Healthy Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #2
Sometimes meal planning is just a pain to do. It’s hard to come up with new and inspiring dishes, and we eat the same thing every week for a while.
To help those with a super tight grocery budget, I have started creating the ultimate 1-week menu plan that is not only cheap but healthy!
These meal plans use real food, fresh vegetables, and a few meats every week. I try not to include a lot of processed foods, and just get creative while staying on a small budget. I have included some links to super easy recipes if you are not already familiar with how to make some of the items.
Cheap Meal Plan for the Week
Breakfasts
- Egg, Cheese, and Bacon Burritos x2
- Toast with Peanut Butter and Bananas x2
- Baked Apple Oatmeal Bars x3 (easy recipe here)
The burritos and the toast are pretty simple to make. I would cook all the bacon on a sheet pan in the oven all at one time, and then store in a tupperware to use for the burritos and later for the pizza!
The Baked Oatmeal Bars are super easy too and versatile. You can use pretty much any fruit or flavorings that you like.
The recipe uses all pantry basics and is really just a mix together and bake type dish. My spin on this was to take a few apples and dice them up. I then sauté the apples in butter to soften them.
I let the cooked apples cool down first, and then add them to the recipe. I also like to cut all the bars and place them in a large Tupperware container to store them. They last for a few days and are a super easy breakfast on busy mornings.
Lunches
- Spinach Salads with Hard Boiled Eggs and Leftover Ham & Ranch Dressing (and tomato & cucumber)
- Homemade Hummus with Carrots and Celery
- Egg Salad Sandwiches
- Leftovers
The only one of these lunches that takes a little work is the homemade hummus. The good news is that all you need is a food processor to make it!
Most recipes do call for tahani paste for hummus, but I find it tends to be a little expensive. I choose to skip it and focus on adding a little vegetable or olive oil.
I also love that you can flavor hummus in any way that you like! We do a lot of garlic and herb style hummus, but really you can go with any flavorings you like.
Dinners
- Meatloaf with Mashed potatoes and Sauteed Carrots
- Chicken Lo Mein with Broccoli (sauce is made with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sesame oil)
- Leftover Chicken and Dumplings (easy dumpling recipe here) using frozen mixed vegetables and 1 can of cream of chicken soup)
- Ham and Cheese Quiche with Homemade Rice a Roni (rice a roni recipe here)
- 3 Meat Pizza using leftover Ham, leftover Bacon, and Pepperoni with a Spinach Side Salad (easy pizza dough recipe here)
- Leftover Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas with Rice and Black Beans
For the meatloaf, I like to utilize sandwich bread instead of buying breadcrumbs. You can simply put two pieces of bread in the toaster and then chop it into tiny pieces. Or you can go the super simple route and use the heel pieces of the bread. I simply just tear them with my hands into small pieces.
To make the meatloaf, I put the ground beef, the bread pieces, seasonings, and 1 egg together in a bowl. I use my hands to mix them all together and then put it in a loaf pan or make mini loaves on a sheet pan.
The mini loaves cook a little quicker and don’t drown themselves in grease, so I like these better.
For Chicken Lo Mein, I like to take my 4-6 chicken breasts and sauté them in a large pan. Once they have a nice color on both sides, I will finish them off in the oven until done.
Don’t forget to save 1/4 of the box of spaghetti noodles for the rice dish later! So, for this meal you will only boil and cook 3/4 of the box of spaghetti noodles.
I don’t have a true recipe for this dish, but usually I take cooked, thin spaghetti noodles and add an easy sauce. The sauce is basically 1 part soy sauce, 1 part hoisin sauce, and 1 part sesame oil. I totally eyeball it and it always turns out great.
I will take 2 chicken breasts and chop them into to bite size pieces. Add your chicken and steam in the bag broccoli to your noodles and coat with sauce. Super easy and tasty!
For Chicken and Dumplings, I will use 1-2 leftover cooked chicken breasts. This super simple casserole dish has very little prep needed.
I dice the chicken in to bite size pieces and put it in a bowl with the microwave steamed mixed vegetables. Then I add the can of cream of chicken soup. (You can also use cream of mushroom or cream of celery if you have those on hand)
Once the soup mixture is all mixed together, I put it into a greased casserole dish. Then I mix up the dumplings. You can also use Bisquick mix for dumplings too!
