Wonder what in the world we eat on a $200 grocery budget? Here’s our frugal menu plan for the last two weeks. It shows exactly what our family of 5 ate!
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I’ve found that a lot of people are really curious to know just what exactly we eat on our $200/mo. grocery budget. I mean, do we mainly consume rice and beans with the occasional side of chicken? Or can we actually eat rather normally?
So if you are one of those people that has been skeptical or if you simply want ideas for frugal meals, hopefully, this frugal menu plan showing what we ate the last 2 weeks will be helpful! Maybe you won’t consider our menu plan normal, but I think we eat pretty well and we are happy with our meals. So that’s good enough for us! 🙂
If you are interested in learning more about how we eat and grocery shop on a $200/mo. grocery budget here are a couple of other posts you might enjoy reading too:
- All of my $200/mo. Menu Plans.
- All about how I plan my $200/mo. grocery shopping trips and do my shopping.
- The easiest way to save money on groceries.
Also, before you actually read our budget-friendly menu plan, here are a couple of things that are helpful to know:
- Our family of five consists of two adults with fairly big appetites, a 6-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl and a 13-month-old girl.
- I buy lots of fruits and veggies in bulk from local farmers/orchards in the summer and then preserve them by canning or freezing. (Check out my step by step photo canning tutorials here!)
- I have a stockpile– my cupboards are full from previous shopping and here’s why. When I can get pasta for free with coupons, I buy as much as I have coupons for. If I’m able to get flour for $0.50/bag like I did last fall, I’ll buy half a dozen and put them in the freezer to use as needed. I do this as much as my budget allows, on as many items as I can and as a result save lots of money. Then when I go to plan menus, I simply plan our meals around what I already have in my cupboards and freezer, as much as possible. Obviously, I still might have to buy a few things at regular price here and there, but by stocking up when the price is at rock bottom I save a lot.
- I cook almost totally from scratch. That means when I make a cake, I rarely use a cake mix. I make my own bread totally from scratch. I rarely use pre-packaged sauces. I make my own cream soups and pie crusts. Making your own food is typically less expensive and healthier too.
- We rarely snack. By eating “heavy” food like granola at breakfast we don’t get hungry until lunchtime. And the same goes for the afternoon. Our lunches are big enough that we usually are fine until dinner time. When we do need a snack, I try to keep it mostly healthy by offering fruit, nuts or maybe No Bake Energy Bites. We don’t always do it perfectly though, and sometimes end up having chips or cookies instead.
- Our breakfasts consist of Easy Homemade Granola or Baked Oatmeal, the occasional bought cereal that I was able to get for $0.50/box and sometimes some fruit too. I know that might seem awfully boring to some of you, but we actually all really enjoy it and prefer it over other breakfast food. I also have a homemade iced latte, homemade frappe or some other fun beverage every morning. It’s just one of the little things that I do to add a bit of sunshine to my days!
Below you will find our lunches and dinners. (If we ate something other than our usual breakfast, I’ll note that too.) Monday through Friday, 3 days a week the lunches are just for the two youngest and I, the other 2 days my husband joins us.
Our son gets lunch at school and 3 days a week my husband takes a packed lunch with him to work. His lunch typically consists of sandwiches, fruit, homemade yogurt and sometimes random leftovers too.
Get my FREE $50 Aldi Meal Plan here! It has 7 easy dinners for a family of 5.
Our Frugal Menu Plan for Our Family of Five
WEEK 1
Sunday
- At my in-laws all day
Monday
- Homemade Breakfast Burritos (from the freezer); Oranges
- Creamy Crockpot Mexican Chicken served with rice; Green Beans; Homemade Applesauce
Tuesday
- Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches and Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
- Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup; Sheetz Philly Cheese Steak; Homemade Applesauce; Homemade Chocolate Brownies (my recipe is similar to this one)
– A new Sheetz gas station opened up nearby and we got a bunch of coupons for free food items. One of them was this Philly Cheese Steak that I was planning to send with my husband as part of his lunch. But he insisted that we all enjoy it, so we did! (We don’t often get this kind of thing due to our tight budget, so it was kind of a treat.)
