How to Eat Healthy: Practical & Low-Cost Strategies for Meal Planning

How to Eat Healthy: Practical & Low-Cost Strategies for Meal Planning
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Get Organized

Make a list for the grocery store and plan your meals ahead of time. Don’t just shop to replace what you have run out of. This will ensure that you will have all the ingredients on hand necessary to put healthy meals together at home.

Shop for Groceries Less Often

If you are shopping for groceries once or several times per week, consider shopping every two weeks instead. This will save you hours in the grocery store after work and on the weekends. Having more time in the evenings means having more time to prepare healthy meals at home.This will also force you to plan meals well in advance and purpose yourself to buy healthier items.

Make Several Meals at Once

Make two to three meals at once. That way, you won’t have to cook every day and you’ll have enough food on hand to pack a healthy lunch for work. On Saturday or Sunday, make enough food to last through Tuesday or Wednesday. Now you don’t have to cook again for three days which will save you loads of time in the evenings.

Think about how much time you take every night to defrost food, cook it, eat, and clean up the kitchen? A lot of moms dread having to go home and prepare dinner every night because they’re tired after having worked all day. That’s one of the things that makes ordering out for unhealthy food so attractive. Making several meals at once will cut down on your temptation to order out, saving your wallet and your waistline.

Pack Your Lunch

Pack a healthy, nutritious, meal for lunch. This will help you to not eat out as frequently and you’ll spend less money, too. Invest in a bag to pack your lunch that comes with a freezer pack to keep your food cold.

Don’t Waste Healthy Food

Freeze your leftovers. Don’t throw away those valuable, healthy meals. If you know your family won’t get around to finishing off leftovers, put them in a freezer bag for another day. That way, one day in the near future you can come home and pop that nutritious meal in the microwave instead of ordering out or having to cook that night. Invest in a glassware set that can go in the oven, microwave, and the freezer to make the process easier and save time cleaning up.

Plan Ahead for Snacks

Failing to plan ahead for snacks can make for major setbacks to your healthy eating plans. You may have planned ahead to eat a healthy breakfast, packed a healthy lunch for work and pre-made your nutritious dinner. However, did you remember to plan for what you will eat between meals? Many people mistakenly think that snacking is a bad habit but in fact, learning to snack the right way can promote weight loss for several reasons.

First of all you should be eating several small meals every day in this way: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. This will keep you from getting too hungry or giving in to cravings between meals. It will also prevent you from overeating during meals.

Set yourself up to snack healthy by stocking your workspace, car, and bag with snacks that are good for you. Keep non-perishable items on hand such as peanut butter crackers, individual fruit cups, dried fruit, and nuts. Having these foods with you will keep you from making pit stops at the vending machine at work and the fast food drive through after work.

Brainstorm Other Strategies

Take some time to consider what other strategies you could put to work to set yourself up for healthier eating.