Thrifty Frugal Mom

Where food, family and finances meet.

  • Home
  • Welcome!
    • Contact
  • Frugal Living
    • Money Saving Tips
    • Frugal Gift Ideas
    • Meal Plans: What We Eat on $200 a Month
    • Our $200 Grocery Budget {Series}
    • Our $200 Grocery Budget: What I Spent & Saved
  • Frugal Recipes
    • Main Dishes
    • Soups
    • Make Your Own
    • Desserts
    • Snacks
    • Beverages
    • Canning & Freezing
  • Homemaking
    • Frugal Remodeling | Home Decor
    • Organization
  • Family
    • Baby
    • Kids

$225/MONTH MENU PLAN FOR OUR FAMILY OF 6 (POST #44)

by 4 Comments

Pin1.0K
Tweet
Share19
Yum
Email
1.0K Shares

Trying to save money but also eat well? Me too!  Here’s the latest meal plan showing what I’m feeding my family of 6 on a budget!

Feeding a Family of 6 on a Budget

There are affiliate links in this post. If you use these links, I may earn a commission- please read my full disclosure policy.

I often get asked how I feed my family of 6 on a budget as small as ours.  And it’s that question that first inspired me to start these menu plans several years ago.  It’s also why I did series a while back that was all about how I shop with our $225/mo. grocery budget.

One of the very easy things that I have done though to help lower our grocery budget has been to use various money saving apps!  These apps aren’t typically going to save you loads of money each week, but they are a simple way to save a little extra.  Plus, I find them rather fun to use too, especially Fetch Rewards and Shopkick (finding the items to scan for this one is like going on a treasure hunt!)

Here are the money saving apps that I use and love if you want to check the out and give them a try too:

  • Ibotta 
  • Saving Star
  • Fetch Rewards (use referral code GE0EG to get $2.00 in free points!)
    – This one is the absolute easiest to use…you just scan your receipt and that’s it.  I’ve only used it for a couple of weeks and I already have earned $9 in Amazon gift cards!
  •  Shopkick (use promo code THRIFTY5 at sign up to get an extra 3000 point)
    – This one isn’t really a grocery app per se, but I like to use it when I’m at the grocery store to earn points (or kicks as they call them) that I can redeem for gift cards.  It only takes a couple of extra minutes and if I’m not pushed for time it’s worth it for me!

If you looking for some frugal family meals to add to your weekly meal plan ideas but are new to my menu plan posts, it’s probably helpful to know a couple of things first:

  • Our family of six consists of two adults with fairly big appetites, a 9 ½ year-old boy, a 6 year-old girl, a 4 year-old girl and a 1 ½ year-old boy.  
  • 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 almost always make them from scratch.  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 lunch time.  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 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 coffee, homemade frappe or some other fun beverage every morning.  It’s just one of the little things that I do to help me have a productive day!

Feeding a Family of 6 on a Budget

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

WEEK 1
Sunday

  • Easy Chicken Pot Pie; Homemade Chocolate Brownies
    – We had a carry in at church and this is what I took.
  • Homemade Grilled Chicken Salad Sandwiches; Easy Fruit Smoothie

Monday

  • Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Oranges; Bananas
  • Hearty Hamburger Soup (my recipe is similar to this one); Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Crazy Good Carrot Cake

Tuesday

  • Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Oranges
  • Kid Fresh Chicken Nuggets; Herb Roasted Potatoes; Roasted Spiced Sweet Potatoes; Green Beans; Homemade Chocolate Brownies
    – We love these “healthy” chicken nuggets and since I get them free or super cheap with with my couponin, I love using them for a quick and easy dinner on busy days.

Wednesday

  • Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Oranges; Bananas
  • Breakfast Burritos (sausage/eggs/cheese and toppings); Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the freezer)

Thursday

  • Refried Bean and Cheese Quesadilla (used my homemade refried beans); Easy Homemade Yogurt; Oranges; Bananas
  • Homemade BBQ Chicken Sandwiches; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the freezer)

Friday

  • Leftover Hearty Hamburger Soup; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Bananas
  • The Best Chili on Earth; Quick and Easy Breadsticks; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Chocolate Brownies
    – We babysat for a couple of friends and as a result, had 6 kids join us for dinner.

Saturday

  • Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches
  • Homemade Pulled Pork Sandwiches; Lettuce Salad; Leftover Chocolate Brownies

herb roasted chicken and potatoes

WEEK 2
Sunday

  • Herb Roasted Chicken and Potatoes; Green Beans; Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream
  • Homemade White Bean Dip (similar to hummus) with tortilla chips; Deer Bologna
    – We’re going through a video series at church right now once a month and then afterward we all eat a light finger food meal together.  Oh and the deer bologna was given to us- my husband is very much not a hunter!  🙂 

Monday

  • Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Bananas; Oranges
  • Various Leftovers; Peas; Candy Bars
    – Occasionally I get candy free with my couponing and this night we split a couple and had them as our dessert.

Tuesday

  • Leftover Chili Soup; Pizza Hut Book-It Pizza (our two oldest kid’s got these); Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
  • All Beef Hot Dogs; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Cheese

Wednesday

  • Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Oranges
  • Crockpot Tuscan Bean Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies (from freezer)

Thurday

  • Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches
  • Chicken “Burgers”; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce

Friday

  • Meat & Cheese Sandwiches; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
  • Salsa Chicken Soup; Lettuce Salad; Homemade Mocha Cheesecake

Saturday

  • Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
  • Homemade Chicken Alfredo Pizza (used homemade Healthier Alfredo Sauce and homemade pizza crust and topped with chicken, caramelized onions and of course cheese); Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Leftover Mocha Cheesecake
    – 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.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:foods to freeze that freeze well

quick and easy chicken recipes

Pin1.0K
Tweet
Share19
Yum
Email
1.0K Shares

Filed Under: Menus: What We Eat On $200 a Month

« 8 Tips to Shop Kid’s Consignment Sales Like a Pro
Easy Vegetable Beef Soup »

Comments

  1. JoC says

    September 7, 2018 at 5:31 PM

    Hello and THANK YOU! I just found your site and I want you to know..you’re amazing. I have a family of 4, our 2 year old, 5 year old and myself. We are now taking care of two middle school boys with huge appetites. I was wondering how we were going to feed everyone on a tight budget. Thanks to you I have some direction. You’re a doll.

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      September 13, 2018 at 11:07 AM

      I’m so glad that my site could help! Adding two middle school boys would definitely tax the grocery budget pretty quickly! Those growing appetites are crazy, aren’t they? I hope you are blessed with lots of creative ideas on how to make good, nutritious food for everyone without totally blowing your budget. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Randi Aja says

    January 29, 2019 at 3:32 AM

    I would love to see what your grocery list for this looks like.

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      January 31, 2019 at 10:34 PM

      Randi, I talk in great detail about how I plan and do my grocery shopping in these posts. It’s pretty non-traditional but allows me to save a lot of money! You might also find these posts about my frugal grocery shopping trips helpful too. If there is something more that you would like to know, please ask and I’ll be happy to try to explain it.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Welcome! I’m Lydia. I love to share easy homemade recipes, simple homemaking tips and great money saving ideas. I want to help you find ways to live well and enjoy life on a budget! Read more…

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Site Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress · Privacy Policy