Healthy Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #5
This week’s meal plan is all about a No Red Meat. I have had a couple of requests for a weekly meal plan that does not include pork or beef, so that was the inspiration for this week.
The meal plan this week is all about getting the healthiest foods on a very tight budget. We try to stay away from super processed foods but still make quick and easy meals.
Now we know that having a plan without snacks and sweets is not realistic, so we include those in our plans as well. This is a full breakdown of how I would make this frugal meal plan work.
Frugal Meal Plan
Breakfasts
- Scrambled Eggs with Homestyle Potatoes (chunky hash browns using leftover baked potatoes)
- French Toast with Pancake Syrup
- Apple Pie Overnight Oats (sauteed apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, pancake syrup, and quick oats)
Scrambled Eggs and Homestyle Potatoes– the scrambled egg part is fairly simple, but the homestyle potatoes are an easy filling breakfast treat! I like to make extra potatoes in the microwave when I make baked potatoes for lunch. Then I take the cooled potatoes from the fridge and chop them into about 1/2 inch cubes. In a skillet, add a little oil and put on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, I will add the potatoes and whatever seasonings sound good. Typically, I use fry seasoning or a garlic herb mix. Fry until crispy and brown and serve with your scrambled eggs!
French Toast with Syrup – This is another super easy breakfast that you can make in the morning or the night before. I have come across lots of French toast casseroles too that you can make ahead of time. I like to cut my French toast into long 1–2-inch strips so it is easier to eat for toddlers.
Apple Pie Overnight Oats – On Tuna Melt night when I make sauteed apples, I will go ahead and cook extra for breakfast. To make the overnight oats is an easy make ahead breakfast. I like to put a good spoonful of sauteed apples on the bottom. Add some spices like cinnamon or nutmeg and a little squeeze of pancake syrup. Then I will top with about 1/2 a cup of quick oats. Then pour milk over the oats until covered. The next morning, you can heat these in the microwave or serve them cold. I prefer them cold, but in the wintertime, I will usually heat them up for 30 seconds in the microwave.
Lunches
- Baked Potato with leftover taco seasoned ground turkey
- Grilled Cheese with Carrot Sticks & Tortilla Chips
- White Bean Hummus with Carrots
- Salads with Tomato, Cucumber, and Cheese
- Dinner Leftovers
Baked Potato with Taco Meat – On the night that I make the taco pasta, I will brown up the whole pound of ground turkey, but I will save about 1/4 of it for this lunch. The day of I will clean some potatoes and give them a good fork puncture on all sides. I typically put them on a plate in the microwave for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes I will turn them and do another 3 minutes. I keep repeating this process until the potatoes are soft. Total amount of cooking time will depend on the size of the potatoes. I love a good baked potato with just butter and pepper but adding the taco meat makes this lunch more filling!
Grilled Cheese – Grilled cheese is the ultimate comfort food for me! I also love the versatility of a grilled cheese sandwich. You can use any cheese you like and also add more ingredients to add flavor. I love to throw in some lunch meat like turkey, sliced tomatoes, pickles, or leftover bacon. The possibilities are endless and are always yummy! If I have this lunch early in the week, I will go ahead and cut my carrots into sticks for the rest of the week to save time for future lunches and snacks.
White Bean Hummus– This is a super easy dip that I sometimes will make the day or on night’s when I have some extra time. I will take a can of white beans and rinse them with cold water to remove any metallic taste from the can. In my food processor, I will add the beans, a little oil, and seasonings. I love to use minced garlic, garlic powder, or a seasoning blend. This is also a good time to use any leftovers like cooked peppers or mushrooms. I will let this process for a few moments and it if it doesn’t seem creamy enough, I will slowly add oil until it is nicely blended and smooth. Hummus is always an easy snack or lunch with carrot sticks or tortilla chips!
Salads– I love to go ahead and prep my lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes on a Sunday night. This way all my ingredients are ready to use for side salads or lunch at any time during the week. I will go ahead and breakdown my head of lettuce and store in a sealed plastic bag. The trick is to roll the bag tight to get out as much air as possible out of the bag. My lettuce easily lasts all week doing this. I will go ahead and dice up my tomatoes and cucumbers and store in separate containers.
