Meal prepping can be a great way to keep your food budget in check. It can help you save time and effort by not having to come up with new meal ideas every day, and not having to cook every day!

It’s also great for saving money, AND for those who are trying to eat healthy.

Why?

Because, there are many times when we are super busy and we don’t have time to cook, so we end up ordering food, even though we had ingredients at home (we just didn’t have time to cook them).

So, when you meal prep, you’ll have food ready for you when you’re hungry, and when you’re busy.

Also, in those scenarios I described, since we’re ordering food, we usually end up getting fast food, or something not healthy. But when you have healthy food ready to eat at all times in your home, you’re saving money and you’re eating healthy!

So, meal planning and meal prepping in advance can ensure that you are eating yummy and healthy (if you want to) food all the time.

Having meals ready in advance will also save you from having to go last-minute grocery shopping when you’re starting to cook and you realize you’re missing an ingredient.

If you want to be extra efficient, you can use a slow cooker for some of the meals, so you’ll only have to prep it and put it into the slow cooker and your food will be ready for you.

And the best part is – it doesn’t matter if you’re plant-based, vegetarian, keto, or what diet you follow – you can still have a weekly meal prepping day and have healthy recipes to eat throughout the week.

Lucky for you, there are plenty of healthy meal ideas you can make ahead without spending a lot. These are my favorite easy meal prep tips!

Healthy Meal Prep On A Budget

Here are some meal ideas you can meal prep and then freeze or store in your fridge for when you want to eat them! For each one of them, if it contains something that you know is best fresh (such as a salad, a fried egg, or something similar), leave that one part out, and just add it in when you want to eat the dish.

These recipes are great for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you can be sure you found a low-budget recipe since all of them are budget-friendly.

So, here are some budget-friendly meals you can meal prep.

VEGGIE BURRITO BOWLS

330 calories

• ½ cup Beans & legumes, black bean (or white bean if you don’t have black), garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked – 134 calories

• ¼ cup Guacamole – 105 calories

• ½ Bell pepper, red – 18.5 calories

• ½ Bell pepper, yellow – 25 calories

• 2 cups Leafy greens, raw – 30 calories

• 1 Tbsp Vinaigrette, light (less than 50 calories per 2 Tbsp) – 17.5 calories

• 1 Cumin, dash – 0 calories

• 1 Salt, dash – 0 calories

• 1 tsp Red pepper flakes, dash – 0 calories

DIRECTIONS

1. Drain and rinse chickpeas.

2. Slice veggies.

3. Spray pan with an olive oil spray. Cook veggies and chickpeas ~10 minutes, stirring frequently, on medium-low heat.

4. Combine all ingredients.

5. Top with seasoning and dressing.

6. Note: I like Trader Joe’s fat-free vinaigrette – but Paul Newman, Whole Foods, etc. all have good light dressings

CHICKEN FAJITA BOWL

393 calories

• 1 cup Cauliflower rice, raw (already riced) – 38 calories

• ½ Bell pepper, red – 18.5 calories

• ¼ cup Salsa – 16 calories

• ¼ Onion, red – 13.75 calories

• ½ Avocado, small – 116.5 calories

• 6 oz Chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, raw – 190 calories

• 2 slice Lime, slice – 0 calories
• 1 tsp Red pepper flakes, dash – 0 calories
• 1 Cumin, dash – 0 calories
• 1 Salt, dash – 0 calories

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice peppers and chicken into small pieces.

2. Spray pan with oil spray.

3. Stir-fry chicken for ~8 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally.

4. Add in peppers and cauliflower rice for another ~6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you see some browning with the cauliflower rice.

5. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

6. Top with seasonings and squeeze lime juice in bowl.

7. No chicken? Use tofu or fish.

8. No cauliflower rice? Use brown rice

SPAGHETTI SQUASH BOX WITH HEARTY SAUCE

300 calories

• 2 cups Squash, spaghetti – 90 calories

• ½ cup Tomatoes, canned, crushed – 25 calories

• 4 oz Ground beef, 90% lean, raw – 185 calories

• 1 tsp Red pepper flakes, dash – 0 calories

• 1 Garlic salt, dash – 0 calories

• 1 Pepper, dash – 0 calories

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Scoop out seeds of spaghetti squash.

3. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, spray it with an oil spray.

