Use this 1-week meal plan for low cost dinner ideas, breakfasts, and lunches to feed your family affordable meals. Stick to your budget and enjoy delicious real food!
Some people truly believe that the only way to eat healthy real food is to shop at high-end health food grocery stores like Whole Foods or Central Market.
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth!
You can make inexpensive meals regardless of where you shop. And whatever your finances look like, I assure you that it’s possible to feed your family real food on a tight budget!
To help you make this possible, I came up with a budget-friendly meal plan!
Whether you’re saving for something big, working on a smaller income, or overspent in previous weeks and need to scale back, this meal plan can help get you (back) on track!
For the family who is trying to make healthy food work with a small budget, but isn’t sure where to begin, this meal plan with low cost dinner ideas, plus breakfasts and lunches, is exactly what you need!
LOW COST DINNER IDEAS FOR ONE WEEK
Ready to make this week of low cost meal ideas work for you? Here’s what you need to know to keep money in your wallets and food on your plates.
- This menu was created to feed the average family of four. If you’re feeding more or less people, feel free to halve or double the recipes.
- Snacks and desserts are not included. If you MUST have snacks or desserts, I encourage you to use what you already have on hand. Fresh fruit and vegetable snacks are low cost and good for you. Bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli are tasty!
- Spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning) are not included in the shopping list. Most people have basic spices already; however, you can include them in your budget if you don’t. The dollar store sells garlic powder, a salt/pepper combo for $1, and you can make your own Italian Seasoning. Alternatively, leave them out of your meals.
- There is a meal planned for every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but eating leftovers should be a priority. Not eating food you’ve already paid for and cooked is a waste of money. To stay within budget, you can’t afford to waste anything.
- This menu is seasonal. Adjust the produce as necessary to fit the season you’re in, and don’t rule out frozen fruits and veggies if they’re less expensive.
This menu is 100% real food, but it was not written to include organic, grass-fed, or any other qualities of real food. Of course, these things are great, but they’re not required for eating clean. If your budget is really tight for the week, these qualities need to be momentarily set aside until your financial situation is more stable. Luckily, even some of the cheapest meal recipes are still made with real food ingredients!
Remember! Everyone’s family, food preferences, and financial situation are different, so if these low cost meal ideas don’t fit your family’s needs perfectly, use them as inspiration and adjust them as necessary.
WEEKLY MEAL PLAN FOR AFFORDABLE MEALS
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
If you’re craving dessert, try my Homemade Yellow Cake Mix. It’s a simple dessert made with pantry staples and it’s SO good!
It’s important to realize, real food doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t matter how small your grocery budget is – you can do this!!
Finding real food recipes that are cheap and easy meals to make is one of the principles I teach in Grocery Budget Bootcamp that’s helping families save hundreds on their groceries every month. Enrollment is currently closed, but you can check out my FREE Fight Inflation Workshop. You’ll get access to three AMAZING video sessions focused on how to save money on food right now, despite rising grocery costs.
MORE INEXPENSIVE DINNER IDEAS
Not a fan of one of the inexpensive dinner ideas on the list? Try one of these instead:
Make sure to update your shopping list accordingly if you make changes to one of the affordable meals listed.
MORE LOW COST DINNER IDEAS ADD-ONS
If your family is big and you need an additional side dish or you need to increase vegetable or macro numbers try adding these staples to your list. Vegetables are easy to roast on a sheet pan or serve in a salad, and proteins can be prepped ahead and added in as needed.
- Sweet potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Spinach
- Cauliflower
- Mushrooms
- Peas
- Cabbage
- Ground beef
- Shrimp
- Lentils
- Salsa
- Black beans
- Pork chops
- Ham
- Rotisserie chicken
- Tortillas
- Noodles
INEXPENSIVE MEALS FAQS
How do I plan inexpensive meals for a week?
Here’s my meal planning process, with my best tips to stick to the meal plan. Stick with simple ingredients, cheaper proteins (add in some meatless meals!), and recipes that repeat ingredients you’re already buying for another meal.
Where can I find the recipes for these low cost dinner ideas?
Some recipes aren’t linked because they are very basic (i.e. peanut butter sandwiches). I’ve linked to recipes where they would be helpful. The meal plan download will give you even more specifics, along with the shopping list!
What affordable meals can I prepare for the week?
Some of these meals can be prepared ahead of time, such as Oatmeal, Hummus, and Baked Chicken recipe. Using this list of cheap and easy meal ideas, you’ll also make meal components that carry over for multiple meals, like dinner biscuits and sandwich bread.
MORE LOW COST MEAL IDEAS AND TIPS
$50 Weekly Meal Plan
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