$375 Budget Menu Plan for Our Family of 6 (Menu #59)

I love the challenge of feeding my family well on a budget! Here is my recent $375/month menu plan for our family of six. I hope it can inspire you and give you fresh ideas to use for your own family meals.  

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Grocery costs keep rising and I’m planning to increase my grocery budget to $400/month next month.  But I was still able to keep my costs down this month, in part due to trying to “clean out the freezer and pantry” a bit and making meals from things that I already had on hand.

I also found various grocery items on significant markdown recently too, which also helped save a nice chunk!  Some of the items were things that I could easily freeze to use later, which was really nice.

NEW TO MY 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 13-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl, a 7 ½-year-old girl and a 5-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, I try to stock up whenever possible. 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-week 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.

WEEK ONE
Sunday

• Various Leftovers; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Vegetarian Buffalo Dip and 5 Minute Refried Bean Dip served with tortilla chips; 3 Minute Frozen Fruit Smoothies; Homemade Popcorn

Monday

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Hummus with Carrots and Peppers; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Apples; Grapes
• Creamy Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; 5 Minute Mandarin Orange Jello Salad

Tuesday

• Refried Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (used my homemade refried beans); Greek Yogurt with Honey; Apples; Bananas
• Southwest Chicken Skillet; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Easy Apple Dumpling Dessert

Wednesday

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Hummus with Carrots and Peppers; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Bananas; Canned Peaches
• Cheeseburger Soup; Garlic Butter Swim Biscuits; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Leftover Easy Apple Dumpling Dessert

Thursday

• Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Bananas; Apples
• Easy Mexican Rice Bowls; Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars 

Friday

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Hummus with Carrots; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Canned Peaches; Clementines
• Speedy Spanish Rice and Ground Beef Skillet; Roasted Broccoli (for my husband and me); Green Beans (for the kids); Leftover Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Saturday

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Hummus with Carrots; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Clementines; Grapes
• Various Leftovers; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Perfectly Spiced Pumpkin Scones

WEEK TWO
Sunday

• Easy Vegetable Beef Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Leftover Pumpkin Scones
• Tuna Quesadillas; Homemade Popcorn; 3 Minute Frozen Fruit Smoothies

Monday

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Hummus with Carrots; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Clementines; Frozen Cherries
• Easy Cheesy Mushroom Pork Chops; Peas; Chocolate Pudding Cake (this recipe is similar to the one I use) with milk

Tuesday

• 5 Minute Refried Bean Dip with Tortilla Chips; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Apples; Fresh Plums
• Easy Ground Beef and Potatoes Skillet; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Apple Dump Cake from Scratch

Wednesday

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Hummus with Carrots; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Apples; Fresh Blackberries
  – I typically don’t buy fresh berries as they tend to be more expensive than other fruits.  But I found blackberries super cheap on markdown because they were at their sell-by date, so I got them.  A real treat!
• Instant Pot Creamy Ziti; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Leftover Apple Dump Cake

Thursday

• Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches; Fried Zucchini (for my husband and I- we didn’t love the recipe, unfortunately), Greek Yogurt with Honey; Oranges; Bananas
• Curry Chicken and Rice Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Bisquick Peach Cobbler
  – I used my homemade Bisquick Mix for the cobbler

Friday 

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Hummus with Carrots; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Bananas; Apples
• Store-Bought Frozen Pizza; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Store-Bought Cookies

Saturday

• Meat and Cheese Sandwiches; Greek Yogurt with Honey; Canned Peaches; Clementines 
• Various Leftovers; Green Beans; Homemade Apple Pie (used my easy homemade pie crust recipe)

Other Frugal Living Articles You’ll Enjoy:

• 8 Simple Ways to Save on Groceries 
• 18 Best Recipe Ingredient Swaps to Save Money
• 9 Easy Ways to Save Money on Fruits and Veggies 
• 30 Easy, Delicious No Butter Desserts