Wednesday
- Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches and Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
- Macaroni Beef Skillet; Cooked Carrots (with a sweet and sour sauce on them); Homemade Applesauce; Homemade Chocolate Brownies
Thursday
- Leftover Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup; Cheese; Home Canned Peaches and Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
- Leftover Creamy Crockpot Mexican Chicken; Leftover Cooked Veggies; Homemade Applesauce; Blonde Brownies (an easy chocolate chip brownie)
Friday
- Various Leftovers; Oranges; Easy 3 Ingredient Healthy Fudge
- Homemade Chicken Alfredo Pizza (used homemade Healthier Alfredo Sauce and homemade pizza crust and topped with chicken, caramelized onions and of course cheese); Peas; Homemade Applesauce; Ice Cream Bars
– This homemade pizza crust recipe is awesome! Not only does it need no time to rise, but you can also have it ready to go in the oven in 30 minutes! And it’s really tasty too. The only thing I do differently is pre-bake the crust a bit before putting on the toppings.
Saturday
- Leftover Creamy Crockpot Mexican Chicken; Leftover Beef Macaroni Skillet; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Easy 3 Ingredient Healthy Fudge
- Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup (my recipe is similar to this); Sweet Potato Rolls (bought at a local discount store); Cheese; Homemade Shortcake with Frozen Crushed Strawberries (I preserved)
WEEK 2
Sunday
- Had a shared lunch at our church—didn’t take anything!
– I was to help my mother-in-law make a big roaster full of scalloped potatoes and ham, but she insisted on doing it all and letting me have a break. So sweet of her! - Spent the evening with my husband’s family- took enough hot dogs for everyone and 2 qts. of ice cream
Monday
- Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Apples
- Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole; Green Beans; Homemade Shortcake with Frozen Crushed Strawberries (I preserved)
– I really loved this chicken and rice dish! So many of these types of casseroles take cream soup, but this was just a great from-scratch recipe. The Parmesan cheese and Ritz cracker topping really make it yummy!
Tuesday
- Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches and Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
- Leftover Homemade Pizza; Salad with Homemade Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Oreos and Milk 🙂
Wednesday
- Kids: Eggs in a Nest (eggs made in toast); Me: Leftover Cream of Tomato Soup; Cheese; Apples
- Cream Cheese Potato Soup with Ham; Salad with Homemade Mexican Dressing; Bread Pudding (skipped the sauce and sprinkled with brown sugar instead)
Thursday
- Kids: Eggs in a Nest (eggs made in toast); Me: Homemade Breakfast Burrito (from the freezer); All: Easy Homemade Yogurt; Oranges
- Leftover Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole; Green Beans; Homemade Applesauce; Cheese; Best Ever Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream
– This was actually a small birthday party for our 1 yr. old and my parents and a good neighbor/friend ate with us. And yes, I totally served them leftover casserole! I added fresh Ritz crackers to the top and no one was any wiser. Not that they would have cared anyway. That’s the beauty of family and good friends- they don’t care!
Friday
- Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches and Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
- Scrambled Eggs; Sausage; Toast with Homemade Apple Butter; Frozen Fruit Slush; Decadent Frosted Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
– We had guests that joined us for the cheesecake dessert.
Saturday
- Home Canned Vegetable Soup (this is a similar recipe); Cheese; Home Canned Peaches and Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
- Ate out
– Ended up getting a free meal because the restaurant we went to was understaffed and was out of a bunch of things, so they offered to refund us our bill!
Whitney
Saving money on food is so important. I love how your tips and help encourage a healthy diet as well
Thanks for sharing!
ThriftyFrugalMom
Yes, saving money on food is awesome, but even more so when you can do it and eat relatively healthy, right? I love being able to combine the two.
Betsy
Wow…some great budgeting and lovely recipes. I was surprised your son gets lunch at school…it is too expensive in our town and unhealthy. Perhaps you are luckier. It is a rare treat that my daughter gets lunch at school…I like to make it myself and at least I know what is in it. I save money to boot.
ThriftyFrugalMom
Betsy, yes, we have a somewhat unique situation with the school lunch thing. Our son goes to a really small private school and the lunches are actually no extra cost. They are typically fairly nutritious as well. Once in a while I do pack him a lunch just because he thinks it is fun, but that is pretty rare. If we had to pay extra, I would definitely be packing them all the time! 🙂
BobbyAnn
*PS that should have read “when all three of your children reach school age. I realize you have two at home.
BobbyAnn
I like your list, but am confused how it constitutes an entire month – did you eat at your in-laws twice this particular month and got to church socials twice? Did you repeat the menu for the second four weeks of the month? I only see two weeks worth and I know your certainly couldn’t have received a comped tab at a restaurant twice. heehee At least I hope not.. What am I reading wrong?
