Here’s the cheap menu plan that our family of six enjoyed the last couple of weeks! It’s full of frugal meal ideas and perfect for menu planning inspiration!
If you are a regular reader and familiar with the foods we often eat, you might notice that there are a number of new recipes on this menu plan.
I was feeling so stuck in a rut with meal ideas and getting a bit tired of our usual favorites. So I hit up my Pinterest boards and found some fresh recipes to try.
Every recipe was a win and I was happy to find a few new favorites to add to my go-to recipe list.
New to my cheap 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, an 11 ½ year-old boy, an 8 ½ year-old girl, a 6 year-old girl and a 3 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 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 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.
- 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.
WEEK ONE
Sunday
- Leftovers; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Frosted Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
- Tuna Toasts; Easy Fruit Smoothie; Homemade Popcorn
– My husband made the toasts and loosely followed this recipe for the bread. Then we made homemade tuna salad and ate it on top of the toasts. So good!
Monday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Grapes; Clementines
- Garlic Chicken; Rice; Green Beans; Leftover Cheesecake
Tuesday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Grapes; Bananas
- Cheeseburger Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Best Ever Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing
Wednesday
- Refried Bean and Cheese Quesadilla (used my homemade refried beans); Organic Yogurt; Grapes; Apples
- Southwest Bean Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Leftover Chocolate Cake
– The soup recipe that I use is similar to this one.
Thursday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Apples; Frozen Blueberries
- Porcupines in a Skillet; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Rhubarb Custard Pie
Friday
- 5 Minute Refried Bean Dip with Tortilla Chips; Organic Yogurt; Apples; Canned Peaches
- Creamy Sausage and Potato Skillet; Peas; Leftover Cheesecake and Chocolate Cake
Saturday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Apples; Frozen Blueberries
- Leftovers; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Store Bought Cookies
WEEK TWO
Sunday
- Shakuska; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Rhubarb Cake
– The rhubarb cake is a coffee cake-like recipe that is in a small cookbook that I have. - Tuna Toasts; Easy Fruit Smoothie; Homemade Popcorn
– My husband made the toasts and loosely followed this recipe for the bread. Then we made homemade tuna salad and ate it on top of the toasts. So good!
Monday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Clementines; Bananas
- One Pot Ground Beef and Potatoes; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Leftover Rhubarb Cake
Tuesday
- Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas; Organic Yogurt; Bananas; Apples
– The quesadillas are just the topping for a pepperoni pizza inside of a quesadilla. So easy and delicious! - Sausage, Lentil and Rice Skillet Meal; Green Beans; Leftover Rhubarb Cake
Wednesday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Apples; Clementines
- Chicken and Potato Chowder; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Homemade Chocolate Brownies
Thursday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Apples; Canned Peaches
- Easy Ground Beef and Rice Skillet; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Leftover Chocolate Brownies
Friday
- Refried Bean and Cheese Quesadilla (used my homemade refried beans); Organic Yogurt; Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
- Leftovers; Peas; Store Bought Cookies
Saturday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Organic Yogurt; Bananas; Fresh Pineapple
- Bought Pizza;
- Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing and Homemade Ranch; Ice Cream Bars
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Sister Su says
What a fabulous blog post filled with great tips! Thank you for all your hard work!
Lydia Beiler says
Aw, thanks for your kind words, Su. You blessed me!