Healthy Eating on a Budget: This Week's Menu Plan

With our upcoming meeting as motivation, I wanted to share some brief thoughts about our family's philosophy on healthy eating and how we do it.  Included below is a peek into the kinds of things we eat, using this week's menu as an example.

The most important thing guiding our family's eating habits is very simply this:  we believe God created and provided the foods we need for sustenance and proper nutrition, and we try to stick as closely to His divine design as possible.  Some people call this a real food diet.  There are lots of resources online for this kind of eating.  Some of my favorites are Heavenly Homemakers, 100 Days of Real Food, and for including the kiddos, Weelicious.  Otherwise, we try to follow our hearts when it comes to eating what feels right.  

Our family is also on a tight budget, since my husband is in grad school.  As a point of perspective, the allotment on the USDA recommended "thrifty" plan for a family our size (2 adults, 4 children 5 and under) is a little over $700/month for food alone.  We spend, on average, about $500/month.  We accomplish this by making a lot of things homemade, making inexpensive food choices, and otherwise sacrificing what we can't afford.  Sometimes this means omitting things or substituting things I'd rather not, (for example, not much real butter since margarine is cheaper) but we weigh our priorities and do what we can. 

One of our best weapons is making healthy substitutions, especially in baked goods (whole grains, fat substitutions, less sugar).  Another is including kids in the cooking and selection process, since they're more likely to eat what they chose.  And finally, homemade versions of kid favorites.  You'll notice we don't do completely without "unreal" food (hot dogs), nor do we omit sugar completely.  To that I say, to each his own--do what feels right for your family!

Sunday, February 24

breakfast:  instant oatmeal, bread

lunch:  peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples

dinner:  Sunday chicken & rice, green beans

Monday, February 25

breakfast:  oatmeal 

lunch:  quesadillas, orange slices

dinner:  spinach quiche, roasted cauliflower

family night treat:  no bake cookies

Tuesday, February 26

breakfast:  blackberry breakfast cake

lunch:  beans & weanies, biscuits

dinner:  broccoli cheese soup, leftover biscuits

*mix up tomorrow's breakfast and put batter in fridge

Wednesday, February 27

breakfast:  belgian waffles, orange juice

lunch:  PB&J, canned pears

dinner:  calzones, cucumber & tomato salad

Thursday, February 28

breakfast:  peach oatmeal

lunch:  grilled cheese & tomato soup

dinner:  sweet & sour chicken, rice

*make extra rice for tomorrow's breakfast

Friday, March 1

breakfast:  rice pudding, grapefruit

lunch:  macaroni & cheese w/ spinach

dinner:  grilled chicken sandwiches, sweet potato fries

dessert:  hot fudge sundaes

Saturday, March 2

breakfast:  pancakes, orange juice
lunch:  leftovers
dinner:  salmon cakes & broccoli salad

snacks:
vanilla soother
zucchini bread
oatmeal cups
apples
oranges
berries
yogurt
pretzels
raisins/cranberries
baby carrots