In a hurry AND trying to keep your food costs down? We’ve put together a huge list of budget-friendly meal options that could work for you & your family! We’ve included vegetarian, vegan and paleo-friendly options for all of you who might have special diets. We’ve also tried to keep this list relatively healthy (not a lot of sugar or highly refined starches). Suggestions followed by a (V) indicate they’re vegetarian, (Ve) indicate the meal is vegan & (P) indicates the meal is paleo-friendly (perhaps with some modifications necessary). We would love to give you a cost breakdown of each of these items, but seeing as we’re all in Canada and our prices of, well, EVERYTHING, change on a pretty regular basis, we’ve used common sense and some market data to put together this reasonably-low-cost, low fuss list.
If you have suggestions you’d like to see on here, please comment below! Happy eating.
Breakfast
Hard-boiled eggs with mustard, whole grain toast and tea or coffee (V)
Apple slices with peanut butter & honey and half a cup of granola (V)
Yogurt with granola & a banana (V)
Grapes, hard-boiled eggs & toast with honey (V)
Breakfast quesadilla with cheese & egg (V)
Fried egg on toast (V)
Quinoa breakfast bake (with egg, bacon or sausage and peppers)
Peanut butter & jam on toast with a hard-boiled egg (V)
Oatmeal & apple slices with a sprinkle of cinnamon (V) (Ve)
Grits with cinnamon & honey (V) (Ve)
Home-fries (baked, cubed potatoes) with fried eggs (V)
An omelet with whatever seasonal vegetables are available (V) (P)
Fried egg on a bagel with cheddar cheese & tomato (V)
Baked egg “cupcakes” with your favourite vegetables (V) (Ve) (P)
Pancakes with fruit (V)
Quinoa & banana muffins
Bacon pancakes
Peanut butter & apple quiona bake (V) (Ve)
Baked cinnamon French toast with fruit (V)
Egg & bacon wraps
Oatmeal breakfast cookies (take a muffin mix and squash it into a flat cookie then bake!) (V)
Cinnamon bread with cream cheese spread of choice (V)
Yogurt & fruit parfait (V)
Toast with cream cheese, tomato slices and mozzarella (V)
Oatmeal, strawberry slices & honey (V)
Stuffed breakfast sweet potatoes (P)
Grilled ham slices with eggs (P)
Baked whole eggs in halved avocados (P)
Baked halved bell peppers with whole eggs & tomato sauce (P) (V)
Cottage cheese with fruit and granola (V)
Nutty oatmeal (mix peanut butter with your oatmeal)
Ham sliced cups baked with whole eggs (P)
English muffin with peanut butter and banana slices (V)
Tortilla wrap with scrambled eggs and your favourite vegetables (V)
Homemade muffins of choice (to avoid the whopping 600-700 calories a muffin at a bake shop!) (V)
Whole wheat pancakes with almond shavings and honey (V)
Lunch and/or Dinner
Creamy tomato soup with toast (V)
Garden salad with chicken (P)
Pear salad with walnuts & feta cheese (V)
Chicken noodle soup with toast
Fresh broccoli salad with bacon bits (P)
Grilled cheese with ham & garden salad
Avocado, bacon pieces & balsamic vinegar salad (P)
Linguine pasta with pesto sauce (V)
Homemade “hamburger helper” with ground beef & elbow pasta with tomato sauce
Greek salad wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, feta and olive oil dressing (chicken optional)
Whole wheat pasta with 4 cheese tomato sauce (V)
Bacon & broccoli casserole (noodles optional)
Bacon-wrapped green bean clusters (P)
Caesar salad with side of vegetable soup
Tuna pasta salad
Chickpea & chicken salad (with tomato, parsley, olive oil and peppers)
Grilled cheese with tomato soup
Sweet potato mash with balsamic glazed chicken (P)
Cheese quesadilla with side of salsa (V)
Broccoli & pasta salad (V)
Bagel mini pizzas (tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni slices)
Baked spaghetti squash with Alfredo sauce (V)
Butternut squash soup with a baked potato & salad (V)
Lentil soup with mozzarella cubes (V)
Buffalo chicken wraps (lettuce, tomato, onion and buffalo sauce)
Ground beef (buy in bulk and freeze if you can) home made burgers (P)
Garden salad with chicken noodle soup
Grilled root vegetables with lemon-marinated halibut (P)
Non-creamy chicken salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, chicken (breast or thigh) and olive oil & vinegar dressing (P)
Snacks
Apple slices with cinnamon & honey (V)
Apple slices with peanut butter (or any other nut butter) (V)
Banana slices with peanut butter (or any other nut butter) (V)
Kiwi slices with honey (V)
Strawberry slices (in season only!) with honey & cinnamon (or nutmeg!) (V)
Cheddar cheese cubes with crackers (V)
Peaches & cottage cheese (V)
Celery sticks with peanut butter & raisins (V)
Celery sticks with ranch dip (V)
Carrot sticks with ranch dip (V)
Grapes & cottage cheese (V)
No bake peanut butter bars (P) (V)
Cucumber cheese mini sandwiches (where the cucumber acts as the bread) (P) (V)
