Eating clean is the new big trend, and you know why? Because it actually makes you feel really good. Cutting refined foods from your diet is a great way to gain energy and enthusiasm for life. it improves sleep quality, mood, and can even stave off health issues. Besides, have you ever looked at those clean eating recipes on Pinterest? They just look healthy.
And so, on that logic, my husband and I decided to try to move towards a cleaner diet.
But we ran into a problem. You know all those “eat clean on a budget” posts you see go by on Pinterest? Apparently, they think you have 5-10 dollars per meal. We’re poor college students. Our budget sits more around $8.50 a day or $60 a week. That $8.50 has to provide 6 meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two people), not to mention snacks. That throws out most of the stuff I’ve seen around.
So we brought Team Homan to bear on the problem. We started from scratch, modifying recipes, planning our meals, shopping sales, failing frequently, and succeeding on occasion.
This post has been a long time in coming. It’s taken us since June to come up with four weeks of food that make us happy. But they’re a strong four weeks.
So if you’re looking to eat clean on a tight budget, we’d like to share what we’ve learned as a family. We’ve cleaned up and put together the meal plans and shopping lists we use on a week by week basis. They’re real. They’re what we really do and what we really eat. We’re still working on improving them, but so far, we’re pretty happy with what we have, so of course, we’re going to share them.
A few notes before I jump into the actual food:
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s dive into the meal plans.I put links to all recipes below the plan, and there’s a printable version of the meal plan and shopping list for each week. I’ve also provided the prices I pay for these items – they’re in parenthesis on the shopping lists. I included a “getting started” list with all the items I had in my pantry when we got going. If you don’t have those things lying around, check out point #1 above.
The weeks flow into each other and work together to save money (i.e. If I buy a bag of cheese sticks on week 1, those will last through weeks 1 and 2). Let me know in the comments if there’s any sort of resource you’d like to see added or anything that’s unclear to you. Thanks for sticking around this long, and – drumroll please – here are the meal plans!
Meal Links for Week 1
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry (use 1 chicken breast)
Slow Cooker Chicken Spaghetti (use 1 chicken breast)
Dustin’s Stir-fry (use 1 chicken breast)
Slow Cooker Copycat Cafe Rio Chicken and Rice
Meal Links for Week 2
Budget-friendly Tacos (use 1/2 lb ground beef)
Easy Chicken Noodle Soup (use 1 chicken breast)
Easy Fried Rice (use 1 chicken breast)
Italian Wonderpot (add in 1/2 lb ground beef, change spinach to green pepper, and change feta to Parmesan cheese)
Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas (use 2 chicken breasts)
Meal Links for Week 3
Korean Beef and Veggies (just add veggies into the meat) (half the recipe)
Taco Soup (use 1/2 lb beef)
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry (use 1 chicken breast)
Meal Links for Week 4
Tasty Turkey Meatloaf (1/2 the recipe)
Southwest Chicken Soup (use 1 chicken breast)
Slow Cooker Chicken Spaghetti (use 1 chicken breast)
Shish Kebabs (you can also just use the same ingredients and bake at 400 fro 20-25 minutes)
Easy Fried Rice (use 1 chicken breast)
Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas (use 2 chicken breasts)
Click here for the shopping lists: Clean Eating 1 Month Shopping Lists
Do you see anything I missed? Do you have a favorite budget clean eating meal? Leave a comment and share!
I linked up at Tatertots and Jello . Follow the link for more great ideas!
Hi! Iām Diane, mom of two and wife to a pretty great guy. I love to cook and craft. Iām so excited to share my projects with you!
Learn More →
14 Comments
Heathers Looking Glass
This is great! Clean eating is something I plan to work more on in 2016!
Diane Homan
It’s been really great for our family. Hope you find some ideas here!
Kari
Love these layout grids!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Diane Homan
Thanks! It was good to get the info organized in a clear way instead of in the notebooks I’d been using š
DarkSideRunner
You are so right about clean eating improving mood – I have very recently been trying to make this a habit, and have been feeling great – but lighter in the wallet š Looking most forward to breaking out my crock pot for some chicken fajitas!
Diane Homan
That’s one of our favorites! So healthy, but so good š
Lisa @ Fun Money Mom
I need to start planning our meals again..we saved so much money. Your printables look really helpful too! I always love reading about how others save money because it give me a little inspiration to try to save more myself!
Visiting from Link Party Palooza
Diane Homan
Thanks so much! We used to spend over $400 a month on food before we had to cut costs in half. We’re actually happier this way!
lacey rich
This is wonderful & I can tell how much work went into it! Appreciate it so much! I’m getting pretty good at meal planning before shopping trips, but need to work on cutting out processed foods & keeping to a budget! Going to try following some of your tips & recipes! THANKS SO MUCH! (found you via tater tots n jello link up!)
Diane Homan
Thank you for your kind words. I hope you find the recipes as delicious and the tips as helpful as we do!
Homan at Home
[…] those who took the clean eating challenge, how’s it going? Feeling better? More […]
Best 24 Clean Eating for A Week – Home, Family, Style and Art Ideas
[ā¦] Best Clean Eating For A Week from Homan at Home. Source Image: homanathome.com. Visit this site for details: homanathome.com [ā¦]
Jamie
Hi!
Iām unable to print these documents. Can they be emailed to me?
Diane Homan
I went ahead and emailed them to you!