Healthy Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #1
Meal Planning can make or break a grocery budget! If you are already on a tight budget or if you have had some unexpected expenses, then you need to learn how to eat cheap and healthy on a budget.
I have created this super easy and healthy meal plan for a family of 4. If needed, you can scale this menu for a bigger family or for a couple. My goal is to eat cheap, healthy, and filling foods for the week in a realistic way that is easy for anyone to make.
We try to use fresh fruits and vegetables when we can and limit the amount of super processed items. This keeps our grocery list cheap, and it also means we are eating much healthier than if we bought prepared foods or fast food.
Cheap Meal Plan for the Week
Breakfasts
- Peanut Butter Toast with Bananas x2
- Overnight Oats with Apples and Raisins x3
- Scrambled Eggs with Cheese on top and Toast x2
Most of these breakfast options are pretty standard to make. If you have never made overnight oats before, it is super simple!
I like to grab some mason jars or plastic containers with lids and add my ingredients directly to it in an assembly line fashion. So, I will make one for each person all in one go!
For the apples, you can sauté them in a pan with a little brown sugar and butter until softened. I usually do this while I am cooking dinner and let it cool.
Once cooled I will put a spoonful of apples in each container, a spoonful of raisins, and then add my oatmeal. Depending on how much oatmeal you like to eat, I add between 1/2 cup to 1 cup to each jar.
Now I top each jar with milk but pour slowly. As the milk fills in all the gaps in the jar, you will notice a little “burp” where the milk catches up to the top of the jar. I use just enough milk to cover the oats.
Now simply refrigerate overnight until the next morning. In the morning, I give each jar a shake to mix the ingredients together.
In the summer, we typically eat the oatmeal cold but, in the summertime, I will pour it in a bowl and heat it in the microwave. Cold overnight oats taste similar to a parfait!
We also sometimes substitute out the milk and use plain yogurt or almond milk. The fun with overnight oats is that there are a million combinations you can make!
Lunches
- Tuna Salad Sandwiches x 2
- Veggie & Pepperoni Pasta Salad with Zesty Italian Dressing
- Salad Wraps with tomato, cucumber, and cheese
- Leftovers
Tuna Salad and Salad wraps are super easy so no real need to explain those. The veggie and pepperoni salad is super simple and versatile too!
On whatever night that we make the Chicken Alfredo dish, we are going to cook the whole 16oz box of pasta. After we drain the water, we will put 1/2 of the pasta into a separate bowl and make our pasta salad. The other 1/2 will make the Chicken Alfredo.
Next, we will steam our bag of frozen mixed vegetables in the microwave according to the directions. I will let this sit for a few minutes to cool down once cooked.
While it is cooling, I will take about 1/2 of the package of pepperoni and cut each piece into 2-4 pieces. Then you can add the pepperoni and cooled down mixed vegetables to the spaghetti noodles!
I add a generous amount of zesty Italian dressing and start mixing. If your dressing isn’t zesty, you can always add more seasonings to it for more flavor!
Once the noodles, veggies, and pepperoni are combined, I will put the covered bowl in the fridge. I find pasta salad always tastes better the next day after I have made it. The noodles soak up all the dressing and just taste so much better!
You can also add other ingredients that you like! We have made this with fresh vegetables, cheddar or feta cheese, add some tomatoes & cucumbers. I love recipes that I can adapt based on what I find on sale or in my freezer/pantry!
Snacks
- Carrots
- Apples
- Popcorn
If you have kids is it very reasonable to know that snacks will be needed! We like to go ahead and precut the carrots, but we wait to cut apples when we eat them.
Popcorn is a super easy snack, but it is easy to get carried away. Instead of eating directly from the bag, I will give everyone their own bowl. Any leftover popcorn in the bag can be put into plastic Ziploc style bags for another snack later or the next day.
Dinners
When I meal plan, I rarely assign a dinner to a specific night. I usually know that I want to make certain dishes early in the week because parts of them will be used later on.
