Feeding your family on a budget? Get recipe ideas and inspiration from the menu plan that our family of six has enjoyed recently!
New to My Frugal Menu Plans?
It might be helpful to know a few things before reading further.
- The size and ages of our family.
Our family of six consists of two adults, a 12 ½-year-old boy, a 9-year-old girl, a 7-year-old girl and a 4 ½-year-old boy. All of our kids have hearty appetites and tend to be big eaters. - Having a stockpile saves me money.
If an item that we use goes on sale, especially if it’s a particularly good sale, whenever possible I try to stock up. Sometimes the saving seems small- it may only be $0.25 an item. But doing that with multiple things does add up rather quickly! Then when I plan my menus, I first look at what I have in my cupboards, fridge and freezer and try to plan as many meals around that as possible. - I use my freezer a lot.
I freeze so many foods to extend their shelf life- everything from cottage cheese to zucchini to onions! Another thing I like to do is cook up extra meat, rice and even things like soup and then freeze them to save time later. Both of these things help save me time and money too. - I cook almost totally from scratch.
That means when I bake a cake, I make it from scratch. I rarely use pre-packaged sauces. I make my own cream soups, homemade Bisquick and pie crusts. Making our own food is typically less expensive and healthier too. - We rarely snack.
By eating hearty food like granola at breakfast we don’t get hungry until lunchtime. And 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. - We eat simple, filling breakfasts.
Typically we have either Homemade Granola or Baked Oatmeal, and occasionally some bought cereal and fruit too. I know that might seem awfully boring to some of you, but the simplicity of it works well for us. I also have a homemade iced coffee, homemade frappe or some other fun beverage like Warm Vanilla Custard every afternoon.
A little side note: I occasionally get asked why I only do a two weeks menu plan instead of four weeks. To be honest, it’s mainly for my own convenience.
Keeping track of everything we eat gets to be a little tedious. So only doing it for two weeks helps me not get bogged down with it.
Get my FREE $50 Aldi Meal Plan here! It has 7 easy dinners for a family of 5.
Frugal Menu Plan
WEEK ONE
Sunday
- Various Leftovers; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Glazed Sourdough Lemon Cake
- Tuna Toasts; 3 Minute Frozen Fruit Smoothie; Homemade Popcorn
– For the tuna toasts we just butter sourdough bread, put it on a baking sheet, sprinkle the bread with shredded cheese and then bake it until it’s a bit toasted and the cheese is slightly browned. Then we make homemade tuna salad and eat it on top of the toast. So good!
Monday
- Refried Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (used my homemade refried beans); Organic Yogurt; Bananas; Apples
- Chicken Stroganoff; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Leftover Sourdough Lemon Cake
Tuesday
- Peanut Butter and Homemade Apple Butter Sandwiches; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Fresh Pears; Bananas
- Easy Vegetable Beef Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Pumpkin Coffee Cake – I skipped the pecans both to cut costs and also because some of my family doesn’t love them.
Wednesday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Mini Peppers with Cream Cheese; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Fresh Pears; Oranges
- Ground Beef and Potato Skillet; Green Beans (for the kids); Roasted Broccoli (for my husband and me); Leftover Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Thursday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Potato Chips; Organic Yogurt; Watermelon; Canned Peaches
- Bisquick Chicken Alfredo Casserole; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Store-Bought Cookies
Friday
- Zucchini Fritters; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Canned Peaches; Apples
– I can’t find a recipe quite like mine for the Zucchini Fritters, but if you Google you’ll find lots of recipes that are somewhat similar that you’ll probably enjoy as much as we do these. - Leftover Vegetable Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Birthday Cake Scones
Saturday
- Black Bean and Butternut Squash Quesadillas; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Fresh Pears; Bananas
- One Pot Mexican Rice Casserole; Peas; Homemade Oreo Cookie Milkshakes
WEEK TWO
Sunday
- Little Cheddar Meatloaves; Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
- Tuna Toasts; 3 Minute Frozen Fruit Smoothie; Homemade Popcorn
– For the tuna toasts we just butter sourdough bread, put it on a baking sheet, sprinkle the bread with shredded cheese and then bake it until it’s a bit toasted and the cheese is slightly browned. Then we make homemade tuna salad and eat it on top of the toast. So good!
Monday
- Peanut Butter and Homemade Apple Butter Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Fresh Pears; Bananas
- Easy Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch Dressing; Leftover Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars
Tuesday
- Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas; Organic Yogurt; Frozen Cherries; Clementines
- Huevos Rancheros; Easy Quinoa Cabbage Salad; Leftover Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars
Wednesday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Mini Sweet Peppers with Cream Cheese; Organic Yogurt; Clementines; Apples
- Leftover Zuppa Toscana Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch Dressing; Bisquick Cinnamon Biscuits (used my Homemade Bisquick Mix)
Thursday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches (for the kids); Leftover Quinoa Cabbage Salad (for my husband and me); Greek Yogurt with Honey; Fresh Pineapple; Apples
- Sheet Pan Garlic Ranch Pork Chops & Potatoes; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch Dressing; Leftover Cinnamon Biscuits
– I found pork chops on markdown at our local grocery store- normally they are priced more than I can justify paying!
Friday
- Refried Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (used my homemade refried beans); Organic Yogurt; Fresh Pineapple; Oranges
- One Pan Spanish Chicken and Rice; Green Beans (for the kids); Roasted Broccoli for my husband and me); Black Bean Brownies
Saturday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches (for the kids); Leftover Quinoa Cabbage Salad (for my husband and me); Organic Yogurt; Oranges; Bananas
- Various Leftovers; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch Dressing; Leftover Black Bean Brownies
Other posts that you’ll enjoy:
Christy
I have been making those “Lil Cheddar Meatloaves” from Taste of Home for over 20 years now. I saw the recipe in one of their magazines back when I was in university. A household favourite!
Lydia Beiler
They are quite tasty, aren’t they? And so fun that they’ve been a favorite of yours for so long. I used to make them fairly often but somewhere along the way stopped. It was good to enjoy them again!
Priscilla Stoltzfus
I love reading your articles!! I love budgeting and cooking from scratch. I’m still finding my way with coupons and would love any personal tips you can give me. We are a family of 8 and I spend 800.00 per month for groceries, that includes hosting and fellowship meals! Any tips on cutting back would be appreciated!! Thanks Priscilla
Lydia Beiler
Priscilla, I’m so sorry for not replying sooner. Somehow your comment got lost in my pending comments and I just now saw it. I’m so happy to hear that the articles I share are helpful to you! It always makes my day to know that. As for cutting your grocery costs…$800 for a family of 8 is really amazing, I think, especially if you are making food for others quite often. I share all of my best tips for cutting grocery costs here on my site so I assume you have probably already read those articles. But here a few of them: 8 Simple Ways to Save Money on Groceries, 7 Ways to Reduce Food Waste and The Importance of Stockpiling. Using coupons can be a great way to save, but it does definitely have a bit of a learning curve. And I’ve found that for some people it ends up just feeling too frustrating to stick with doing. If you think you’ll enjoy using coupons but it feels overwhelming, I’d suggest starting slow. Do a few of the best deals a week until you get more comfortable and confident with how they work. All the best to you as you continue trying to be wise with your grocery budget!