The closer it gets to Christmas the more difficult it is to plan healthy meals. Between all of the office parties, school concerts, shopping and everything else, planning and cooking gets pushed off the priority list.

Read on if you want some help. I’m skipping breakfast and lunch and focusing on dinners. Yes, you have to eat breakfast and lunch too but I think these dinner ideas will offer up enough leftovers to lighten that load. Feel free to plan whatever breakfast that will be most reasonable for your schedule.

Easy Plant-Based Meal Plan

The five meals listed below will make enough food for two nights worth of dinners or dinner and lunch the following day. My hope is that these easy meals will help you have a little more peace while allowing you to eat well. [Read more…] about Easy Plant-Based Meal Plans for the end of the year

Last week’s meal plan was a huge hit. If you haven’t seen it yet go ahead a take a look. It’s a robust meal plan that includes a shopping list to feed a family of 4 for less than $55 a week. It’s been downloaded over 200 times in the last week.

This week I’ll be posting our regular weekly meal plan. It doesn’t include a shopping list but I may do more of those in the future.

It’s easy to make your own shopping list!

1. Pick out the recipes you’ll use for the week.
2. Make a master list of all the ingredients. If you use black beans in 3 recipes, tomatoes in 4 and peppers in 1, etc.  Just add up how much you need of each.
3. Don’t forget breakfast, lunch and snacks too!

I’ve got a few other meal plans you can purchase. I created them last fall but there wasn’t enough demand to warrant that amount of work on my part.

I’ve been creating meal plans here for 4 years. You can always go back and look at the meal plan archives to get inspiration.

I encourage you to use these plans as inspiration for your week but adapt it to suit your needs. That is one of the reasons I don’t assign specific days to each meal, just a list of breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Plant-Based Meal Plan

Before you take a look at the actual meal plan I’ll warn you I’m really hungry as I sit here a type. You might even say I’m hangry. 

Hangry is when you are so hungry that your lack of food causes you to become angry, frustrated or both.

I’m not really angry but I’m distracted by my desire for food. You know how when you go grocery shopping when you are hungry how you buy too much food and usually buy things you don’t need. Something similar happens when you meal plan when you are hungry so grab a banana and proceed. 

Breakfast

I’ve been craving breakfasts that are a little more complicated lately. Maybe because it is fall. Some are still simple like oatmeal but others are best made on the weekend and reheated during the week.

• Breakfast Tacos (I can almost taste these right now, and guess what, they aren’t just for breakfast)
• Pancakes topped with Peanut Butter or SoyNut Butter and bananas
• Baked Sweet Potatoes with raisins and cinnamon. This is easy in my Instant Pot.
• Oatmeal with diced apples and cinnamon
• Oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon

Lunch

We use leftovers for lunch most of the time but also rely on sandwiches, soups and salads. Our 1st grader gets a packed lunch everyday.

• Slow Cooker Potato Soup, this makes a great lunch when you work from home and can smell it cooking all morning.
• Veggie Sandwich with leftover soup and Roasted Red Pepper Dip and veggies.
• Bake Potatoes with steamed broccoli
• Veggie Burrito/Bowl/Salad depending on what kind of mood I’m in.

Dinner

I’m craving real, whole food! I have a lot I want to eat but will be limited by time. I’ll do my best to make what I can and I’m hoping to sneak a new recipe in this week if possible.

• Broccoli and Mushroom Stir Fry (oil-free)
• Chickpea Noodle Soup
• Chili and corn bread (send me your favorite corn bread recipe)
• Taco Soup or Quinoa-Lentil Tacos with Cilantro Lime Quinoa
• Veggie Pot Pie

Can you tell I’m writing this when I’m hungry? You may be really hungry (or hangry) now too. I want to eat all of it RIGHT NOW! That is the “hangry” speaking. Maybe hungry isn’t the best word but I am irrationally hungry and I don’ have a word for that.

I’m hoping to do some baking this week too! I’ve been hearing some apple muffins calling my name.

My husband started teaching a new class at our church this weekend. It’s a six-week stewardship class using the book Money: God or Gift.

People come to the class for many reasons, some come because they want to learn to budget, other want to get out of debt and other want to learn to trust God in a new way, with their finances.

During the class today I started thinking about different ways to save money, actually just ways to spend less money and the grocery budget is one of the best I can think of.

Think about it for a minute, you can’t really change your mortgage/rent payment, insurance, etc. mostly stay the same. Some utilities vary by season like the electric bill or gas. The grocery bill can fluctuate based on what you choose to buy.

The Cheapest Plant-Based Meal Plan

A few years ago I created a really cheap plant-based meal plan. Unlike my normal weekly meal plans this meal plan was designed for a family of four (two adult and two children) for seven days. This meal plan also includes a shopping list to feed your family for $55 or less per week!

I’ll admit that you may have to alter this meal plan a bit, especially if you have food allergies. The goal of it was to eat an inexpensively as possible, not as healthy as possible Still, I think it is a great start for anyone trying to cut your food budget.

Stretch Even Further

Prices will vary based on where you live and what stores you have available. If you are really struggling financially you can make this spread even further by getting a food box from a local food pantry.

I personally know some people who are really struggling financial and they refuse to ask for help. Let me say this very clearly. There is no shame in getting help. Most of us have donated to food drives or to charities. Everyone struggles from time to time. If you need help ask for it. Don’t be ashamed, don’t be too proud.

It has been over a year since my husband lost his job. In some ways it seems like it was only yesterday and in other ways it seems like a lifetime ago. Our life has changed a lot since then including a role reversal at home. I went to work full-time and Jim is the stay at home dad. We both have side business’ but haven’t replaced the income we lost in August of 2014.

Get the Meal Plan Free

I’m offering this meal plan for FREE. Why? Because I want to prove you don’t have to be rich to eat healthy.

The pdf includes meals planned for breakfast, lunch and dinner, links to recipes and a shopping list. It is only 5 pages (you can skip printing the cover).

All you have to do is to sign up for my newsletter and you’ll get your FREE copy.

You don’t have to be plant-based to use this meal plan. Sure, you won’t find meat or dairy but you will find filling, healthy inexpensive food. I challenge anyone trying to save money on their grocery bill to try this.

Advice Wanted

What advice do you have for someone trying to trim their budget, food or otherwise? Have you lost a job and had to get by on a lot less? Share you stories, you never know who you may encourage.