$75 One Week Menu Plan With Printable Grocery List

$75 One Week Menu Plan

Breakfast – Oatmeal (add sugar, sliced bananas, apples, and/or peanut butter), yogurt and apple or banana, eggs and toast

Lunch – Tuna salad sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sliced fruit, sliced carrots/celery, leftovers

Dinner –

• Baked chicken leg quarters (using half bag of chicken leg quarters), roasted potatoes, carrots
• Chicken and dumplings (using half bag of chicken leg quarters)
• Leftover night
• Goulash
• Chili (omit peppers)
• Spaghetti
• Shepherd’s Pie

$75 Grocery List Breakdown

• 10 lbs. fresh chicken leg quarters – 6.48
• 5 lb. roll ground beef – $9.90
• 4 lbs sugar – 1.86
• 5 lbs all purpose flour – 1.72
• Iced tea bags – 1.48
• 32 oz elbow macaroni – 1.97
• 2 loaves Nature’s Own whole wheat bread – 5.16
• .5 gallon milk – 1.93
• 2 lbs. white onions – 1.74
• 26 oz. salt – .54
• Chili powder – .98
• Garlic powder – .98
• Onion powder – .98
• Chicken bullion – 1.98
• 3 dozen eggs – 4.14
• Peanut butter – 2.18
• Jelly – 1.72
• Spaghetti – 1.00
• 2 cans pasta sauce – 2.00
• Celery – 1.48
• Carrots – 1.36
• 10 lbs. potatoes – 4.74
• 12 oz. frozen mixed veggies – .98
• 1 can tomato sauce – .72
• 4 cans diced tomatoes – 2.88
• 3 cans kidney beans – 2.16
• Mayonnaise – 2.98
• 2 lb. vanilla yogurt – 2.54
• 3 lbs. apples – 3.44
• 2 lbs bananas – 1.10
• Quick oats – 1.64
• Baking powder – 1.24
• Baking soda – .50
• 6 cans tuna – 2.96
• 2 lbs. butter – 5.27

Grand total – $74.83

How I’d Meal Plan with this Grocery List

So, here’s how I would break down all of our meals. I don’t strictly plan breakfast, but we would have either oatmeal sweetened with a bit of sugar and maybe some diced apples. If I had cinnamon on hand, I would add a little bit. I could also serve oatmeal with a dollop of peanut butter and some sliced bananas.

Another breakfast option would be eggs and toast or yogurt and some fruit. I would be careful with portioning our fruit. The kids could share apple slices from one apple. Each child will only eat half a banana anyway, so I would make sure to portion everything accordingly.

My kids like sandwiches for lunch. I would serve peanut butter and jelly or tuna salad sandwiches. Tuna salad is easily made with mayonnaise, a diced boiled egg, and a bit of onion if you like. I would also cut up a few carrots and stalks of celery for the sides. I could also make oven fries with a couple of the potatoes. Another great lunch option would be leftovers, which my husband often takes for his lunch at work.

Let’s talk dinner. I would try to get two dinners out of that bag of chicken quarters. For the first night I would bake half the bag of the chicken leg quarters. I would season them with some salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and a little of the bullion. In the baking dish, I would place chopped carrots, celery, potatoes and onion and let it all roast together.

The next night I would make a big batch of homemade chicken and dumplings. The chicken leg quarters would boil and make a broth that is the base for the entire dish.

On Wednesday, we would have leftovers. There should be plenty of chicken and dumplings left.

I would get at least four meals out of my 5 lbs. of ground beef.

The first meal would be a simple goulash. Serve any leftover veggies or fruit on the side to help round out the meal.

I would also make a basic chili, spaghetti with ground beef sauce, and shepherd’s pie with mashed potatoes and the bag of frozen mixed veggies.

For drinks, I would make a large gallon of iced tea every day and water is always an option, too. There’s a half gallon of milk that will be used for making mashed potatoes, but could also be served to the kids. (My kids do drink milk every day and 1/5 gallon a week wouldn’t cut it, but if things are tight…)

Finally, everyone needs a good treat every now and then. I would make peanut butter cookies and sugar cookies for dessert.

Not in the budget this week, but if I had it on hand, I would use yeast to make homemade bread sticks and homemade rolls to go with some of our meals.

How would you spend $75 for a week’s worth of food if you were starting with nothing? I’d love to know!

Here are some of my favorite sites for helping you save money on food:

Hillbilly Housewife

The Prudent Homemaker

The Large Family Table

Grab the printable version of this meal plan! It’s in our Homemaker’s Resource Library!

My Favorite Meal Planning Resources

I use a dry erase calendar in my kitchen. I can write down our menu and also any big events and everyone in the family can see.

My favorite planner pens!

You’ll Also Love:

How To Plan Frugal Meals

Click here for printable version