeze for awhile).
Breakfast for me is:
Oatmeal, a sunny side up egg, and half a serving of shredded cheese
Lunch:
2 servings of cottage cheese and 1 danon light n fit yogurt
Dinner
Chicken of some kind, rice and veg
Or
Pasta with meat sauce
Or
Burgers with potato wedges
Snacks:
Apples
Carrots
Mandarin oranges
Dessert:
One serving of ice cream (acme has the BEST store brand ice cream FYI)
Or
One serving of pudding (but the box and mix it with milk, cheaper than the premade cups)
Or
One serving of cookies
I feed 2 adults for less than $100 a week in the northeast US.0 -
Since no one has said it yet:
Keep eating out to a minimum. Those bills usually aren't cheap to begin with, and they add up. If you do a household budget, shift some of those 'eating out' funds over to 'groceries'.
As far as eating at home, in the suggestions above everyone mentioned vegetables, but only one person mentioned fruit (as a snack). Fruit tastes good and it's relatively low-calorie. Nothing wrong with eating it with breakfast (in smoothies or with yogurt), or as a side dish for lunch/dinner.
I eat 100g strawberries and 100g blueberries every morning with breakfast. For about 100 calories (believe it or not) you'd be surprised how much fruit that is.4 -
Here's how the Buff Dudes ate for $20 a week.
I believe they are in Oregon, and shopping at something like a Sam's Club. While chicken may not be that cheap where you are, the video is still a good basis for a plan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7IleN4UWTQ
Generally, the less inputs or processing a food has had, the cheaper it will be. Ex: dried beans are cheaper than canned. Rolled oats are cheaper than granola. Etc. You just have to plan ahead.
For example, today I planned to buy three cans of beans for a recipe but all the brands added a preservative I avoid, so I got a pound of dried beans instead. They are soaking now, and I will cook them overnight in my slow cooker. Sure, this takes more time than opening a can, but the dried beans were @ 1/5 the price of the cans, and didn't include ingredients I prefer to avoid.2 -
Follow flyer or online posted sales. Utilize your freezer to prep meals with said sale items for future use. Buy in bulk as your budget and consumption allows. For example: when we were very low income some months I could buy a 20lb bag of rice and a 4L extra virgin olive oil and then smaller sizes of the items needed that week. The next month I had rice and oil still in stock so I would buy a large bag of oats and some bulk chicken legs. Consider cooking and freezing things that may be close to going off before you have time to eat them. Buy things you like. Seems obvious but if you hate spinach for example, the chance is high it will go bad before you convince yourself to eat it. Look for clearance dairy like milk, cheese, cottage cheese. It can be frozen in smaller sizes and while the cheese and cottage cheese may have minor texture changes they are great for a casserole or pizza. If you need to go to the food bank the same rules apply: only accept things you will actually eat.
It takes work, planning and prepping and thinking. But you can eat well on a lower budget. Especially in the us. Canada is a different story. Especially in the rural areas.3 -
Get familiar with when the weekly ads for the grocery stores in your area come out. Every week they have loss leaders that really stretch your budget. Then plan the meals around those items. Impulse purchases kill a budget as do "what am I in the mood for?".
There are lots of resources online. I entered "budget meal planning" in google and there were tons of sites of what people do. This one looked good because it has a list of 10 different websites on it.
https://www.busybudgeter.com/best-free-meal-plans-budget-friendly/
Chili is a good one, especially if you bulk it up with beans. Frozen vegetables. On sale they are $1 for 12 or 16 oz (in the U.S.). Buy spices from the bulk bins. I spend < $1 for a good sized amount where a jar would $4-8. Or buy the store brand. Store brands are your friend and the quality is on par with the national brands.
