Putting budget meal planning and losing weight together

Budget meal planning doesn’t mean you won't be able eat healthy meals, or that you can't be losing weight.

There are many inexpensive meal ideas that are great healthy options for getting you to your goal of weight loss and maintaining it.

Healthy meals on a budget

When organizing what you're going to eat, and you only have a limited amount to spend and losing weight requires factoring in two things:

• Low cost foods
• Healthy options that will help you lose weight

These are not mutually exclusive, in fact, they go together very well.

While you might not like all fruits and vegetables , there will be some you like, and if not, find some, because especially when bought in season, they are very inexpensive.

For example, factor in one vegetarian dinner meal a week, using seasonal produce. As meat is quite often one of the most expense items around, a meat free meal a week is a good idea both for inexpensive meal ideas and for weight loss.

Look at each of your daily meals for example what are you currently eating, and spending your money on for breakfast?.

Processed cereals are often more expensive than the healthier alternatives.

Oats for example, as either porridge, or oatmeal (no, they’re not the same thing) are a great breakfast, add some fruit and even a little sugar, and you’re off to a low cost, low calorie breakfast.

If you’re looking for healthy meals on a budget, it’s hard to go past eggs.

Two eggs per adult, and one per child, they are a great source of protein and nutrients. They are also versatile and can be prepared in so many different ways, and eaten as a breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Choosing low cost food doesn’t mean you have to resort to fatty, processed, or fast foods . In fact, if you want to drop a few pounds, get healthy, and save money then phasing these out of your diet is a great way to do it.

Budget meal planning - how much are you buying?

...and eating? What food serving sizes are you consuming?

Food portion sizes have become huge. This is one of the first things you can do to help with your budget meal planning, take a look at how much is being eaten.

If you’re overweight, you can save money and lose pounds by looking closely at what, and how much you’re eating.

For example if you cut back just 20 percent (one-fifth) of the quantity of food you eat (not the vegetables, we’re not eating enough of them as it is), you’ll be able to cook less, and spread the food you bought over more meals.

Budget meal planning does not meal that you have to give up and plans on losing weight, or on eating healthy meals on a budget. They actually work very well together.

Teem your budget meal planning with a 7 day meal planner 7 day meal planner to focus on certain things and you’ll find that you’re both lightening up and spending less.