Vegetarian Meal Planning on a Budget

Vegetarian Meal Planning on a Budget

If you are on a vegetarian diet, you are already aware that you cannot eat any foods that come from animal fats, including eggs, meats, fish and dairy. You may also think that eliminating these foods from your daily diet will be a costly expense. However, with the right planning, you don’t need to take on a second job to eat vegetarian meals. Here are some ways for vegetarian meal planning on a budget.

Meal Planning– One of the first steps in vegetarian meal planning is to plan your meals ahead of time. Once a week or once a month, sit down to plan your meals each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then, you want to look in your pantry and your refrigerator to see what ingredients you already have. Next, create a grocery list for the ingredients you will need for your meals.

Food Shopping– When you are food shopping for your meal ingredients, choose foods that are currently in season since these are usually less expensive. If you don’t have the option of buying fresh produce, choose frozen products instead since these will last longer and don’t have to be used all at once.

Stocking Kitchen Cupboards– Having kitchen cupboards that are well-stocked with essential items is an important part in planning healthy and budget-friendly meals. Some items you should always have on hand include canned beans, whole meal flour, brown rice, red lentils, dried herbs and soy sauce.

Healthy Breakfast Ideas– Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so ensure your breakfast menu items contain healthy fats, lean protein and complex carbohydrates. Some healthy breakfast ideas include cereal with rice milk and raisins, oatmeal with maple syrup and whole wheat toast with nut butter.

Easy Lunch Options– Some easy vegetarian lunch options include black bean veggie burgers, canned vegetarian soup, Oriental flavor Ramen and baked sweet potato topped with chili.

Tasty Dinner Ideas– For some tasty dinner ideas, try some red beans served over brown rice, tortillas topped with black beans and tomatoes or stir fry vegetables served over noodles.

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