Dinners
- Teriyaki Chicken with broccoli and rice (sauce made with brown sugar and soy sauce)
- Creamy Spinach Chicken and Pasta (leftover chicken, creamed spinach, tomatoes, and pasta) served with side salad
- Chicken and Rice Soup (leftover chicken, rice, chicken bouillon, and mixed vegetables) with Toasted Butter Bread
- Turkey Hamburgers with Homemade Potato Wedges
- Cheesy Tuna Melts on Hamburger Buns (tuna, ranch dressing, and cheese) with side salads and sauteed apples
- Taco Pasta (ground turkey, black beans, canned rotel style tomatoes, taco seasoning, and tortilla chips)
Teriyaki Chicken– This super easy and filling meal tastes amazing and is so simple. I typically use about 2 chicken breasts for this meal and cut them into about 1-inch pieces. Cook the chicken pieces in a little oil until fully cooked and a little golden brown. While the chicken is cooking, I will make a pot of rice. Since we can use cooked rice in our soup, I will go ahead and cook twice as much rice then I need for this dinner. I also love the steam in a bag frozen vegetables, so I will go ahead and microwave my broccoli. Once the chicken is done, I will add about 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar and about 1/4 of cup of soy sauce. I let the chicken simmer in the sauce until the sauce starts to thicken. Then go ahead and add my steamed broccoli to the mix. Serve the chicken and broccoli over the rice and you have a super easy and tasty dinner that is filling.
Creamy Spinach Pasta with Chicken– Similar to the Teriyaki chicken, I will use about 1-2 chicken breasts for this meal. It really depends on the size of the chicken breasts. I will go ahead and cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces. You can save time by go ahead and cutting enough for both meals and cooking it in the skillet. Just take half and save it for the other meal before you add the sauce. While I am cooking in the skillet, I will go ahead and boil my pasta. If I can find frozen spinach that already has a butter or cheese sauce for cheap, I will usually buy that to save myself some time, but if the cheapest option is plain spinach that will work too. For already creamed spinach I will go ahead and add my chicken and pasta and stir until mixed. I usually will top with some fresh chopped tomatoes and a little mozzarella cheese. If I buy plain frozen spinach, I will add extra butter and mozzarella cheese to make my own version of creamed spinach. Both ways are super easy to make and taste about the same.
Chicken and Rice Soup – This can be a super simple dump meal, or you can start from scratch. I like to sauté my chicken breast in the bottom of my pot and then set aside for a few minutes so I can shred the chicken. If you are using already cooked chicken, you can just dice it really small. It doesn’t take much chicken for this dish, so usually just use 1 chicken breast. After my chicken breast is cooked, I will go ahead and saute and leftover vegetables I have in the fridge like celery, carrots, or onions for more flavor. Once the vegetables are soft or if I don’t have any extra vegetables, I will add a few Boullion cubes to water to make my broth. As the broth cooks, I will add my frozen mixed vegetables, cooked rice, and chicken. I always think soup tastes better with bread, so I usually make some toasted bread with butter. Just like garlic bread but without the garlic part.
Turkey Hamburgers – This may sound strange, but it is the best way I have found to make my burgers not fall apart while cooking. I take my ground meat and add a little breadcrumb, seasoning, and 1 egg to a bowl. I mix everything together with my hands just like if I was making a meatloaf. Then I separate the mixture into 4 burger patties with my hands. I will cook these in a skillet until done and then top with a slice of cheese. For the potato wedges, I know these take about 30 minutes to bake, so I usually start by cleaning and cutting my potatoes first. I will coat the potatoes with a little oil and seasoning, then place them on a sheet pan. I like to bake at 350-400 degrees in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown. When it is time to serve, I will top my burgers with a little chopped lettuce, tomato slices, and a few pickles.
Cheesy Tuna Melts – This is a super quick meal that is really tasty. I will go ahead and rinse my canned tuna and mix it with either mayonnaise or ranch dressing. For the bread part of the melt, we will be using the other 4 hamburger buns. Usually, I like to go ahead and brush the tops of the buns with butter and let them toast for a few minutes in the oven. This keeps the tuna mixture from make the bread soggy. Once the bread is toasted, I will top with tuna and a little shredded cheddar cheese. I then put them back in the oven to let the cheese get all melty and gooey. Since this is a such an easy meal, I will usually do sauteed apples on this night. You can peel your apples or leave the skin on. I like to go ahead and chop the apple into nice size chunks, or you do slices. I let these apple piece cook in some butter and brown sugar until soft. We will serve this as a side dish and the leftovers will be used for our breakfast overnight oats.