I agree, buying in bulk and cooking entirely from scratch saves so much money. I never started out cooking from scratch for that reason, I did it for health reasons – but we were raised on fresh meats, fruits and veggies – no sodas, chips or cookies, and it just followed through with out family of 7 [now down to three as they have grown and gone to college, etc]
Another thing I knew to be fact was making our childrens’ lunches. Not only does it save a great deal of money I am assured they will eat what we provide because they like what they are given and it isn’t always the case with school without are low on nutritional value and content, compared to what I can pack for them to take. Although I image a free lunch provided by the school would save a ton on a budget, especially when all three of your kids are in school.
We only use coupons for things like toilet paper and paper towel, with splurges for fancy shampoos and body washes for the kids – but since we shop at ALDI, which does’t take coupons, we don’t. And really don’t need to because most of what I buy is fresh, not prepackaged or processed, which I find most of what coupons are for – and you have to spend a lot [buy 2/get .50 cents off for the large size for example]. I guess if I bought that stuff it would be worth it but I have the luxury of time to cook and prepare, freeze, premake etc our breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
That’s the thing – it’s simpler to keep to a budget when one parent stays home because there is time for all the prep and storing of food. Not so for the two income families that want to spend their free time with their families [very understandable] and thus resort to processed, prepackaged stuff to help get dinner on the table faster. I don’t blame them, one bit – I admire them thinking of the dedication they put in for their families working AND taking care of hearth and home.
I do like the list, and think you have some neat ideas for people who didn’t’ already realize some of these tips, as I do – although I have to admit free meals was never part of any budget plan – going to family, our church or getting a free meal at a restaurant. We always take food to my inlaws, tithe at the dinners at our church [not really an expense in my mind, but dinner still costs so to speak – and being a former server, although we never go out to eat – had I been in that situation I would have excused our family and found someplace else to eat. I never expected to eat for free when we went out. As I said – we don’t eat out now, at all…but that will always be my ryle.]
ThriftyFrugalMom
BobbyAnn, sorry for the confusion! I state at the beginning of the post that this is just 2 weeks worth of meals- exactly what we ate for those 2 weeks. Then if you look at the top of my blog, there is a link that says Frugal Living. If you hover over that, you’ll see a drop down menu that says Menu Plans and if you click that, you’ll see 2 more of these posts. Each post has just 2 weeks worth of meals mostly because waiting to do 4 weeks at a time seemed like it would make the posts WAY too long! Hope that helps make sense of it and I understand why it is a bit confusing.
We actually don’t do the free school lunch because of the budget saving aspect, but instead because the school our son goes to is really small and the lunches they offer are actually pretty nutritious. Also, he’d be the only kid that would take a packed lunch if we did that and somehow that didn’t seem like a wise thing to do. (He goes to a small private school that is just starting out and there are only about 20 students in Preschool to 1st grade.)
Also, I know that people think that coupons are just for pre-packaged or processed things, but honestly, I buy very little of that with my couponing. Like you said, you can save quite a bit by using coupons on personal care and household items. And I save a lot on things all-natural ice cream, frozen (and even sometimes fresh!) veggies, nuts, cheese, baking supplies etc. with my couponing. We live in an area where several grocery stores still double coupons, so that definitely helps a lot!
And if it bothers you that we had “free” meals and only budget $200/mo., well, just for sake of that, just bump the number up to $225/mo. 🙂 The thing is, most times I do take some sort of food to my in-laws or church dinners. It just so happened that these times I did not. On the other hand, there are plenty of times when we have guests for lunch or dinner and so that comes out of our budget too. So while this week might look like we got a lot “free”, there are other weeks when we do extra. Does that make sense? Oh and the restaurant situation was an odd one. It was actually a buffet (so no server involved) and they were out of a lot of the food that they were supposed to have on the buffet, the place was pretty trashed too. Apparently they DM hadn’t staffed enough people, they had a big bus load come by in the afternoon, and some of the employees were just in a bad mood because of it. The manager realized that the situation was not what is should be and actually offered us the refund. We apparently were to have been told when we arrived that things were in this state, but somehow the cashier failed to do so. I don’t like to take advantage of anyone and wouldn’t typically do what we did that night either, but in this situation it seemed like the right thing to do. Plus, the manager was pretty insistent.
Hope that clears things up for you! 🙂
Cydnee
I needed you when I had 5 in the house to feed! Great ideas and suggestions!
Toni
This is great! We have a family of 4… 2 adults and 2 teenage boys. I am always looking for recipes/ideas to cut our grocery bill. Thanks for sharing.