Weekly Family Meal Plan Ep:3 – Frugal Meals with Shopping List

Are you ready for Episode 3 of our Weekly Family Meal Plan? We’ll dive into the world of frugal meal planning. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Frugal? That sounds like code for bland and boring.” But don’t worry, my fellow SAHMs, because I have scoured the internet for the most delicious and economical meals that won’t leave you feeling like you’ve just eaten a cardboard box.

Let’s be honest. Who has money to spare for fancy ingredients these days? So, here’s our Weekly Family Meal Plan!

We’re talking hearty stews, flavorful stir-fries, and all the carbs your heart desires. But don’t worry. We won’t judge if you sneak in an extra slice of pizza on movie night. And as always, I’ve got your shopping list covered, so grab your pen and let’s start making some tasty, wallet-friendly dishes.

More reading:

What’s Included in this Meal Plan?

Our weekly meal plan has seven dinners, seven lunches, and seven breakfasts, and we will publish a new meal plan every week. 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 and healthy snack ideas – we have those for you too!

Day 1: Family Meal Plan

Breakfast 1: Homemade Crumpets

One delightful breakfast pastry that both you and your children are sure to love is homemade crumpets. With the ability to switch out the standard flour for something more nutritious, you can feel good about serving this treat to your family. Not only are they delicious, but they’re also incredibly easy to make. Paired with fresh fruit and a bit of butter!

Lunch 1: Mandy’s Moist Marinated Chicken

This is my Mummy’s recipe. It is one of our most amazingly moist and tender recipes. Best of all, it is super easy to make! As far as marinades go, it’s pretty healthy too. Thanks, Mum, you’re the best. Love You xo

Snack 1: 3-Ingredient Flourless Peanut Butter Mug Cake

Just make sure your family isn’t allergic to nuts! You can substitute it with chocolate or fruits. This 3-Ingredient Flourless Peanut Butter Mug Cake is another one of our must-try recipes. Exhausted? Running late? No worries! You can whip this up in just 5 minutes!

Dinner 1: Gluten Free Beef Stroganoff

The team of Fed and Fit shared this recipe, and we absolutely loved it! You can find their recipe below; we hope you’ll find it as scrumptious as we do!

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Day 2: Family Meal Plan

Breakfast 2: Slowcooker Sausages in Onion Gravy

Slow Cooker Sausages in Onion Gravy is perhaps one of the easiest frugal recipes on the entire website to make!  You can use any type of sausages, I particularly like using Italian style as it gives it a bit of a kick, but if you are making it for kids, stick to the plainer varieties or honey flavoured (ohhhhh soooo good!).

Lunch 2: Frugal Bacon and Veggie Slice

Oh nothing better than a piece of Bacon and Veggie slice for lunch, this is an easy to cook recipe that is tasty and filling for the family.  You can also cook it a bit longer – cut it into wedges and serve it for morning tea with a slab of butter.

Snack 2: Grilled Apple Sandwich

There’s nothing quite like the taste of a freshly grilled sandwich. And while grilled cheese is a classic, have you ever considered a grilled apple sandwich?

Dinner 2: Quick Minestrone Soup

I love a hearty and filling Quick Minestrone Soup on a cold winter’s night… with some crusty buttered bread it makes for a wholesome and delicious meal. This recipe is nice and FAST too – just what Mums need!

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Day 3: Family Meal Plan

Breakfast 3: Wholesome Breakfast Skillet

Potatoes, bacon, cheese, and mushrooms – basically, this recipe calls for your leftovers to be reused again for breakfast. HOW FRUGAL CAN YOU GET WITH THAT? If you don’t have one yet, a skillet is always a great thing to have in your kitchen, particularly if you want to cook something as delicious as this Wholesome Breakfast Skillet.

Lunch 3: Cheap And Simple Chicken Piccata

It’s always smart to have a chicken recipe or two under your belt, which is why we’re fans of this Chicken Piccata. It might sound complicated, but it’s actually just a method for cooking the meat, and serving it with a sauce. You can eat this chicken with just about anything, but we love it with roast vegetables, cauliflower rice or a nice lush salad.

