Wondering how to budget and plan healthy meals? In this post I share with you how to make a food budget and a healthy meal plan. It’s not as complicated as you may think.
What is a food budget?
A food budget is the dollar amount you plan to spend on food for a specific period of time. For example, some people have a food budget that is $150 per month. This means that this person has $150 to spend on every ingredient that goes into their meal plan during the month.
What is a healthy meal?
A healthy meal is one that feeds your body the nutrients it needs to sustain life and promote health. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine promotes a low-fat, whole food, plant-based diet for diet-related disease prevention and survival. I follow this diet and this is the diet I will be referring to for the rest of this article. Visit PCRM.org for more information about a healthy diet.
How to create a food budget
Creating a food budget is simple and can be done with just a little bit of math. There are two ways to determine your food budget.
- Determine how much money you have available to spend on food for a specific time period.
- Determine how much money your meal plan will cost and make that your food budget.
Fixed food budget equation
Here’s a math equation for calculating a fixed food budget:
Total dollar amount available to spend / number of days / number of meals = Average food budget per meal
Open food budget equation
Here’s a math equation for calculating an open food budget:
Total the cost of all ingredients in your meal plan = Total food budget
How to calculate the cost of one meal
Calculating the cost of one meal is simple, here’s a math equation for this:
- Determine the cost of each ingredient: For example, one bag of rolled oats costs $2.00. There are 4 servings in the bag. Divide the total cost of the bag by the number of servings to get the ingredient cost. For this exmaple, the ingredient cost per serving is $.50 cents.
- Combine the cost of all ingredients: For example, a recipe calls for 1 serving of rolled oats and 1 cup of water. Add the cost of the rolled oats and water together. This is the cost of this one meal.
How to budget and plan healthy meals
Now that you know what a healthy meal is, and how to calculate the cost of your ingredients and meals, it’s time to learn how to combine the two together to budget and plan healthy meals. I’ve created a very simple four step system for meal planning.
This system is from the Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ template system I created to help you plan meals. This system was created after years of professional meal planning experience, as well as planning healthy meals for myself and my family.
Below I share images featuring the meal planner for your reference. This template system comes in both PDF printable format as well as editable spreadsheet format. Purchase you copy of this helpful budget meal planner by visiting our online store.
Step 1: Create a meal plan based on your food budget
Creating a budget meal plan is easy. Simply choose recipes that fit your budget, then assign them to a day and mealtime. It’s a good idea to memorize or have a list of budget-friendly recipes and ingredients for easy reference.
If you know which ingredients are the least expensive, you can plan low cost meals around those ingredients. If you know which recipes are the least expensive, you can plan low cost meals around those recipes.
Step 2: Create a grocery shopping list and buy your ingredients
Once you know which ingredients and how much of each ingredient you need, it’s time to create a grocery list. Having a template grocery list makes it easy to create a healthy grocery list. It also saves you time and energy because all you have to do is highlight the ingredients you plan to use and write the amount you need to purchase.
Further reading: Cheap vegan grocery list: Whole Foods Market items under $1 {WFPB}
Take this list with you to the grocery store, or use it while placing your grocery order online.
Step 3: Meal prep
Once you have all of your ingredients, it’s time to do some meal prep. This is optional, but it does save time and can help you stick to your food budget. Having some or all of your meals and ingredients prepared ahead of time makes it more likely that you will not go out to eat and blow your food budget. It also helps take the stress out of meal times.
Use a template to create a meal prep plan and track your progress. This template is also a useful reference for knowing which ingredients you have already prepped and are ready-to-enjoy.
Step 4: Track your meals
Tracking your meals and nutrition is very helpful for staying on a healthy diet. It’s also helpful for future meal planning because it can be used as a reference of which meals you enjoyed in the past. This template helps you track meals, leftovers, nutrition, and water intake, all on one page.
Have questions? Send me an email, [email protected].
Ready to budget and plan healthy meals? Grab your copy of the Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ template system today – instant download!
Sincerely,
Chef Veronica
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