Healthy Cheap Meals From Your Pantry For Lunch: Spending Freeze Challenge (Day 3) #spendingfreezedfs

It may seem daunting, but you can easily prepare healthy cheap meals from your pantry for lunch when you utilize some of our basic tips.  As your family utilizes our financial freedom plan, and other resources to become debt free you will find your grocery budget is a huge place to save money.  The tips we share below are all part of our overall plan to help you manage your money wisely.  Check out all of our Spending Freeze Blog Posts.

Healthy Cheap Meals From Your Pantry For Lunch

Build a couponed stockpile of healthy options:  One of the best ways to prepare healthy cheap meals is to utilize our tips on couponing.  You can easily build a stock of items like low fat and low sodium soups, pastas or pasta sauces to whip up simple but satisfying meals in a hurry.  Create a price book to compare prices at all of your local grocery stores.  This will help you to get the best deals on your staple pantry items for quick lunches.

Use menu plans to create leftovers.  One of the easiest ways to create healthy cheap meals from your pantry for lunch is to actually add them into your menu plan.  When preparing your evening meals, add enough to your menu to give yourself a small portion for lunch the next day.

Focus on portion sizes.  We often think we need more than we actually do.  Creating simple meals for lunch means being reasonable about portion sizes in the process.  That includes more vegetables with smaller amounts of protein and starch.  In fact, you may not need as much protein as you think.  You are likely getting plenty of protein throughout your day with things like cheese, yogurt, milk and beans so if you skip the meat in your lunch it isn’t bad for you.

Use fresh and frozen vegetables to add bulk and nutrients.  Frozen vegetables are a great addition to almost any meal.  They add flavor, health and of course the fiber is filling.  Frozen mixed vegetables, peas, peas and carrots, broccoli and green beans are favorites to add to nearly any meal.  This will help you to have healthier options for lunch that everyone will enjoy.

Meal Ideas: 

• Pasta with tomato sauce
• Loaded Macaroni & Cheese using boxed macaroni and frozen vegetables
• Canned low fat and low sodium soups, stews or even chili
• Canned meats or meat pouches like chicken and tuna with mayonnaise, mustard and pickle relish or seasonings on salads, with crackers or as a sandwich
• Dry beans cooked and seasoned then mashed to create homemade burritos or bean dips
• Tacos using beans, leftover chicken or beef, fresh vegetables and seasonings
• Quesadillas using beans, cheese and seasonings
• Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
• “Fried” Rice (rice seasoned with ginger, garlic, onion, frozen vegetables and soy sauce)

These meal ideas are just a handful of simple and easy meals you can create that can also be healthy.  Healthy is all about including more fruits and vegetables, lower fat and smaller portion sizes.  Pasta, simple sauces, casseroles with lots of vegetables and soups are great choices for healthy cheap meals from your pantry for lunch.