Baked Whole Chicken with rice and sautéed carrots
This is an early in the week dinner for me and I usually cook this on a Sunday afternoon. I place a whole chicken in a casserole or lasagna type pan. I like to rub some butter and season the outside with spices.
Typically, it takes about 2 hours to bake the chicken in the oven, but it will depend on the size of your chicken. I like to check on it every 30 minutes and baste as needed with any chicken juice in the pan.
Meanwhile, I will take about half of the bag of carrots and peel them. Then I cut them in rounds or a large chop to roughly 1/2-inch size pieces.
I put the carrots in a bowl and lightly drizzle some oil on them and add seasoning. Sometimes I keep it simple with just salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Other times I will use a seasoning blend or go with a stronger spice like dill or thyme.
Once the carrots are coated and seasoned, I place them spread out on a sheet pan and bake in the oven with the chicken for about 20-30 minutes. I want them tender, so I start to check on them at about 20 minutes.
After the carrots are in the oven, I will make a small saucepan of white rice. You can also add extra seasonings to your rice for more flavor. I like to add Chicken Boullion cubes, leftover vegetables like tomatoes or mushrooms, and can also use lemon juice or just butter.
If I time it just right the chicken, carrots, and rice are usually all done around the same time! When it is time to serve, I will cut the chicken breasts in slices similar to the way you would cut a turkey at Thanksgiving.
After dinner, I will go ahead and pull all the chicken meat off the bones and store it in an airtight Tupperware container for later.
Leftover Chicken in a Pasta with Alfredo Sauce, Broccoli, and side salad
On Pasta Night, I will take out my container of leftover chicken and half of my dinner is ready to go! All I need to do is boil my pasta and cut up the tomato and cucumber for a side salad.
When you go to add your alfredo sauce, make sure to leave the last little bit in the jar. We will use this on another night for pizza!
I love the frozen broccoli that is steam in the bag! If you want to mix it into the pasta that is fine too! My 5-year-old likes his broccoli plain, so we typically just keep it on the side. This makes it super easy to use for other recipes if we have leftover broccoli.
I could use this broccoli in the pasta salad for lunches or chop it up and add it to scrambled eggs for breakfast!
Ground Turkey Tacos with Corn and Refried Beans
One of the great things about tacos is that everyone can make their own exactly the way they like it! I usually cook up my ground turkey with taco seasoning in a pan and then transfer it into a large Tupperware bowl.
For the side dishes we are using canned corn and canned refried beans. This is super easy for a busy night! We should already have diced up tomato and lettuce from our salads, so not a lot of work for this dinner.
At the end of the night, I will put everything up in separate containers. This makes it so simple to reuse parts of the meal in other meals like lunches.
Leftover Taco Meat in a Mexican Baked Potato Bar with Side Salads
Another super easy busy night meal! I love to do baked potatoes in the microwave. I wash each potato and then using a fork a pierce each potato a few times.
Then I set the microwave for 3 minutes and then flip the potatoes. I keep repeating 3 minutes until the potatoes are nice and soft. Depending on the size of the potatoes, I may have to flip 3-4 times.
I will microwave the taco meat, and bring out the last of the tomato, cucumber, and lettuce for a simple side salad.
My kids like to add sour cream to their potatoes, but my husband usually just adds hot sauce or extra taco sauce. You can make it as mild or spicy as you like!
Pork Loin with Mashed Potatoes and Corn
This is another meal that sounds way more complicated than it is. If it is summertime, my husband will typically cook the pork loin on the grill for 20 minutes depending on the size of the meat.
If it is wintertime, I may cook the pork loin in the crockpot all day or throw it in the oven for a couple of hours. It really depends on how busy my day is that I want to make this meal.
For mashed potatoes, I simply wash and chop potatoes and bring to a boil. I like to make mashed potatoes with my hand mixer and add sour cream, milk, and butter to make them creamy.
Typically, a can of corn will last two meals at my house, so we will use up the leftover corn from taco night as a side dish. If I still have leftover broccoli too then I will mix the two vegetables together.
