How to nourish & navigate your food expenses: Weekly meal plans that cost $50 or less
We’re a few weeks into September now, and we’re all probably thinking about getting a grasp on the new school or work year, as well as many fun holidays coming around the corner. This is a great time to re-evaluate your food budget and meal planning to make sure your finances and meals are also on track.
I like to find fun ways to make healthy, affordable meals and I find that it really starts with meal planning. Meal planning can seem like a huge challenge to begin, but once you’re in the hang of your meal plans, like any habit, it can be easier. Let’s dive into some ways we can start your meal plan and cook on a budget.
Meal Planning 101 – where to start
- Choose a template (see below for an idea) and then write down the first meal you will prepare. To begin, start with some foods and meals you’re comfortable with. Once you’re feeling ready to explore meal planning a little further, you can choose recipes or meals that you want to learn how to prepare. To build confidence in a new skill, we need to have success or it will be hard to continue to build that skill. Start with simple items or items already in your fridge and build onto them as your confidence increases.
- Start with an ingredient, and build the rest of your meal around it. You want to aim for planning meals that include protein, fiber rich starches and vegetables. Aim for ½ plate of vegetables, ¼ plate protein and ¼ plate high fiber starch. If your first ingredient is canned tuna, you can build a meal by thinking about what vegetables and what whole grain options to pair with your tuna. Maybe you make a tuna sandwich, with whole grain bread and sliced celery and onion and you serve a Greek salad on the side.
- Find resources to help with your new cooking and meal planning adventures. Here are some ideas for websites and recipes:
- https://www.cookspiration.com/
- https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/menuplanner.aspx
- https://www.lentils.org/
- https://pulses.org/nap/
- Make a grocery list. Once you complete steps 2 and 3, look at the recipe in front of you and figure out what ingredients you have on hand, and which ones need to make their way onto the grocery list.
- Repeat the above steps until you plan your meals. Try to utilize the same ingredients so you can control your grocery list. For example, if you’re buying cucumber and garlic for a Greek salad, you can use the rest of your cucumber and garlic in another meal to make a homemade tzatziki dip. Remember to include foods you enjoy. If snacks are part of your daily routine, you may want to include them in your meal planning as well. Make sustainable habits!
Meal Plan Ideas
How you can spend $50 for 7 days of meals
To save money on groceries, I’d suggest having a plan for the grocery store (ie. your meal plans + grocery list) and sticking to it. I’d also suggest that when planning your meals, utilize the same ingredients, especially the ingredients that are on sale (for example, instead of just 1 recipe with chicken for the week, buy chicken and use it for 3 or 4 recipes. Sometimes you can find great sales when you buy a larger quantity of items at once. Just be careful not to purchase more food than you need). I’d also suggest getting creative with your cheaper and lean proteins – for example, who said eggs are only a breakfast food? Try breakfast for dinner as a fun and cheap dinner meal. Finally, you can try some great money saving apps such as: Flipp, Flash Food, and Too Good to Go!
Recipes:
- Smoothie – In a blender, mix together 1-2 cups milk, 1 scoop protein powder, ½ cup greek yogurt, 1 cup frozen berries, 1 handful spinach, 1 tbsp flax seeds OR almond butter. Mix and enjoy
- Egg Cups – In a bowl, mix together 5 eggs, ½ cup milk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Chop onion, spinach, garlic and carrots. Add chopped veggies to egg mixture. Pour evenly in a muffin tin and fill each cavity ¾ full. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 15 minutes. If cooked thoroughly, remove from oven and let cool. Optional: mix feta cheese into your egg mixture before adding the vegetables.
- Homemade Granola – In a bowl, mix together your mixed nuts, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, Add cinnamon and a pinch of salt (unless you used salted nuts, then no need for additional salt). Add a scoop of protein powder, ¼ cup honey, and ½ cup olive oil. Spread mixture on baking tray and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool before trying.
- Chicken Stir Fry – In a pan with some olive oil, add your chopped vegetables of choice (carrots, onion, garlic, broccoli). Cook with your favourite spices. Add chopped chicken. Enjoy. I might pair this with a honey and olive oil dressing.
- Lentil Soup – In a pot, add some olive oil and the chopped onions and carrot. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Add canned tomatoes, dried lentils + broth. Cook for 30 minutes until the lentils are tender. Enjoy.
- Tofu Frittata – use your favourite frittata recipe, and sub the typical eggs with tofu.
- Salmon Pasta – In a pan, saute some vegetables. While your veggies are cooking, boil your pasta water. Add a can of salmon and some cheese into your cooked vegetables. Once your pasta noodles are cooked, add them, along with a splash of the pasta water to your salmon and vegetable mixture. I love using canned salmon as a quick, high protein and high omega 3 meal!
- Pizza wraps – Using all the ingredients you would make a pizza out of (besides the dough), you make a wrap. Grab your whole grain wraps and inside, place your onions, tomatoes, olives and cheese. Top with some cooked chicken. Cook on a pan as you could a quesadilla to melt the cheese.
For pricing of the above meals, since we got a generous donation for our programs from IGA in Coquitlam, BC, I used the prices above from IGA to determine how I can spend under $50 on the groceries listed in the meal plan above. Typically, when a store allows it, I like to price match flyers. It can be a huge cost saving technique and allows you to do most of your shopping at one location instead of having to drive around to various stores with sales, which can save time and give you more time back in your day to do what you’d like. I also typically will buy some of my bulk items together for money saving.
Stay tuned for some recipes we will be making as a cooking group with our mothers and children in October which will utilize Silver Hills breads as they helped sponsor and provided products for our October cooking class.
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