Eating meals based on your whims throughout the day is a great way to satisfy your immediate desires, but it is not necessarily the best thing for your wallet, especially if you like going out to eat regularly. However, trying to do this on a vegan diet can have you spending a lot of money on processed foods, and you do not get to take advantage of sales that allow you to stretch your dollar. Meal planning can save you time and money, and it is not that complicated to do successfully with a vegan diet.

Stay Cheap with Rice and Beans

When trying to combine meal planning with nutrient-dense foods, you cannot go wrong with dry beans and brown rice. For instance, kidney beans go well in Cajun food, adzuki beans are great in Japanese food, and lentils are popular in Indian dishes. Opening yourself up to food from multiple cultures can make it easy to plan meals and keep it fresh enough to stay dedicated to meal planning for the long term.

Create One Dish Meals

If you want to enjoy quick meals with your preparations, you should create one dish meals. A few examples include chili, soup, stews, casseroles, and pasta dishes. It is possible to make these kinds of meals ahead of time and put them in the fridge, or even the freezer for long-term storage.

Make Lots of Burritos

It is helpful to make meals that you can walk out the door with every once in a while. The easiest way to go about doing this is by making all sorts of burritos. Rice and beans is the simplest and quickest one to make, but you can get creative by making Indian burritos that have garbanzo beans and vegetables. The great thing about burritos is that you can cook them in the microwave in just a few minutes, or you can put them in the oven while doing things around the house and have a delicious burrito in under an hour.

When making burritos, you may want to save some of the fix-ins until you are ready to eat them. Lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado do not store well, but it is not hard to add them after heating the burritos up.

Planning meals can be tough in the beginning, but the reward is worthwhile. If you need help coming up with solid recipes or creating a schedule, do not hesitate to get help from professional meal planners. Contact a business, such as Colorado Nutrition for Health Fitness & Performance, for more information.