This simple menu is full of frugal meals! It’s perfect if you are looking for delicious, easy, inexpensive meals that are family friendly too.
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People often think that cooking your own meals from scratch regularly is time-consuming, which is part of the reason that fast food holds such an allure! But honestly, it doesn’t have to be that way!
Cooking meals at home is like most things- once you do it for a bit, it becomes easier because you learn little tricks and tips that make it go more smoothly or that save you time. And before you know it, you can whip up dinner almost as quickly as you can go through the drive-through line over the dinner time rush!
One of the things that helps make it relatively easy for us to eat mostly from scratch meals at home regularly is to stick with easy, simple dishes. In fact, I think each of the meals on this menu took me 30 minutes or less to make. Some of that is because I do things like make a dessert one evening and then eat it multiple days in a row, which cuts down on prep time.
It’s also because I try to find ways to save time like using my Vidalia Chop Wizard (easily one of my favorite kitchen tools!) to quickly chop things like onions, potatoes, carrots and more. With the help of my chopper, prep time for recipes like the Easy Chicken Pot Pie and Sausage and Creamed Potatoes that you see in my menu below, are easily cut in half. And everyone knows that that’s a major win!
If you looking for some frugal 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-year-old boy, a 6-year-old girl, a 3 ½-year-old girl and a 1-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 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 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 help me have a productive day!
WEEK 1
Sunday
- Chipotle Casserole; Peas; Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Tuna Quesadillas; Easy Fruit Smoothie
Monday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches on 100% Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Apples; Frozen Blueberries
- Baked Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Easy Apple Dumpling Dessert with Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream
Tuesday
- Refried Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (used homemade refried beans); Easy Homemade Yogurt; Apples; Home Canned Peaches
- Salsa Chicken Soup; Lettuce Salad; Leftover Easy Apple Dumpling Dessert with Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream
Wednesday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches on 100% Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
- Easy Ground Beef and Rice Skillet; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Leftover Easy Apple Dumpling Dessert with Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream
Thursday
- Pizza Hut Pizza (free thanks to their Book It program) for the two older kids; Leftover Salsa Chicken Soup for the rest of us; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
- Eggs; Toast; Sausage; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Enjoy Life Brand Cookies (got free thanks to coupons)
Friday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches on 100% Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
- Various Leftovers; Lettuce Salad; Homemade Applesauce; Best Ever Chocolate Cake with Quick Caramel Icing
Saturday
- Easy Vegetable Beef Soup; Cheese; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries
- One Pan Balsamic Sausage and Veggies (used cabbage instead of carrots); Homemade Applesauce; Leftover Best Ever Chocolate Cake with Quick Caramel Icing
WEEK 2
Sunday
- Easy Chicken Pot Pie; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Homemade Tuna Salad on 100% Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Fruit Smoothie
Monday
- Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Apples
- One Pan Spanish Chicken and Rice; Green Beans; Homemade Applesauce; Leftover Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Tuesday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches on 100% Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Bananas; Home Canned Peaches
- Creamy Sausage and Potatoes; Lettuce Salad; Homemade Applesauce; Leftover Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Wednesday
- Garlicky White Bean Dip with Tortilla Chips; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Bananas; Apples
- Egg Stacks; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Chocolate Brownies
Thursday
- Meat & Cheese Sandwiches on 100% Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Blueberries; Apples
- Country Potato Soup; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Leftover Homemade Chocolate Brownies
Friday
- Various Leftovers; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Blueberries; Bananas
- Italian Beef and Cheese Dinner; Green Beans; Homemade Applesauce; Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream
– The Italian Beef and Cheese Dinner is a casserole with a doughy bottom, topped with ground beef and cheese as well as some tomato sauce and other basic ingredients. Very easy and quite tasty!
Saturday
- Home Canned Vegetable Soup; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Bananas; Home Canned Peaches
- All Beef Hot Dogs/Sausages; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Apple Goodie (my recipe is similar to this one) with Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream
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Kim
This is such a great idea for saving money! I also absolutely love all of the meals on your meal plan. I’ll have to try some of them myself!
ThriftyFrugalMom
Thanks, Kim! It definitely does really help with the budget.