Broke on Purpose February Meal Plan

Meal Planned out for an entire month

When it comes to meals, January has been one of the easiest months for us. Grocery shopping takes no time at all, and we can come in cook dinner and eat all before 7:30 PM! I owe this to nothing but creating and sticking with our January Meal Plan. It has been a GAME CHANGER in our household. This meal plan has provided us so much structure, and organization around our meals. It’s also helped kick start better eating habits and prompted me to do more towards becoming healthier. Even Mr. Broke on Purpose was on board which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside because by default he has to incorporate healthier eating habits also.

Here are a few things that our January Meal Plan taught me.

Even the best plans never go as planned. There were some days where I realized I forgot to purchase an ingredient, but instead of running to the grocery store I just used what we had on hand in some instances making the meals turn out even better.
Pay attention to the number of weeks in the month – We only budgeted $275 for January, down $100 from our usual $375, and it’s been a stretch not go over. The fifth week in January completely threw me off. Is this why January always feels like it’s never going to end? Luckily because we had so many leftovers, we were able to keep things mostly on track and only went over $15! The lesson learned here is to add an extra $15-$20 to the budget as a just in case.
Basic meals can be amazing- Our January Meal Plan wasn’t the fanciest, and I felt a bit guilty about it because I didn’t was us to get bored. I built in a lot of repetition for ease of grocery shopping. Interestingly, what I found was that some of the simplest meals were the most enjoyable. I looked forward to Tuesday’s because I knew we had Spaghetti on the menu. I didn’t stress about Sundays because I knew the baked chicken would be easy to prepare. The simpleness of our meal plan allowed me to focus on other things like continuing to declutter our home, spending time with the hubs, and planning out different stuff for Broke on Purpose

Since January was such as big hit for us I’ve created a meal plan for February. For our February Meal Plan we are only budgeting $275 as there are only four weeks. We’re shooting for $275 because one of our yearly goals was to reduce grocery spending by $100 and save it towards an end of the year vacation. This month I added three new meals to the mix that I found on SkinnyTaste.com. You will also notice that we do not have any red meat on the menu. As I’ve been incorporating better eating habits I’ve cut back significantly on dairy products, carbs, and red meat. This change was quite an adjustment because I had to let go of a lot of my favorite recipes from Chef Resha, but I’ve noticed significant changes to my body as well as a 6lb weight loss, so the benefits are worth it.

Download your copy of the Meal Plan Here: Broke on Purpose® February Meal Plan