Taco Pasta– I have made this pasta as a one pot meal and as a two-pot meal, and both worked out great. As a one pot meal, I will start by browning my ground turkey. Once it is fully cooked, I will drain any fat and add my taco seasoning and water. At this point I will save about 1/4 of my cooked and seasoned ground turkey for my baked potato lunches. Next, I will add rinsed black beans and my rotel style canned tomatoes. There should be a good amount of liquid in the pan already, so when you add your dry pasta, you will only need a cup or so of water to make sure the pasta is covered. I then let this boil until the pasta is fully cooked. Once the pasta is ready, I will let it boil a few minutes with the lid off if there is still a good amount of liquid in the pan. Another option to thicken up your sauce is to add a spoonful of sour cream. This will not only thicken the sauce, but it will add extra creaminess too. I like to serve this pasta with some tortilla chip crumbles on top for a little extra crunch and I usually sprinkle some shredded cheddar on top too. We love cheese but if you are trying to cut back you can skip the extra cheese. If you don’t want to make this as a one pot meal, you can boil your pasta separately and add to your ingredients and stir to combine.
Snacks
- Apples
- Carrot sticks with ranch dressing
- Tortilla Chips
Sweet Treat
- Vanilla Ice Cream with Pancake Syrup
I had never thought about putting pancake syrup on ice cream before, but my oldest kid asked for it one night and easily became a family favorite. A little maple flavor and classic vanilla is a super yummy combo.
Grocery Shopping List
Look through this broken-down by section grocery list and see if you have any of these items already in your pantry or freezer. This will help lower your grocery costs by using what you already have.
For a free printable PDF version of this grocery list and meal plan head over to Free Walmart Meal Plan with Grocery List!
This is all the fresh vegetables and fruits we need for the week.
| Produce Items | Have on Hand? |
| Potatoes | |
| Apples | |
| Carrots | |
| Lettuce | |
| Tomatoes | |
| Cucumber | |
| Total: (6 items) |
This is all the meats that we will need from the deli and meat counter.
| Meat Items | Have on Hand |
| Chicken Breasts (4-6 needed) | |
| 2lbs ground turkey | |
| Total: (2 items) |
This is all the dry goods and shelf stable items that we need for our meal plan.
| Dry Goods Items | Have on Hand? |
| Loaf of Bread | |
| Pancake Syrup | |
| Quick Oats | |
| Tortilla Chips | |
| White Beans (canned) | |
| Canned Tuna | |
| White Rice | |
| Soy Sauce | |
| Brown Sugar | |
| Ranch Dressing | |
| Chicken Boullion | |
| Pasta | |
| Hamburger Buns | |
| Black beans (canned) | |
| Taco seasoning | |
| Canned tomatoes (rotel style) | |
| Total: (16 items) |
These are the frozen items needed for this week’s meal plan.
| Frozen Items | Have on Hand? |
| Frozen Broccoli | |
| Creamed Spinach | |
| Frozen Mixed vegetables | |
| Vanilla Ice Cream | |
| Total: (3 items) |
These are all the dairy items needed like milk and cheeses.
| Dairy Items | Have on Hand? |
| Eggs | |
| 2% milk | |
| Cheddar Cheese Slices | |
| Shredded Cheddar Cheese | |
| Shredded Mozzarella Cheese | |
| Total: (5 items) |
Frugal Healthy Meal Plan for under $100
I have priced out this meal plan at multiple stores, and at most places it typically runs under $100. If you have some of the items like the dry goods already in your pantry, you can spend even less!
| Store | Total |
| Fred Meyer (Idaho Falls, ID) | $78.25 |
| Target (Idaho Falls, ID) | $76.26 |
| Publix (Birmingham, AL) | $109.39 |
| Sprouts (Birmingham, AL) | $121.79 |
| Brookshire’s (El Dorado, AR) | $80.76 |
| Walmart (El Dorado, AR) | $72.20 |
| Hy-Vee (North Aurora, IL) | $84.86 |
| Woodman’s (North Aurora, IL) | $72.36 |
| Price Chopper (Plymouth, NH) | $88.48 |
| Hannaford (Plymouth, NH) | $71.48 |
| Winn Dixie (Hattiesburg, MS) | $99.46 |
| Walmart (Hattiesburg, MS) | $70.00 |
| Price Rite (Providence, RI) | $71.28 |
| Stop & Shop (Providence, RI) | $84.13 |
| Foodland (Honolulu, HI) | $128.39 |
| Safeway (Honolulu, HI) | $130.11 |
| Food City (Cookeville, TN) | $86.60 |
| Kroger (Cookeville, TN) | $79.52 |
| Albertsons (Los Angeles, CA) | $89.35 |
| Ralphs (Los Angeles, CA) | $87.64 |
| Total Stores: 20 | Average Total: $89.11 |
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 #2
