Weekly Family Meal Plan Ep:1 Frugal Meal Plan

Need some ideas for a weekly meal plan for a family?

Money is tighter than ever! And meal planning is a great way to save potentially hundreds of dollars on your grocery bill every month – just by a bit of planning!

The Benefits of Family Meal Planning:

There are just so many benefits to weekly meal planning for your family. They include:

• Cutting down on food wastage
• Saving money
• Knowing what you are going to eat for the week in advance
• Cooking what your family knows and loves

Goals with Family Meal Planning on a Budget:

Personally, I try and keep the cost of every main meal for four under $20 give or take. All meals are family-friendly with no schmancy ingredients that you will never use again. We do focus strongly on Pantry Staples – because that makes multiple meals.

Check out our Ultimate Essential Pantry Staples Shopping List

What’s Included in this Meal Plan?

Our weekly meal plan has seven dinners, every week we will publish a new meal plan. Remember not every meal plan will suit all families – but we will be publishing varieties of meal plans such as:

• Dairy Free Meal Plans
• Gluten-Free Meal Plans
• Super Frugal Meal Plans (for when money is really really tight)

We also include a full shopping list for your meal plan to make it easy! And if you are looking for budget breakfast and lunch ideas – we have those for you too!

• 50 Cheap Breakfast Ideas

What is the Theme for Ep: 1 of Stay at Home Mum’s Weekly Meal Plan?

Episode 1 of our weekly family meal plan is Frugal Food!

The Frugal Food Weekly Family Meal Plan

Night 1 Meal: Mince and Noodle Stir Fry

Now for this recipe for mince and noodle stir fry, you can use any type of mince you like – we have specified beef but I’ve made it with chicken mince and pork and veal mince and it was equally as delicious.  Also, feel free to add as many grated vegetables as you like – not only does it make it healthier – it stretches the recipe out.

I’ve used the standard two-minute noodle packets for this recipe – but really – it is adaptable, you can use vermicelli, spaghetti, Hokkien – any sort of noodle you like!

We have this dish at least once a fortnight – it’s so easy to throw together and the kids always love it!

Night 2 Meal: Frugal Sausage Casserole

I love to use the honey-flavoured sausages in this recipe, they just give a wonderful almost caramelised flavour, but beef or Pork sausage are just fine if you want to cut costs.

For this low-cost version, we used thin beef sausages, which are usually purchased in bulk and can be easily frozen.

Night 3 Meal: Frugal Salmon Patties

My Mum used to make Salmon Patties for me weekly as a kid – she served it with a nice light crunchy salad – was a wonderful warm-weather food – and nice and filling! The great thing about Salmon Patties is that you can make loads and eat them cold the next day (in fact I think they are better cold) or pop them into school lunches.

Night 4 Meal: Baked Stuffed Sweet Potato

Perfect for Meat Free Monday’s or just if you are cutting down on your meat intake. Sweet Potatoes are cheap, filling and very nutritious!

Night 5 Meal: Slow Cooker Corned Beef

Corned Beef is still a relatively cheap cut of meat – and I love the fact that you can serve it the next day on school lunches or make Corned Beef Fritters (the best) with tomato sauce the next night.

Serve Slow Cooker Corned Beef with mashed potato and steamed vegetables. We have included the sides for each meal in the Shopping List below!

Night 6 Meal: Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken

It’s Winter here in Australia – so get your slow cooker out to make delicious meals that are frugal and just delicious!

Apricot Chicken was one of the very first recipes on this website! For a bit more ‘Bite’ – add a teaspoon of curry powder to the mix for Apricot Chicken Curry!

Night 7 Meal: Creamy Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

This is one of those recipes that the kids can’t wait to eat – and they will be taking leftovers to school because it makes a bucket load!!!!  Eat it on its own for a simple dinner, or have it with steamed vegetables or salad if you are being good!

You can use the pre-made cheese sauce from the supermarket if you wish – but I’ve got the recipe on how to make the shit hot cheese sauce in the microwave below – and it tastes so much better than the shop-bought stuff!

Shit Hot Microwave Cheese Sauce:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups cheddar cheese (grated)

In a microwave-proof jug, melt the butter until it is frothy. Add the plain flour and whisk well to combine.

Microwave the mixture for 20 – 30 seconds until it all bubbles (this cooks ‘out’ the flour) and is called a ‘Roux’

Add a small amount of the milk and whisk until the mixture is creamy and has an even consistency. Whisk in the remaining milk and the grated cheese and whisk.

Microwave for 30-second increments and whisk well each time until the sauce is nice and thick.

Shopping List for Weekly Family Meal Plan Ep: 1

Meats:	Vegetables:	Staples:	Other:
500g Beef Mince	4 Brown Onions 2 Spanish (Red) Onion	2 Packets Instant Noodles	1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce
8 Beef Honey Sausages	1/2 Red Capsicum	1.5 tsp Olive Oil 3 tbsp Canola Oil	1/4 cup White Rice
400 gram tin Pink Salmon	2 Spring Onions	3 tsp Crushed Garlic	1 cup Grated Cheese
1.2kg Corned Beef	9 Medium Potatoes	1/2 cup Soy Sauce	1 x 420 gram Tin of Tomato Soup
8 Chicken Legs or Chicken Pieces	2 Carrots	1/2 cup Plain Flour	1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
750 grams Chicken Breast	Salad Mix	2 Eggs	Salt & Pepper
	100 grams Kale	1/2 cup Brown Vinegar	400 grams of cooked Cannelloni
	1 Lemon	1/2 cup Brown Sugar	1 Dry French Onion Soup Mix
	2 Garlic Cloves	1 Cinnamon Stick	1 x 810 gram tin of Halved Apricots
		3 cups Mozzarella Cheese	500 grams cooked Spaghetti
		1 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)	2 cups of Cheese Sauce (or see recipe above)