Snack 3: Puff Pastry Cheese Sticks

Puff pastries are so versatile, you can make almost anything with it, pies, sausage rolls, mains, desserts and snacks and even make it as a base for pizza or tart, just like this Puff Pastry Cheese Sticks that’s so tasty and delicious.

Dinner 3: Tuna Mornay

Tuna Mornay is a tremendously frugal dinner and tasty too! You can substitute the tuna for salmon if you aren’t a tuna fan. Best of all, you can feed a family of four for under $10!

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Day 4: Family Meal Plan

Breakfast 4: Hearty Cauliflower Breakfast Waffles

You definitely won’t regret following my suggestion. Especially if you need to cut out on sweets. Remove the idea of sweet waffles from your mind. Admittedly, it’s a bit of a challenge especially when you are used to it. But replace waffles that are smothered with maple syrup, icing sugar and whipped cream with these deliciously hearty cauliflower waffles, and you’ve got a yummy breakfast that’s healthy and delicious.

Lunch 4: Chicken Casserole with Cheesy Damper Top

Creamy, delicious meal that the whole family will enjoy!

Snack 4: Tim Tam Balls

Tim Tam Balls are a decadent combination of cream cheese mixed with various flavours of Tim Tam Biscuits. They make a nice change from Traditional Rum Balls. They are like a Toblerone Cheesecake but in bite size – and you won’t be able to stop at just one!

Dinner 4: Cream of Chicken Soup

Here’s another Chicken Soup that is so great to end your cold day with. This is so creamy and a good option if you want to try something other than the Chicken Noodle Soup.

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Day 5: Family Meal Plan

Breakfast 5: Bacon and Egg Pie

I love how versatile this Bacon and Egg Pie is. You can add as many or as little grated veggies as you like and it’s still super delicious!

Lunch 5: Chicken and Vegetable Casserole

Chicken and Vegetable Casserole is that one veggie dish that even the fussy eaters won’t get enough of. This is delicious and truly healthy!

Snack 5: Easy Pineapple Cake 

Three Ingredient Easy Pineapple Cake is a recipe you can literally throw together in one minute flat!! It is delicious hot served with custard for a pudding too! You can change your choice of flour to make it gluten-free!

Dinner 5: Easy Greek Yogurt Marinated Chicken Legs

Did you know that 3 ingredients are enough to make a dish that won’t disappoint? Yep, look at this Easy Greek Yogurt Marinated Chicken Legs. They’re so juicy and just perfect for dinner!

Day 6: Family Meal Plan

Breakfast 6: Savoury Muffins

Great for breakfast on the run! Want to make enough savoury muffins to last two school kids a whole month for less than 17c per muffin? Try our Bulk Savoury Muffin Recipe bulked up with fresh vegetables, it is healthy, freezable and will fill empty tummies and lunch boxes. This recipe makes 60 muffins.

Lunch 6: Quick Fish Coconut Curry

This delicious dish for two is a great way for when you want to spice things up. 

Snack 6: Frugal Chocolate Mud Cake

I try very hard to keep the recipes awesomely simple and cheap. Our Frugal Chocolate Mud Cake is certainly not as heavy as a mud cake – but heavier than a standard chocolate cake!

Dinner 6: Sausage and Potato One Tray Bake

This easy Sheet Pan Recipe is great for kids on nights you don’t feel like cooking. Best of all – if you have an air fryer – you can cook all these ingredients in the basket for an even faster way to get dinner on the table.

Day 7: Family Meal Plan

Breakfast 7: Pinto Beans With Rice and Sausage

This is one of those frugal recipes that can be made in the slow cooker. Your house will smell amazing if you let this simmer all day!

Lunch 7: Comforting Chicken Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy

Comforting Chicken Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy is on top of my list of comfort foods. There’s something cosy and satisfying about easy meatballs and rich flavoured mushroom gravy sauce.