I hope this helps. Meal planning is challenging. All of our preferences, family size, calorie needs, allergies, etc. are different. I have a hard enough time finding foods that all 4 of my family members will eat!0 -
Chef Jose Andres uses 1 chicken to make 5 recipes (enough for 2 portions each meal). You’ll need to register (it’s free) to access this recipe on National Geographic. I made this recipe and it’s worth it. Each recipe is different so it doesn’t feel like you are eating chicken AGAIN.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/food/the-plate/2014/11/04/jose-andres-chicken-recipes/2 -
Another vote for looking at the weekly supermarket flyers and planning meals around what's on sale. You can also use this site to find what's on sale where:
https://flipp.com/home0 -
My town is supposed to be the most competitive grocery market in the USA. Kroger and Publix led the pack for years til Walmart muscled in. Then aldi showed up and now Lidl has opened a bunch of stores.
Our local consumer guru said just yesterday that Aldi and Lidl average 40% less than the other three. I know I seem to carry home a ton more food for a lot less money. I drive a micro car, so it’s like filling the gas tank- it’s easy to measure. $100 at the Kroger and publix just barely covers the back, $100 at Lidl piles it so high I have to put some in the front seat.
Our Aldis tend to be a bit in the dirty cramped and crowded side and carry mostly store brands. But, they’re always crowded. Hugely popular.
Lidl is phenomenal. Huge produce section, with great variety of cheap organic produce, an organic store brand area and a gluten free area, lots of meat, an amazing (aka “diet deadly”) in store European style bakery, and a good mix of National and store brands. They also have a lot of European and gourmet foods that are identically packaged to Trader Joe’s products, but a different brand name on the label, at half the price.
A lot of my neighbors are sniffy about both because you bag your own. You’ve got to be joking me! You’d pay how much more to have someone bag for you?!1 -
Leave the prepared/frozen entrees (high in calories/salt/cost), chips, cookies, candy, soda, and other expensive, caloric junk food in the store. Shop the sales and loss leaders, and spend your money on chicken/turkey, eggs, and pork, fresh veggies and fruits, plain canned/frozen items like tomatoes, fruits, vegetables, etc., needed for recipes. Shop the bulk items, if available. If you eat bread, check out a local bakery surplus store. You will need to do more cooking, but your meals will be healthier and you have more control over calorie content.0
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You need to tell us where you live. Every country has other ways of getting healthy food on a budget. Here in the Netherlands I spend about 120 Euro per month on food. Mostly fresh produce, fairly small amounts of meat, and a proper amount of snacks!0
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You need to tell us where you live. Every country has other ways of getting healthy food on a budget. Here in the Netherlands I spend about 120 Euro per month on food. Mostly fresh produce, fairly small amounts of meat, and a proper amount of snacks!
OP's profile says Tennessee (United States). Any grocery stores mentioned so far should be available in Tennessee. Except Lidl--apparently it's an Aldi competitor?
I can vouch for almost everything at Aldi, except their meat--go elsewhere for meat. Depending on location you might check the fruit; my location has problems with the freshness of their berries.2 -
I find shoprite by me to have the best meat. Acme and giant have awful meat and I won’t buy it there.
Sams club and bjs have good meat and decent prices on their meat (I have a flatbed freezer so I can buy in bulk).0 -
BrettWithPKU wrote: »I can vouch for almost everything at Aldi, except their meat--go elsewhere for meat. Depending on location you might check the fruit; my location has problems with the freshness of their berries.
I agree. Audi’s store brand shelf stable items are lower than elsewhere. The few national brands they carry are considerably higher than a good sale at competitors. I find all of their soft fruit to be uneven in ripeness (turning too ripe), but things like apples and oranges are fine. I’ve never bought meat there.
But of course you have to weigh the time spent in looking at and planning around the ads, going to different stores, etc vs having one go to store.
One other thing I just remembered. The fewer times you go grocery shopping, the less you spend - less impulse purchases and wasted food. If you can meal plan for a month at a time and then go to the store once a month that is optimal on a budget. But it is difficult for most people. 😋1 -
BrettWithPKU wrote: »You need to tell us where you live. Every country has other ways of getting healthy food on a budget. Here in the Netherlands I spend about 120 Euro per month on food. Mostly fresh produce, fairly small amounts of meat, and a proper amount of snacks!
