How to eat for 200 dollars a month

This month we are challenging ourselves to eat for under $200 a month. Step one is to establish a food budget suitable for you. On average most people don’t keep track of their food expenses and that can make it difficult to make changes or measure progress. Just doing this simple task may be where you need to start to improve your spending habits. Eating healthy and saving money on food starts by deciding to cook most of your meals at home. If you want to save money and calories, don’t eat out and get your butt in a grocery store!

Include meals that will “stretch” expensive food items such as casseroles, stir-frys, chili, soups and spaghetti. Typically, eating less meat or using meat as an accent will be less expensive and often healthier. Simple meals can still be nutritious! We have decided to make soup on Saturday that we will be able to take for lunches and eat as leftovers throughout the work week.

Consider shopping at discount stores or national chains we ended up buying all of our items from Aldi and our meat from Kroger. There chains tend to have lower prices and good selections of store brands. Sometimes you can also save by shopping at warehouse stores (Sams, Costco) where you get items in bulk that will last you awhile.

I started by making a monthly meal plan of what we would eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the entire month of February. I tried picking items that only require 2-3 ingredients and items that can be ate as leftovers.

I chose eggs, cereal, overnight oats and breakfast casserole for our breakfast items. They are cheap, quick, and easy to make.

Breakfast recipes: Overnight Oats & Breakfast Casserole

For lunch we will be having soups, salads, jambalaya and a day for leftovers. We may have to go to the store throughout the month for lettuce since this is the one item that may not last an entire month.

Meal prepping lunch tutorial HERE!

Dinner Recipes: Greek Yogurt Chicken, White Chicken Chili,  tacos, Zuppa, tuna melts, Grilled cheese, paninis,  Homemade pizza (every Friday) , Stir Fry, Taco Soup, Jalepeno Popper Chicken, boneless wings, wedges, and a pantry purge day where we get creative and come up with a meal from what we have already in our pantry.