15 easy clean eating budget-friendly meal ideas that are heavy in the veggie department but light on the wallet. Real food and allergy-free recipes too!
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If you’re like me, and the holidays prompt a serious struggle with willpower. Every year, we spend the holidays with my grandmother and I tell myself that doesn’t mean I have to eat like a 5-year-old. But every year, I do. Traditional family food is both nostalgic and soul-nourishing, even if it isn’t nourishing to my body.
So I have something for you.
When you get home and promise yourself you will eat better in January and watch your budget more closely, use this list.
It’s a collection of 15 easy clean eating meal ideas that are heavy in the veggie department but light on the wallet. You can find the ingredients almost anywhere – in the food desert where your grandparents live, or back home.
What You Can Do Now:
- Choose one of these recipes to make this week – write the ingredients down on your grocery list so you can make it.
- Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for daily inspiration to help you save money and eat healthy. (Psst – I basically live on Stories, and I’m always sharing tips and ideas).
Budget-Friendly, Clean Eating Meal Ideas
1. Easy Lentils & Rice Filling
Takes 5 minutes to toss in the slow cooker, and I included instructions for making tacos, burritos, burrito bowls, taco salad, nachos, and more. A lighter, vegetarian spin on one of our favorite meals.
2. How to Make Cheap Smoothies
Whether you prefer green or not-gross-colored smoothies, here’s how we’ve made smoothies fit in a tight budget.
I chug these a lot over the holiday, because you can find the basic ingredients anywhere, and they’re easy to drink between meals.
3. Githeri (Kenyan Corn & Beans)
Loaded with veggies and quick to toss in the crockpot or pressure cooker, Githeri is a flavorful vegetarian dinner.
4. 3-Ingredient Frozen Berry Whip
Frozen Berry Whip is a refreshing, high-protein alternative to store-bought frozen desserts that is budget-friendly, made with real food, and only uses 3 ingredients.
5. 10-Minute Tomato Soup
A simple, homemade version of our canned favorite. Contains no sugar, and includes a dairy-free, vegan version. Get the recipe here!
6. Easy Frittata
Or what to do with all the veggies in the crisper drawer. Easy to customize, and you can make it dairy-free too. Learn how here!
7. Simple Baked Oatmeal
We’ve tried a lot of different versions, and this is our favorite. Serve with vanilla yogurt or a light drizzle of maple syrup. Make it even better by adding chopped fruit to sweeten it instead. Get the recipe here!
8. Budget-Friendly, Clean Eating Salad
Our go-to salad is a combination of the vegetables we love best and the ones that cost the least amount of money. Get our formula here!
9. Instant Pot Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal
Fall is the perfect time to make warm, comforting breakfasts. But on school mornings, hot breakfasts are hard to swing! Oatmeal in the Instant Pot is one of the easiest fixes (I have this one and I love it). With the Delay Start option, you can set your oatmeal up the night before, and by the time you wake up, breakfast is ready. Clean eating breakfast for the win! Get the recipe (and watch the video) here!
10. Oat & Berry Bars
Vegan, gluten-free, no added sugar, and still delightfully sweet and refreshing after all that heavy holiday food. BONUS: You can mix it all in one bowl or directly in the pan. Learn how here!
11. Broccoli & Parmesan Noodles
Another easy, veggie-loaded dinner. Only takes 20 minutes to put together, and works great as a vegan dish or with zucchini noodles. Check it out!
12. Overnight Oats for a Crowd
Those individual jars are cute, but what if you’re feeding more than 2.5 people? This recipe is just as good as the jars, but 100% easier. BONUS: Apply this concept to any overnight oats recipe.
13. Frugal Juicing
Drinking fresh vegetable and fruit juices is EXPENSIVE. Here’s how we’ve made it fit in a small budget.
14. Make-Ahead Sandwiches
Did you know you can freeze sandwiches ahead of time for packed lunches? Here’s how we make homemade, real food sandwiches fit in a busy life and tight budget.
15. Big Salad with Clean, Simple Blended Greek Dressing
Makeover your salads with real food by whipping up this dressing. It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, plant-based, vegan, clean eating, Whole30, Ketogenic, budget-friendly, and one of the best dressings you’ll ever taste. We double and triple the recipe and keep it on hand all the time!
Clean Eating on a Budget
So whether you’re proud of yourself during this post-holiday season, or like me, you came too close to your inner 5-year-old, maybe these recipes can help. They’re simple, full of clean food, and incredibly frugal.
What are your clean eating goals for the New Year?
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Thank you for giving us such simple easy to make recipes I will surely try making most of this recipes and share with you on how it tasted and also share it with my friends as well for their future reference, who also seem to have set some health-related goals, this will be of so much use to them as well.
Thank you! Glad you like them.