OP's profile says Tennessee (United States). Any grocery stores mentioned so far should be available in Tennessee. Except Lidl--apparently it's an Aldi competitor?
I can vouch for almost everything at Aldi, except their meat--go elsewhere for meat. Depending on location you might check the fruit; my location has problems with the freshness of their berries.
I only buy fresh berries when they are in season; otherwise I buy frozen, which is generally cheaper anyway, and doesn't have issues with shelf life.
Lots of times I pick my own berries - I grow strawberries, Mom grows blackberries and mulberries, and there are abandoned blueberry bushes and cranberry bogs near her that we pick from.
I get apples and peaches from a local orchard - so much better than supermarket!
Now that I'm thinking about it, I have fresh, local fruit of one kind or the other available June (strawberries) to at least December (apples.)1 -
springlering62 wrote: »My town is supposed to be the most competitive grocery market in the USA. Kroger and Publix led the pack for years til Walmart muscled in. Then aldi showed up and now Lidl has opened a bunch of stores.
Our local consumer guru said just yesterday that Aldi and Lidl average 40% less than the other three. I know I seem to carry home a ton more food for a lot less money. I drive a micro car, so it’s like filling the gas tank- it’s easy to measure. $100 at the Kroger and publix just barely covers the back, $100 at Lidl piles it so high I have to put some in the front seat.
Our Aldis tend to be a bit in the dirty cramped and crowded side and carry mostly store brands. But, they’re always crowded. Hugely popular.
Lidl is phenomenal. Huge produce section, with great variety of cheap organic produce, an organic store brand area and a gluten free area, lots of meat, an amazing (aka “diet deadly”) in store European style bakery, and a good mix of National and store brands. They also have a lot of European and gourmet foods that are identically packaged to Trader Joe’s products, but a different brand name on the label, at half the price.
A lot of my neighbors are sniffy about both because you bag your own. You’ve got to be joking me! You’d pay how much more to have someone bag for you?!
I PREFER to bag my own!
(However, I prefer that someone else scans.)0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »springlering62 wrote: »My town is supposed to be the most competitive grocery market in the USA. Kroger and Publix led the pack for years til Walmart muscled in. Then aldi showed up and now Lidl has opened a bunch of stores.
Our local consumer guru said just yesterday that Aldi and Lidl average 40% less than the other three. I know I seem to carry home a ton more food for a lot less money. I drive a micro car, so it’s like filling the gas tank- it’s easy to measure. $100 at the Kroger and publix just barely covers the back, $100 at Lidl piles it so high I have to put some in the front seat.
Our Aldis tend to be a bit in the dirty cramped and crowded side and carry mostly store brands. But, they’re always crowded. Hugely popular.
Lidl is phenomenal. Huge produce section, with great variety of cheap organic produce, an organic store brand area and a gluten free area, lots of meat, an amazing (aka “diet deadly”) in store European style bakery, and a good mix of National and store brands. They also have a lot of European and gourmet foods that are identically packaged to Trader Joe’s products, but a different brand name on the label, at half the price.
A lot of my neighbors are sniffy about both because you bag your own. You’ve got to be joking me! You’d pay how much more to have someone bag for you?!
I PREFER to bag my own!
(However, I prefer that someone else scans.)
Lol and I prefer to both scan and bag my own. Never a line for self checkout by me and I despise lines!5 -
kshama2001 wrote: »[
Lots of times I pick my own berries - I grow strawberries, Mom grows blackberries and mulberries, and there are abandoned blueberry bushes and cranberry bogs near her that we pick from.
I get apples and peaches from a local orchard - so much better than supermarket!
Now that I'm thinking about it, I have fresh, local fruit of one kind or the other available June (strawberries) to at least December (apples.)
