This cannot be denied. Meal planning takes work. And when you’re on a budget and want to cook healthy meals for your family, meal planning can seem like a daunting task.
But it’s possible to create a healthy eating plan that your family loves, even if your budget is tight. The point is to combine the concepts of healthy eating and money saving strategies during meal planning. This guide will help you integrate these three things to hit your mealtime fast.
How to successfully create a healthy eating plan
The first step in creating a healthy eating plan for your family is regular meal planning. Here are tips to help you stick to your meal planning for long-term success.
Find a Meal Planning System
If you want to feed your family healthy meals on a regular basis, you need to find the right meal planning system. Consistency will become much easier once you find the most effective way to put together your healthy eating plan.
Here are the two main questions you will need to answer in order to develop a healthy eating plan.
How often do you plan meals for your family? Many people find weekly meal planning to be the easiest. However, if finding the time to plan meals each week is difficult, it’s best to schedule meals every other week or once a month.
Where will you record your meals? A meal planning folder is a great tool for keeping organized. However, this is not the only solution for tracking your family’s nutrition. You can use an inexpensive planner, a decorative chalkboard in the kitchen, or even a piece of paper. It’s important to understand what works for you.
Make a list of simple and healthy meals
To stick with meal planning for the long term and maintain healthy eating habits for your family, you’ll need a list of nutritious yet simple dinner ideas that you can refer to when choosing meals. In addition, preparing light meals on a busy evening will help you avoid resorting to unhealthy takeaways and fast food.
When you find a simple and healthy meal that your family loves, don’t forget to write it down. Keep the list in a handy place so you can get it when it’s time to plan meals. Then, as your list of your family’s favorite foods grows, you can use it as a resource to help you make healthy meal plans faster.
Follow the routine
Once you’ve decided on your meal planning system, you’ll want to incorporate meal planning into your schedule. For example, if you are going to make a meal plan once a week, you need to set aside time every week to complete it. Planning meals around the same time each week will help you stay consistent in your family’s healthy eating plan.
Think about your current schedule and the amount of time you have to devote to meal planning. If you’re busy working and taking care of the kids during the week, monthly meal planning might be ideal because you only need to think about it once a month. Do you have more free time? Weekly meal planning can be a solution.
Decide when to go to the grocery store
Another important decision you need to make for successful meal planning is when to buy groceries. If you are planning meals every week, you will need to go to the grocery store every week after making your meal plan.
However, if you decide to schedule your meals every other week (fortnightly) or once a month, you will have more flexibility when it comes to grocery shopping. If you’re making a two-week meal plan, you can buy groceries every week or every other week. If you create a monthly meal plan, you can shop for groceries weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
Basic Healthy Eating Plan Concepts
Making a healthy eating plan is the same as making any nutrition plan. However, the difference lies in your choice of food and how you prepare it. Choosing healthy foods and preparing those foods to preserve their nutritional qualities is essential to a healthy diet. Here are some tips on how to make your meal plan healthy.
Buy lean meat
Lean meat is meat that is low in fat. Skinless chicken and turkey, pork, lamb, veal, and fish are considered lean meats. Even ground beef is considered lean meat if you choose 90% lean meat or higher.
If you buy a piece of meat with visible fat, trim off excess fat before cooking. Budget lean cuts of meat include bone-in pork loin chops, beef tenderloin, lean ground beef, bone-in chicken, and flat iron steak.
Limit foods high in saturated fat
Saturated fat is a type of unhealthy fat found in food. Eat foods high in saturated fat in moderation for a healthy diet.
Some examples of foods containing saturated fats are:
- Fried foods (chicken, fried fish, french fries)
- Packaged bakery products (cookies, pastries)
- Margarine
- frozen pizza
- meat sticks
- Frozen Dinners
- Donuts
- Creamer for coffee
- Frost
The best way to identify foods high in saturated fat is to read labels. Look for the nutrition label on the product to find out the number of grams of saturated fat.
American Heart Association recommends no more than 6% of your calories come from saturated fat. So, for example, if you are consuming 2,000 calories per day, you should limit your saturated fat intake to less than 13 grams per day.
Eat fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are essential for a healthy diet. However, some fruits and vegetables are healthier than others. Therefore, when putting together your healthy eating plan, you’ll want to include as many healthy options as possible. Here most nutritious fruits and vegetables and less nutritious options.