Hawaiin Pizza with Leftover Pork, Pepperoni, and Pineapple (using a little Alfredo Sauce as the Base)
Friday or Saturday nights typically mean Pizza Night at our house! We love to make homemade pizza to use up leftover from the week. You can literally put anything on a pizza.
I found a super easy pizza dough recipe years ago and I forgot who wrote it. The recipe is super simple.
- 2 cups flour
- 1 pack of dry active yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp oil
- 3/4 hot water
- seasoning (we like to add Italian season mix, ranch seasoning mix, or a garlic and herb mix.)
The recipe can be made by hand with a fork or using a stand mixer. Once you mix all the ingredients together, a dough will start to form. If your dough is still very wet, you may need to add more flour.
Once the dough is formed, I roll it into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. You can cover it with a towel or piece of plastic wrap. I like to use a giant rubber band to hold the plastic wrap in place.
I let this sit for 30 minutes to an hour, and then press the dough into a cookie sheet or pizza pan. It is so simple to make it in any style of crust that you like.
We typically like white sauce for our pizzas and we will use up the small amount of leftover alfredo sauce in the jar. We also sometimes use ranch dressing for our sauce as well!
I will dice up the leftover pork loin into a small dice. I add the pork, the leftover pepperoni, and canned pineapple to the pizza with mozzarella cheese.
Not only is pizza the yummiest, but it is also a super easy way to use up all the leftovers from the week!
Sweet Treat
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Drinks
- Milk
- Water
- Coffee
- Pineapple Water (leftover pineapple juice mixed with water)
Grocery List for the Week
These are the fresh vegetables and fruits needed in the produce section for my meal plan this week.
| Produce Items | Have on Hand? |
| 8 Bananas | |
| Gala Apples | |
| Green Leafy Lettuce | |
| Potatoes | |
| Tomatoes x3 | |
| Cucumbers | |
| Carrots | |
| Totals: 7 Items |
Here are the items I will need from the deli and meat section of the stores.
| Meat & Deli Items | Have on Hand? |
| Pepperoni | |
| Whole Chicken | |
| Ground Turkey | |
| Pork Loin | |
| Totals: 4 Items |
This is the center area of most grocery stores, and I call this area dry goods. It is all items that are considered shelf stable and are typically stored in a cabinet or on a pantry shelf.
| Dry Goods Items | Have on Hand? |
| Sandwich Bread | |
| Peanut Butter | |
| Oatmeal | |
| Raisins | |
| Canned Tuna Fish (2 cans) | |
| Pasta | |
| Zesty Italian Dressing | |
| Tortillas | |
| Popcorn | |
| White Rice | |
| Alfredo Sauce | |
| Canned Corn | |
| Refried Beans | |
| Salsa | |
| Canned Pineapple | |
| All Purpose Flour | |
| Dry Active Yeast | |
| Brown Sugar | |
| Totals: 18 items |
This is the area in the store that typically has frozen meats, vegetables, fruits, and ice cream. We will mainly stick to the frozen veggie section.
| Frozen Items | Have on Hand? |
| Frozen Mixed Vegetables | |
| Frozen Broccoli | |
| Totals: 2 items |
This is the final section of the store and will cover all dairy needs like cheeses and milk.
| Item: | Have on Hand? |
| Eggs | |
| 2% Milk (gallon) | |
| Cheddar cheese (shredded) | |
| Mozzarella cheese (shredded) | |
| Sour Cream | |
| Totals: 5 items |
Under $100 Meal Plan
I have priced out this meal plan at multiple stores all over the United States, and at most places it typically runs under $100. Keep in mind that if you already have any of the ingredients at home like flour, Italian dressing, or brown sugar, your total could run even less!
If you click on each store, you will see a complete breakdown of the cost of this meal plan and grocery list.
For more Healthy Grocery List and Meal Plans, check out:
Healthy Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #2
Healthy Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #3