Snack 7: Choc Coconut Muffins

Choc Coconut Muffins are nice, simple and cheap on pocket. Makes for scrummy school lunch snacks or freeze and have them on hand when the multitudes of rug rats roll into your place starving to death! Of course then they might not leave.

Dinner 7: Easy Beef Chow Mein

I know some beef recipes can be expensive, but this one is not! You know us at SAHM…. we love to save money, but keep the taste. And we made sure this Easy Beef Chow Mein is! So have a go at this delicious recipe!

Shopping List for Ep: 3: Family Meal Plan

Planning family meals can be daunting, but with a well-organized shopping list, you can make the process less overwhelming. In Episode 3 of our series on Family Meal Planning, we share a shopping list that will make preparing healthy and delicious meals for your family a breeze.

From fresh produce to pantry staples, our list will help you stay organized and ensure you have all the ingredients needed for each meal. With a little planning, you can enjoy stress-free meal times and feel confident that your family is getting the nutrition they need.

Weekly Family Meal Plan Stocks

Meat	Fruits and Vegetables	Eggs, Cream, Dairy products / non-dairy products	Staples
6 Chicken Breast	5 Lemon	5 Butter	Yeast
1/2 pounds beef tenderloin	6 white onion	7 tbsp Peanut Butter	2kg bags of flour of choice
1½ cups beef broth	5 garlic heads	32 Eggs	Salt and pepper to taste
8 Thin Sausages	14 mushrooms	2 can sour cream	Worcestershire Sauce
1.5 kg Bacon strips and rashers	12 stalks of Parsley	gluten free taglietelle pasta	Olive Oil
3 cups Beef Stock	7 Brown Onion	2 tbsp Gravy Mix	Garlic Salt
12 cups Chicken Stock	1/2 tsp Mixed Herbs	2 cups Cream	Tuscan Seasoning
1 Tuna in springwater, 425g can	7 Carrots	14 cup Cheese	Thai Seasoning
3 Chicken Breast Fillets	4 Zucchini	1/3 g Penne Pasta	Portuguese Chicken Seasoning
1000 g Chicken Meat	2 tbsp Tomato Paste	8 Bread Slices	White Sugar
1000 g Chicken Thighs	2 Apple	3 cups Cheddar Cheese	Paprika
8 Chicken Legs	1 celery stalk	4 cups Parmesan Cheese	Coconut aminos
500 g White Fish	1 Can Crushed Tomato	3 Puff Pastry	Dijon mustard
1 kg Sausages (any Sort You Like)	1 Red Kidney Beans can	3 litres milk	Garlic powder
1 lb. smoked sausage	13 potatoes	1 Can Cream Of Chicken Soup	Honey
500 g Beef Mince	2 Capsicum	400 g Tim Tams	Confectioner’s Sugar
	1 Red Onion	250 g Cream Cheese	Cinnamon
	2 Shallots	1 375 Millilitre Evaporated Milk	Dry White Wine
	1 bottles of Capers	250 g Crème fraîche	Panko Bread Crumbs
	3 brocoli head	1 cup Greek Yoghurt	Tabasco Sauce
	3 Cauliflower heads	1/2 cup Heavy Cream	Bay leaves
	2 cups Shredded Coconut	1 cup Dark Choc Chips	Coriander Leaves
	450 g Crushed Pineapple	200 g Rice Noodle	Turmeric Powder
	1 Tomato		Ginger heads
	1 Tin Coconut Milk		Cocoa powder
	3 Spanish Onions		Bicarbonate Of Soda
	1 lb. bag Pinto Beans		Castor Sugar
	2 cups rice		Fresh Thyme
	Coconut Milk Cream		Onion powder
	Various Frozen Vegetables		Jalapeno
	1 Cabbage head		Cilantro
			Rolled Oats
			Cornflour
			Curry Powder

Trust us, there will still be leftovers out of these recipes!