Making meal plans is actually the preparation of food earlier for the upcoming days or weeks. Solo cooking is a tricky task especially when you are on a budget. From grocery shopping to cooking food in the kitchen, both money and time are needed. Preparing a cheap weekly meal plan for 1 person in advance is a critical chore and keeping on track of meal planning with a budget is easier said than done. To stay unbothered from the pins and needles, follow a suitable and cheap weekly meal plan that saves you from extra spending and also protects your health.
Usually, single-meal planning is needed for those who are living alone in a house, apartment or hostel away from their homes for working reasons, business, studies or something else. In such cases, the routines are busy and hectic on the whole which ultimately leads a person to go for meal planning so that one could save his precious time. When on budget, a cost-friendly meal plan is necessary so that a person remains stress-free during challenging days.
Tips to remember:
- Budget: The first thing to keep in mind is the analysis of your budget. Keep track of your finances and then start planning a cheap weekly meal plan for one person. As for one week, you can estimate the food cost that you are going to spend so that you keep yourself within that range when buying grocery items.
- Ingredients: This is the most important thing in meal planning. Switch from expensive items to less costly but health-friendly food products to keep your nutrition on track.
- Serving sizes: Serving size refer to the calculated amount of a food item or drink that an average person can consume at a time. It can be a tablespoon, cup, bowl, or slice It is a very important aspect in meal planning because it relates to your health and wellness. Select a serving size for example one cup for major meals like curry, soup, rice, and others.
- Meal hours: This is totally up to you but normally three to four meal timings are followed including breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. Some add pre-breakfast snacks, post-dinner snacks, midnight snacks, and other meals to their diets but this routine is not suitable for budget meals because they are more costly.
Cheap Weekly Meal Plan For one person:
Before prepping for the weekly meals, try to make sure that you create a whole plan by yourself or follow any ready-made plan like this. After choosing your meal plan, spot the dishes that need some time to be cooked because you will have to cook all of them before the start of the week and place them in your freezer. In this way, you will just have to take them out and microwave for eating, while the other food items could be placed in the pantry. The raw meat in this meal plan includes beef, chicken and salmon while pasta, pancakes, and rice can also be pre-cooked.
| Meal of the Day | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| Breakfast | Vegetable sandwiches and keep the leftovers for next day | Leftovers of Monday + banana | 1 cup porridge | 1 cup porridge | Vegetable sandwiches | 1 cup oatmeal | 1 cup oatmeal |
| Lunch | Salad pasta | Chicken rice ( save the leftover) | Beef stroganoff | Speghatti | Chicken curry with rice | Salad pasta | Corn + baked salmon |
| Dinner | Chicken roast | Remaining previous lunch meal | Leftover beef | Vanilla pancakes | Leftover curry and rice | Leftover pasta | Leftover salmon |
This is a perfect cheap weekly meal plan for 1 person on a budget because it fulfills the nutrition requirements of your body and also eases your finances. A cheap weekly meal plan for 2 on a budget can also be created in the same way. You just have to increase the quantity of foods according to two people’s serving sizes. In this way, a weekly meal plan for two on a budget is also a good option for those who are looking for a convenient way of being on a budget.
