Eating healthy and saving money can be a a tricky situation that a lot of people find themselves in these days. One very important thing to remember is that meal planning is very important. With just meal planning you can make your buck stretch even further. By knowing what you will eat for the next week you can make sure that your money will be able to get you there.

One of the easiest parts of a meal plan on a budget is actually designing the meal plan itself. You know what you like and don’t like so planning it should be as simple as brushing your teeth. Pick things that are easy to prepare in bulk and that will last at least a week in the fridge. You don’t want to go spending your entire weekly food budget just for it to go bad before you finish it.

When planning your meals for the week (or two weeks in some cases) a VERY important thing to remember is to stick to your plan, as soon as you deviate from your meal plan that is when things start to go wrong. It will take a lot of discipline to stick to your plan but if you do then you will be able to start saving money and eating on a budget. This leads us onto the first tip:

1. Stick to your meal plan

Stick to your meal plan, making sure that you stay on track with your meal plan will make sure that you will be on/under budget at the end of the week. If you are not good with self discipline, like myself, then this will be a very hard step for you. A VERY good way of making sure you stick to your plan is to make it public, post your progress on your social media accounts, tell a loved one or someone close. Let people into your life and let them give you the motivation to continue, remember if you open your journey up to the public via social media there will ALWAYS be trolls or people who want to bring you down. Ignore them, when someone tries to take you down instead flip it, use it for even more motivation to prove them wrong. If you want more tips on how to stick to your meal plan check out this article HERE on how to do that.

2. Track your progress

Track your plans…CLOSELY. Use a reminder app on your phone or a calendar that you can look at every day to see where you are at. Make sure you use something that you see EVERY DAY. If you use a calendar or reminder app on your phone then make sure to set reminders either in the morning or the night before so it is always in the back of your mind but make sure that it is daily.

If using a physical calendar you will want to make sure that it is in a place that you will be able to see daily. Putting in on the fridge is a very popular spot, and as soon as you grab your food for the day just simply mark it off of your calendar.

3. Buy in bulk

Buy in bulk, don’t buy single portions or preportioned foods, they will chew through your budget faster than a beaver through wood. Find the bulk foods in your local market and stick to the bulk foods this will allow you to stretch your money even further. A perfect example of buying bulk over preprocessed is chicken, it is much cheaper to buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself vs buying each of the individual cuts. Another way to save money in bulk is to look at the cost per item/ounce since this is where a lot of your savings over time will come from.

Lets take a look at these two types of Peanut Butter, they are both the same brand.

This first one is the SKIPPY Creamy Peanut Butter, 64 Ounce

The second one is the SKIPPY Creamy Peanut Butter, 80 Ounce

Same brand, but as you can see the 80 Ounce jar may be more expensive at the start but is $0.02 cheaper than the 64 Ounce jar. That may not sound like a lot but when you apply this concept across your entire meal plan that starts to equal a lot of savings.

4. Portion Control

By controlling your portions you control your money, if you have a weekly budget of $20 for your lunch meals but you put $10 of that budget into the first day of the week then you are left with $2.50 for each meal instead of the normal $4. With smaller portions for each day of the week then you may be tempted to spend money by eating out.

An amazing way to make sure you keep on track with your meal plans is with tupperware. If you are looking for a cheap tupperware that will get you buy then I would recommend, the EZ Prepa [20 Pack] 32oz 3 Compartment Meal Prep Containers with Lids

If you want a more robust alternative choice of tupperware then this is one that i would recommend, the Rubbermaid Easy Find Vented Lids.

Both of these options will do but you have to remember that these will be one of your most important pieces in the kitchen to sticking with your meal plan. So spending a little bit of extra money on higher quality tupperware may actually end up saving you more money down the road.

5. Buy off brand

Believe it or not but buying off brand will save you LOADS of money. For most products there is very little difference in the brand name products or the off brands and this you get to use to your advantage when planning meals on a budget. This is by no means a concrete rule that you HAVE to follow, once again this is one recommendation to save some money while planning out your meals for the week.

If you prefer to have brand name products then by all means spend the extra money on the brand names that you enjoy, but if you do you have to make sure that they are within your budget for the meal plan.

6. Splurge on sweets

Yes you read this tip right, splurging on sweets is a FANTASTIC way to keeping on your meal plan budget and here is why. By spending a little extra on sweets at the beginning of your week you help to satisfy your sweet tooth and help to reduce impulse buying later on in the week while at work or school.