Once the dumplings are mixed together, I will spoon them on top of my veggie/chicken mixture. Then bake in the oven until golden brown.
For Ham & Cheese Quiche, I love to make quiche to use up leftovers! Plus, it is just a super simple prep and bake style of meal.
I like to use premade pie crusts or the crusts that come in their own pans. I could make the crust myself but that will just add time to prep.
I place about 1/3 of the diced ham in the bottom of the pie crust and add my cheese. Then I crack 5 eggs in a bowl and whisk until light yellow. I like to add my seasonings to the egg mixture so it will spread evenly.
Simply pour the egg mixture over the ham and cheese, then bake in the oven until golden brown. I find that quiche typically takes about 30-40 minutes to bake. I like to let it sit and cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
For the Homemade Rice a Roni, I recently figured out that you can make your own cheaper and healthy version of the classic rice dish. We don’t typically eat a ton of rice, so I like to use 1/2 cup of rice and then use the leftover 1/4 of a box of spaghetti noodles. I simply break the spaghetti into tiny pieces.
Just like making Rice a Roni out of the box, I sauté my rice and pasta in butter until golden brown, then add my 2 cups of water. I personally like to use chicken Boullion cubes or granules.
Then I also can add any leftover vegetables to the rice too like corn, diced carrots, peas, tomatoes, etc. Super simple to make and adapt to what you have on hand!
For the pizza, I will use the leftover bacon, 1/3 of the diced ham, and pepperoni. You can use whatever crust recipe you like. We like to use ranch dressing as the base of our pizza, but you can also use one of those tiny cans of tomato sauce if you prefer red sauce.
For the Quesadillas, I would use the last of the chicken and dice it into small pieces. If you have any bacon leftover, that would be a great addition as well.
Snacks
- Bananas
- Carrots & Celery with Ranch
- Peanut Butter and Apples
Sweet Treat
- Homemade Cinnamon Rolls (see recipe here)
I am a huge fan of sweets and love to make homemade ones. This can be a dessert of just a fun treat. Since we already had flour, yeast, and brown sugar, I figured cinnamon rolls would be just perfect.
If you have any raisins, nuts, or dried fruit in your pantry, you can add these to the rolls too! I typically will make these on an easy dinner night early in the week, and then they are available for a few nights!
Grocery List for the Week
Here is our list for the week broken down by section of the grocery store.
This is all the fresh vegetables and fruits we need for the week.
| Produce Items | Have on hand? |
| 6 Bananas | |
| Gala Apples | |
| Spinach | |
| Whole Carrots | |
| Celery | |
| Potatoes | |
| Tomato | |
| Cucumber | |
| Total: (8 items) |
This is all the meats that we will need from the deli and meat counter.
| Deli/Meat Items | Have on Hand? |
| Bacon | |
| Ground Beef (1lb) | |
| Chicken Breasts (4-6 needed) | |
| Diced Ham | |
| Pepperoni | |
| Total: (5 items) |
This is all the dry goods and shelf stable items that we need for our meal plan.
| Dry Good Items | Have on Hand? |
| Flour Tortillas | |
| Loaf bread | |
| Peanut Butter | |
| Oatmeal | |
| Brown Sugar | |
| Garbanzo beans (canned) | |
| Mayonnaise | |
| Soy Sauce | |
| Hoisin Sauce | |
| Sesame Oil | |
| Spaghetti Noodles | |
| All Purpose Flour | |
| Cream of Chicken Soup | |
| Chicken Bouillon Cubes | |
| Active Dry Yeast (need 2) | |
| White Rice | |
| Black Beans (canned) | |
| Powdered Sugar | |
| Total: (19 items) |
These are the frozen items needed for this week’s meal plan.
| Frozen Items | Have on Hand? |
| Frozen Broccoli | |
| Frozen Mixed Vegetables | |
| Pie Crust | |
| Total: (3 items) |
These are all the dairy items needed like milk and cheeses.
| Dairy Items | Have on Hand? |
| Eggs | |
| Shredded Cheddar Cheese | |
| Shredded Mozzarella Cheese | |
| Milk | |
| Total: (3 items) |
Under $100 Meal Plan
I have priced out this meal plan at multiple stores, and at most places it typically runs about $100.
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 #1
Healthy Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #3
