GAPS Diet Meal Plan

(+ Budget Friendly For Large Families!)

How To Eat Healthier On A Budget

Nourishing recipes, or eating a GAPS diet meal plan does not have to be extraordinarily expensive, even for a large family. Cooking from scratch with a meal plan saves time, money, and allows us to feed our large family on a reasonable budget. While we do spend a good portion of our monthly budget on food, our mindset is that nourishing food is an investment in our current and future health. I once heard someone say, “What we do not spend on healthy food now, we will pay for in medical bills later.” Over the years of eating the GAPS Diet, we have found strategies to stretch our food budget without compromising nutrition.

How to Start Eating Healthier

If you are wanting to learn more about how to start a whole foods diet and many of the health benefits, check out this article: How to Start an Ancestral Diet (Without Overwhelm)

One thing that helps us stay on track with healthy eating is to make simple substitutions to our freezer and pantry staples. To see the list of substitutions we made, and how to do so in a budget friendly way, check out this short, free e-book that includes step by step support.

4 Tips For Stocking Your Freezer and Pantry on a Budget

1. Connect with your local farmers and butcher shops for prices on whole or half beef, pork, and whole chickens. Every fall we invest in a whole beef. Some years we have raised or purchased 25-30 chickens at a time and purchased a whole pig. While this is an initial up front cost, we save money throughout the year on our cost per pound of meat and have many readily available options in the freezer without needing to run to the grocery store. Ask to be added to farmers’ lists in the event of the unexpected (like an animal breaking a leg); often the farmer will sell the meat at a discount. Here is one resource for finding local farmers; another option is to ask in local Facebook groups.
2. Connect with local hunters. Often those who hunt venison take prime cuts and throw away organ meats and bones. Ask them if they know of other hunters who would be willing to share bones, organs, or excess meat. In some areas, farmers have agricultural hunting tags to help control for crop loss, and they are more than happy to pass along the venison to other families.
3. Make your own milk kefir. This can be multiplied quickly and frozen to be used in a variety of recipes, especially kefir smoothies with in season fruit. I wish we would have learned this one sooner! Kefir is much more simple and easy to make than yogurt and more economical and healthy than store-bought.
4. Stock foods your family likes to eat when they go on sale. Compare prices often and look at weekly ads online. As you become more well-stocked over time, you will seldom have a time where you *need* to buy things that are not on sale.

4 Benefits of Meal Planning

1. We save money by pre-planning ingredients from our stocked foods and within our budget
2. We buy less food (and have less waste)
3. Our children love to help make the meal plans and cook for our family
4. We save time with less trips to the store, less mental space of wondering what’s for dinner, and less time with food preparation (why not chop 10 lbs of carrots at one time instead of 5? I only want to wash that cutting board once per task!)

5 Tips For Successful GAPS Diet Meal Planning

1. Stock pantry and freezer staples that work for multiple meal varieties (meats, veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds, healthy fats)
2. Keep a running shopping list on your fridge so you are prepared for shopping outings
3. Make weekly menus and save them for future weeks
4. Create meals from simple ingredients and various seasonings. Many of our meals are meat and veggies with a variety of seasonings for varied flavor: think Mexican, Italian, Asian, Indian, etc. Root veggies store well, are generally less expensive, and go well in a lot of dishes.
5. Dedicate a chunk of time 1-2 days a week that will be your “meal prep” time. This can be an enjoyable experience for the whole family to do together or divided amongst members throughout the week to have a good system.

Weekly Meal Prep Example:

Here is an example of what a Sunday afternoon or Wednesday evening might look like in our home:
1. Make 5 gallons chicken soup; portion out into freezer safe pyrex for easy freezing of leftovers 2. Add 8 chicken breasts in the crock pot; shred when cooked (or cook 3-4 chickens in a roaster or grilled). Portion shredded chicken into freezer bags or freezer safe containers. Our family of 7 uses about 4 cups at a time for chicken salad (following this recipe, subbing eggs), or in a kefir artichoke chicken dip.
3. Wash and peel 5-10 lbs carrots. Cut half into sticks to eat with homemade dip and shred the rest in the food processor. Portion out into 2-4 cup servings for meat and veggie casseroles.
4. Shred 2 cabbages for salads and casseroles.
5. Soak 2 lbs of white beans or lentils (lentils are as tolerated and when introducing non-gaps foods; our family been able to introduce lentils well from the start!) in sea salt water or water with squeeze of lemon. Eat these as “honey lentils” (just lentils with butter, honey, and cinnamon), and bake into breads throughout the week.
6. Ferment 1/2 gallon milk kefir and make 2 quarts kefir ice cream.
7. Make chocolate or vanilla cake and frosting.

Weekly Meal Plan on a Budget:

Monday:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and milk kefir with honey
Lunch: Chicken soup and chocolate cake
Dinner: Chicken salad, fresh fruit, sautéed shredded cabbage, carrot, &/or other veggies
Snacks: Carrots and dip, apple slices with nut butter

Tuesday
Breakfast: 3 ingredient smoothies
Lunch: Chicken or egg or salmon salad, olives, carrot sticks and guacamole
Dinner: Meatballs cooked in chicken broth; honey lentils, roasted butternut squash
Snacks: Fermented dilly beans, energy bites

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and milk kefir with honey
Lunch: Meatballs; probiotic pumpkin pie smoothies (or butternut squash smoothies!)
Dinner: Sesame ground pork with shredded carrots and cabbage
Snacks: Honey lentil bread; fermented carrots

Thursday:
Breakfast: Grain and sugar free blueberry muffins with butter
Lunch: Taco salad with guacamole and kefir cream
Dinner: crock pot roast beef
Snacks: Homemade ice cream

Friday:
Breakfast: GAPS pancakes and scrambled eggs
Lunch: Chicken soup and chocolate cake (frozen leftovers from Sunday)
Dinner: Chicken artichoke dip
Snacks: Fermented carrots, energy bites

How Do I Make a GAPS Diet Meal Plan For a Large Family?

I often take a recipe and scale it WAY up. Most things freeze well and can be eaten as leftovers. This saves time in the preparation work, washing less dishes, and less mental load to plan what to eat. If you have a smaller family, scale the recipes down.

Whether you are on the GAPS diet, or just wanting to eat more nutritiously, I hope you find this weekly menu helpful for your family. What are you favorite weekly meals?

Resources

Posts

How to Start the GAPS Introduction Diet?
How to Start an Ancestral Diet (without Overwhelm)?
How to Make Milk Kefir?
3 Ingredient Fermented Milk Kefir & GAPS Yogurt Smoothies
How to Make GAPS Diet Meat Stock?
GAPS Diet Egg Salad (Whole30, Keto, Paleo Friendly)
Milk Kefir Artichoke Dip
Healthy Homemade Avocado Mayo
GAPS Diet Milk Kefir Ice Cream
Healthy Homemade Paleo Chocolate and Vanilla Cake -GAPS Diet Approved
Fermented Dilly Beans
Healthy Probiotic Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
How to Make Fermented Carrots (That Picky Eaters Love!)?
Grain & Sugar-Free Blueberry Muffins
How to Make GAPS Diet Pancakes in the Oven?

Free E-book: 10 Steps to an Easier Diet Overhaul – A How To Guide For Families With Picky Eaters

Local Farm: Weston Prince Chapter

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