Healthy Meal Plans on a Budget

Preparing meals for your family can be an overwhelming task. It requires energy, cooking skills, and budgeting. To achieve healthy, nutritious and budget-friendly meals, you must have a  meal plan ideas. It also reduces too much spending, helps you to avoid unhealthy meals, and it is a total time saver! 

What is Meal Planning?

Meal planning is a convenient and organized way to prepare nutritious, and appetizing meals. You decide meals from breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. You list down all the food items you need for a week or a month.

If you are still figuring out how to plan meals, well, here are some meal plan ideas to give you a head start:

“Bangus Sisig”

If you want a nutritious, healthy, and a budget-friendly meal, then this Bangus Sisig recipe is perfect for you!

You only need:

1 large bangus (boneless)

5 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1/2 cup minced red onion

1/2 cup chicharon (crushed)

2 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. mayonnaise

1/2 cup scallions

1 long green chili pepper (roll cut)

hot chili pepper (optional)

1 cup cooking oil

1 tbsp. ground pepper

1 tbsp. butter (cold)

Marinate milkfish with pepper, garlic, 1 tbsp. of lemon juice, and 1 tbsp. soy sauce for an hour. 

Preheat oil and fry the milk-fish. Cook thoroughly.  Remove excess oil and let it cool. Slice it into small pieces. 

Put the bangus in a mixing bowl. Mix it with 1 tbsp. lemon juice, 1 tbsp. soy sauce, onions, scallions, chicharon, mayonnaise, and green chili.

Melt the butter on a sizzling plate and add the Bangus Sisig. And voila! Your Bangus Sisig is done! This is best served with garlic fried rice.

Bacon and Broccoli Rice Bowl

1 cup Broccoli

1 cup Carrots

1 piece red onion

4 cups steamed rice

8 strips of bacon (chopped)

2 tbsp. spring onions (chopped)

4 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 tbsp. milk evap

2 tbsp. soy sauce 

3 tbsp. ketchup 

1 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. ground pepper

Blend or mince the carrots, broccoli, and onions. 

Beat the eggs with the milk in a small bowl.

Preheat the oil. Saute the spring onions. Add vegetables, bacon, and rice. Mix well.

Add soy sauce, pepper, and ketchup. Turn off the stove. Add butter. Mix well until melted.

“Ginataang Langka” with Pork

2 1/2 cup unripe jackfruit (chopped)

1 cup pork shoulder (sliced into thin pieces)

2 cups coconut milk

1 piece red onion (chopped)

3 pcs Thai chili pepper (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (crushed)

3 tbsp. cooking oil

2 tsp. salt

Preheat cooking pot with oil. Saute garlic and onion. Add the pork. Stir for 5-6 minutes. Add the jackfruit. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes more. Add the chili (optional). Stir for 2 minutes. 

Put the coconut milk. Add salt. Stir once it boils.

Thinking and preparing meals for your family can be a mind-blowing task. This can test your patience, creativity, and dedication.  But knowing the benefits of meal planning is truly a big help for you. Creating meal plan ideas can also be rewarding in many different ways. It saves time, effort, budget, and helps you and your family maintain a healthy lifestyle. This can also boost your confidence as a parent. You can share your ideas to other parents who are also struggling in preparing and budgeting meals. Help them know “What is meal planning” and its benefits.