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on a budget
Eating Well on a Budget Wellness Tips

How to Meal Plan on a Budget (part 2)

budget meal planning bulk shopping

 

Last week, I walked you through how I meal plan on a budget of $100 per week for a family of four. I’m going to walk you through my meal-planning process again, this time for a stock-up week. If you haven’t read that first post yet, start there, because I’m not going to explain each step this time. I am going to show you how I stay within budget, even when I need to stock up on more items than I did last week.

 

Besides the amount that I’m buying, the main difference between a “stock-up week” and a “top-off week” is that I make sure to go to a store with an excellently-priced bulk section (Winco) for a stock-up week. Buying items in bulk is not only cheaper, but more customizable, and prevents food and packaging waste. Buying food in bulk allows you to select the exact amount that you need, want, or can afford, and can help make staying within budget much easier. I’ll start with a quick walk-through of the meal-planning process, then I’ll show you how bulk buying makes my $100-per-week grocery budget possible.

 

save money bulk foods

 



 

So here we go! Follow along with my budget-conscious meal planning process this week:

 

Know your budget

If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that my grocery budget last week was $85 for a “top-off week.” Since this week is a stock-up week, my budget will be higher. Today I’m working with a budget of $115. That gets me to an average of…you guessed it! $100 per week.

Utilize food distribution programs, if you can find them.

 

This week, pickin’s were more slim, so I only ended up with a nice little green bell pepper and a bag of chips.

 



 

Shop Your Cupboards/Pantry/Fridge/Freezer

Here’s where I’m at this week:

Need to use up:

  • mozzarella cheese sticks
  • a few random Swiss cheese slices
  • leftover tomato sauce
  • lots of dinner leftovers – I won’t need to buy any lunch stuff for this week
  • salad
  • baby carrots & other snack veggies
  • deli meat

Available:

  • dried grains: pasta, rice, quinoa, oats
  • dried chili beans
  • trail mix
  • lots of canned goods
  • cheese
  • 1 gallon milk
  • potatoes, onions

 

Use a master list

For stock-up weeks, I use a “supermarket staples list” that I modified from a post on Pinterest.

 

meal p

 

This lists all of the things I like to always have in stock (plus a few that I rotate through, like snacks). On stock-up week, I skim through the list and go through my kitchen to make sure I don’t miss anything that we might need or might be out of. Add them to the list!

Take stock and decide what to make

Tonight is our monthly “family fun night,” where we go to a local restaurant/arcade and hang out, so that covers dinner. Since I need to use up tomato sauce and cheese sticks, I’ll make a family favorite – pizza rolls – that uses both of those. We haven’t had fish in a while, and Winco has some really affordable salmon, so I’ll grab some of that and we’ll have steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes with it. Thursday’s a busy evening so I’ll make that a crock pot meal. Maybe a pot roast with some of those baby carrots. Friday I know we will be at a high school football game, so we’ll probably snack at home beforehand and maybe grab some snacks at the game.

That’s okay to do, by the way, just in case any clean-eating policeman ever told you it wasn’t. 

Aaaand for breakfasts I’ll use that lunch meat and extra cheese to make some breakfast sandwiches.

 



 

Make your shopping list (include estimated prices)

After going through my stock-up list and the meals for the week, here’s what my list looks like:

 

affordable healthy food meal plan

 

Click here for a copy of this shopping list/meal planning template.

On a stock-up week, I try to leave a bit of budget room for whatever meat might be on sale that week. Sale meat at Winco can be a heck of a deal, so Winco trips are good opportunities to stock the freezer.

My estimated costs for this grocery trip were only $92.50, so I’ll add ~$23-25 worth of sale meat to the list. If we weren’t going to be eating out of our restaurant budget for two meals this week, I probably wouldn’t be able to do quite so much but in this case it worked out.

 

Shop!

As I was shopping, I had some extra room in the budget, so I tossed in an extra dessert and a few snack foods that I’ll save for next week. We have a part of our pantry where I save up food when I get a good deal or have extra room in the budget. That helps each week be a little easier budget-wise, since I’ve always got odds and ends saved up in there.

 

cheap healthy food for a family of four

 

Here’s my haul, for the grand total of $114.04! I love when it comes out so perfectly. 

If you haven’t already, go check out part 1 of meal planning on a budget – both posts are important to understand the whole picture! And stay tuned for more tips on eating well on a budget!

 

Related Articles

 

How to Meal Plan to Save Time and Money (with free printable meal planning template!)

The Must-Try Meal Planning Hack to Stop Wasting Money and Food

Streamline Your Healthy Life in just 20 Minutes per Week

 

 

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Healthy doesn't have to be hard.
Dietitian | Exercise Physiologist | Speaker | Youtuber
Building a small permaculture homestead in WA state

Becki Parsons
Choosing to work with a dietitian is NOT "turning Choosing to work with a dietitian is NOT "turning yourself in" to the food police! It's finding a teammate to help you find the eating plan that works for you. I frequently joke with my clients that they are dating healthy changes and I am their matchmaker - it's not about forcing your life to fit a plan, it's about finding the plan that complements your life AND helps you meet your goals and feel your best without being miserable or deprived!
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Happy meets healthy: prioritizing your favorite fo Happy meets healthy: prioritizing your favorite foods!

At a restaurant, you are presented with so many options: appetizer, drinks, sides, entrees, extras, dessert...

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I'm here to say that all-or-nothing thinking stinks. It isn't healthy OR happy. It's miserable. Your healthy life SHOULD include your favorite foods. AND healthy foods that make your body happy.

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