Wow! Everything must be more flavorable picked fresh. I’m envious.
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When I was poor, I had food intolerances that meant I had to eat meat most meals. Here's my recommendations:
Plan your meals for five weeks in a row. This lets you have things you like regularly, but things you like on occasion can be had once in that time, and by experiment, five weeks is about right to have a particular dish go from "Ugh, this again?" to "Hey! We haven't had that in a bit, I'm looking forward to it!" Variety helps you feel better about life, and if you are a good cook, who wants to eat out when you can create wonderful things at home? (I can share recipes if interested.)
What else that lets you do is to count up, for example, how many pork chops you need for that time period. Now, when a pork loin goes on sale, you can buy it cheap. I can get twelve good-sized loin chops (all meat, no bone) for about $.75 a chop if I catch the sale. I also have a second freezer which gives me the flexibility to do this. I bring the fresh meat home, and bag the chops up into portions; if there are two of you, and you each eat one chop per meal, unless you deliberately want extra to send in someone's lunch tomorrow, then just bag two chops together and freeze them like that. I can count up how many Chinese dishes I want chicken for, cut the thighs up accordingly, and freeze them, ready for me to thaw them and do a stirfry later on. We were on food stamps, so I did a monthly shop, so this worked out well; five weeks also covered the next time the card refilled, so we wouldn't run short of food beforehand. It still works for me shopping weekly.
You can generate your shopping list from this, too, and check off what you already have in the pantry and in the freezer before you go. Then you don't buy anything you don't need. My economic situation has improved, but I still do this. This way the pantry isn't bulging with things I don't want taking the space of the things I do want.
Garnish with meat. I only did a slab of meat like a whole chicken breast or a pork chop once a week, and that was so that my then-husband didn't get restive. I put whole cheap chickens in the crock-pot with vegetables and got chicken broth that would make good soups and stews, and shredded the chicken to be eaten in those soups and stews, so that a whole chicken made us fifteen meals. Beef only showed up cut thin against the grain in the occasional stirfry; we ate mostly pork and chicken, and we ate a lot of stirfries and curries and stews where meat is not the focus of the dish. I would imagine that if you can eat vegetarian, and not with meat substitutes, you could manage to get it even cheaper. Many cultures have vegetarian dishes that are perfectly good on their own. And you have the internet; even if your local store doesn't carry Jamaican jerk seasoning, online spice retailers do. I found that well-cooked, well-seasoned food makes eating a reasonable, sensible amount possible, and I can always do it cheaper at home... and usually better... than going out.
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kshama2001 wrote: »
I PREFER to bag my own!
(However, I prefer that someone else scans.)
I infinitely prefer to bag my own. That way if the bread gets crushed it's my own fault. More to the point, when other people bag they don't group things, and if I do it I can make sure that everything going to the big freezer is in this bag, everything going in the kitchen fridge and freezer is in this other bag, everything going to our bathroom upstairs is together, etc. It makes it easier when I get home.
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BrettWithPKU wrote: »You need to tell us where you live. Every country has other ways of getting healthy food on a budget. Here in the Netherlands I spend about 120 Euro per month on food. Mostly fresh produce, fairly small amounts of meat, and a proper amount of snacks!
OP's profile says Tennessee (United States). Any grocery stores mentioned so far should be available in Tennessee. Except Lidl--apparently it's an Aldi competitor?
I can vouch for almost everything at Aldi, except their meat--go elsewhere for meat. Depending on location you might check the fruit; my location has problems with the freshness of their berries.
I have done well with Aldi's "Never Any!" meats. I am very picky about what chicken I buy if I hope to bread and fry it, because the chicken that's been "enhanced" with water leaks it out when you cook it and the coating falls off. Their chicken has been just fine, and I've been able to find lamb locally when I couldn't elsewhere, and I was able to find chuck steaks when Kroger was out.
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