Healthiest fruits and vegetables:
- Avocado
- Tomatoes
- Citrus
- sweet potato
- Blueberry
- Calais
- Spinach
- Carrot
Least healthy fruits and vegetables:
- Celery
- dried fruit
- Corn
- Radish
- Eggplant
- Iceberg lettuce
- reddish brown potatoes
Know the Right Portion Sizes
Controlling the amount of food you eat is just as important as what you eat. You should base the number of calories you need to consume based on how active your lifestyle is. In addition, when determining your calorie intake, you should consider any weight goals you or your family members set for yourself.
Usually, person on a 2000 calorie diet should include:
- Two and a half servings of vegetables
- Two portions of fruit
- Six servings of cereals
- Three servings of dairy products
- Six single servings of lean meat/protein
Be mindful of how you prepare food
Preparing your food to avoid adding unnecessary calories and fat is essential to healthy meal planning. Unfortunately, it is easy to turn healthy food into unhealthy food during the cooking process.
Avoid deep frying and stewing foods in oil. Steaming, baking, grilling, and baking are all healthier cooking methods. Use non-stick cookware to avoid oiling food. Instead of boiling vegetables, steam or microwave them to preserve their beneficial nutrients. Use low-fat versions of ingredients instead of full-fat versions (cheese, milk, sour cream, dressings, etc.).
Money Saving Tips for Creating a Healthy Eating Plan on a Budget
The third component of creating a healthy eating plan on a budget is saving money on food. There are many strategies and life hacks to save money. reduce food costs. In addition, many cheap food are also among the healthiest options to include in your meal plan.
Meal plan during sales
Ideally, you should check your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer for food that is about to expire, so you can build a meal plan around what you already have. By using up what you have in the first place, you will avoid food waste and cut down on food costs.
Check grocery store ads for sales once you’ve planned your meals with what you have on hand. Then plan the rest of your meals based on the foods that will be on sale that week.
Use your leftovers
Leftovers are great for helping your money move on. Buying more food for one meal can be cheaper than buying the food you need for several different meals. Incorporate leftovers into your healthy eating plan by preparing large batches of meals to use in one meal plan or frozen for future use.
There are many ways to use leftovers, even if you don’t have enough to feed your family a second time. Here are a few ways you can include leftovers in other meals:
- Eat leftovers as a side dish for another meal
- Add leftovers to a casserole or soup
- Use the leftover meat to make a sandwich or add it to a garden salad.
- Make an omelet with the leftover vegetables and meat.
- Use leftovers as toppings for homemade pizza.
- Add Leftovers to Quesadillas or Fajitas
Use seasonal products
Food is expensive, especially if it’s out of season. Try to include seasonal foods in your diet. Check the frozen food section first if you need out-of-season items for a specific recipe. Frozen fruits and vegetables are also healthy. like fresher versions and usually cheaper.
Buy in bulk
Buying products in bulk when you find them at the lowest prices can save you money in the long run. If you’re planning to buy in bulk, make a list of the products you frequently buy and their lowest price so you can find great deals more easily.
However, only buy foods you know you will use or freeze before the expiration date to avoid food waste. When shopping at a member warehouse club, check the unit price before you buy and compare it to the lowest price list to make sure you’re getting a deal.
Eat one lean meal per week
Meat is usually the most expensive part of any meal. If you are trying to reduce your food costs and make cheap food For your family, eliminating meat from at least one meal a week can help.
But make sure your diet is healthy by replacing meat with equally nutritious foods. When you cut out meat from your meals, you take away much-needed protein. Get protein back into your diet with these protein-rich foods:
- Lentils
- beans
- Tofu
- Jackfruit
- Nuts and nut butters
- seeds
- Mushrooms
- Quinoa
- Cottage cheese
- oats
Final thoughts on putting together an economical healthy eating plan
There is an opportunity to feed the family with affordable, nutritious food. Creating a healthy eating plan takes effort. But when you have a solid meal planning system in place, all you need is a basic understanding of healthy eating to make the right food choices. Then, use some of the money-saving strategies above to cut down on food costs, and you’ll have a healthy eating plan on a budget that your family will love.
This post originally appeared on Hello sane.
