How to Eat Well Without Breaking Your Budget

What if I told you there’s a way to not only SAVE MONEY but also EAT HEALTHY?! Would you do it? Heck yes you would, right??

It’s really not complicated – it’s actually very simple!

Two words: Meal. Planning.

That’s it! Although I recognize this is easier said than done. It takes time and effort, but aren’t you worth it? Yes! Yes, you are.

Meal planning is self-care. A well-balanced diet is self-care.

Meal planning is setting yourself up for success! You know what you like, you know where you shop, you know what you usually buy. Come up with your meal plan for the week (or the next two weeks) and set your grocery list from there!

You’ll find you already have ingredients for some of your meals in your pantry. Other ingredients you’ll be glad you wrote on your list because you definitely wouldn’t have thought to pick them up otherwise.

The weeks I have a meal plan & go shopping off the grocery list I compiled based off that meal plan – those are the weeks I come up UNDER budget on our grocery bill. YES. EVEN BUYING THE ORGANIC STUFF.

It truly pays to have a plan. But there are more than just financial benefits!

There are weeks I completely FAIL at meal planning. I’ll admit it. Meal planning has been my nemesis for YEARS. I do not feel creative when it comes to food, and most of my life I’ve had a very restricted diet so that limits my options even more. Because of this, I usually end up coming up with the same 3 meals ALL THE TIME much to the dismay of my husband – but I don’t enjoy it either!

Mix it up. Try one new recipe a week. Try one new vegetable a week! Make Saturdays meal planning days and Sundays grocery shopping days. Do not skip this! Work it into your schedule. Make it a priority. Because if you don’t........

You’ll end up snacking on chips and chocolate before dinner because you have no idea what to make, but you’re hungry NOW. You’re hungry NOW because you didn’t plan your lunch, so you didn’t have much to eat. You didn’t have much to eat because there isn’t much in the house. There isn’t much in the house because you didn’t go grocery shopping according to your needs! And you didn’t go grocery shopping according to your needs, so you end up snacking on chips and chocolate!!! Trust me. Been there.