4. Bake spaghetti squash, cut side faced down, for 35 minutes.

5. Shred spaghetti squash with a fork when it has cooled down for a few minutes.

6. While spaghetti squash is baking, spray a pan with an oil spray. Stir fry beef until no longer pink and add tomatoes.

7. No beef? Use chicken or tofu.

8. 1/2 spaghetti squash = about 2 cups spaghetti squash.

RASPBERRY PB OVERNIGHT OATS

369 calories

• 1 cup Raspberries, fresh – 64 calories

• 1 Tbsp Peanut butter (Tbsp) – 94 calories

• ½ cup Oatmeal, dry oats (uncooked) – 150 calories

• ½ cup Milk, 2% (cups) – 61 calories

• 1 Cinnamon, dash – 0 calories

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine oats, PB, raspberries, and cinnamon in a jar (like a Ball jar or a mason jar with a lid)

2. Top with milk

3. Let sit in container with lid overnight

4. No dairy? Use soy or almond milk. No PB? Use another nut or seed butter

CHICKPEA SHEET PAN WITH BRUSSELS & SWEET POTATO

516 calories

• 2 cups Brussels sprouts – 112 calories

• 1 Potato, sweet, medium, 5 inches – 112 calories

• ½ cup Beans & legumes, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked – 134 calories

• 1⅓ Tbsp Olive oil (Tbsp) – 158.27 calories

• 1 Salt, dash – 0 calories

• 1 Pepper, dash – 0 calories

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cut off Brussels’ hard ends & halve each one, or buy pre-shaved or cut Brussels.

3. Chop raw sweet potato into small chunks.

4. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper & add oil.

5. Line veggies and chickpeas in a single layer on the baking sheet. Mix around so all contents are covered with oil.

6. Bake for 45 minutes.

7. Top with seasonings.

8. Note: 1 ⅓ Tbsp = 4 tsp oil.

INSTANT POT LEMON CHICKEN WITH BROWN RICE AND BROCCOLI

431 calories

• 6 oz Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, raw – 190 calories

• 1 tsp Butter (tsp) – 36 calories

• ½ Onion, yellow – 27.5 calories

• ½ cup Broth, chicken or beef – 17.5 calories

• 2 Tbsp Garlic, minced (Tbsp) – 0 calories

• ¼ Salt – 0 calories

• ¼ tsp Paprika, dash – 0 calories

• ¼ Pepper – 0 calories

• ¼ tsp Parsley, dried – 0 calories

• 4 Tbsp Lemon, juice – 8 calories

• 0.4 Tbsp Almond flour/Almond meal – 16 calories

• ½ cup Broccoli – 15.5 calories

• ½ cup Rice, brown, cooked – 120 calories

DIRECTIONS

1. Arrowroot flour is another flour option

2. Set Instant Pot to sauté mode. When it’s hot melt butter.

3. Add onion, garlic, paprika, parsley, and pepper to melted butter, and sauté until onions soften.

4. With your Instant Pot still set to sauté, sear the chicken on each side for about 3-5 minutes. The chicken should be a caramelized brown color.

5. Pour with lemon juice and salt over chicken and stir.

6. Lock lid into place and close steam valve. Set Instant Pot to poultry setting and cook for 7-8 mins if chicken is thawed and 12-15 minutes if it’s frozen.

7. If you’re going to be making pasta, rice or veggies to serve with this chicken, start making it now while your chicken cooks.

8. Once done, let depressurize naturally – it shouldn’t take very long.

9. Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot, but leave the sauce in the pan. Gradually stir in flour to thicken sauce.

10. If you’re serving chicken on top pasta, mix cooked pasta in with thickened lemon sauce. Otherwise drizzle sauce over chicken

HOW TO MEAL PREP ON A BUDGET

CREATE A MEAL PLAN

Before you meal prep, you need to make a  meal plan. Sit down and come up with a list of all of the meals you want to eat in a week/few days.

Think about all meals, and try to also keep in mind that you won’t eat those meals hot out of the pan, so make sure you’re not writing down some dishes that are best served as soon as they’re cooked.

MAKE AN INGREDIENTS LIST

Once you decide on a meal plan, write down all of the ingredients you’ll need for those dishes, and head to the grocery store. There, you can get everything at once, so you won’t have to go grocery shopping every day!

The meals you prepare will be made with some pantry staples you already have + the extra ingredients you buy when you go grocery shopping (some ideas: chicken thighs & breasts, ground beef for a taco bowl, vegetables, fruit, potatoes, etc.).

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