Budget Friendly Meal Plan Week 18

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Happy Cinco de Mayo! Are you cookin’ up anything special today to celebrate? Not that you need a special occasion to eat Mexican food.

Last night I put a pork roast in the slow cooker with a variety of herbs and spice. Today the kids and I are going to wrap that delicious pork in some masa and make tamales. Wish us luck it’s been years since I’ve made them.

Here’s what our meal plan looks like this week:

Budget Friendly Meal Planning

Monday
Creamy Spinach and Cheese Green Chile Enchiladas by Two Peas and Their Pod – served with pinto beans and Spanish Rice.

Serves 8 – You can squeak out another meal for the week or pack up the leftovers for lunch. They also freeze well.
Cost Cutting Tips:
- I use bottled lime juice instead of using fresh limes, it’s more cost effective.
- This recipe calls for a lot of spinach, instead of using fresh, which can get pricey, use frozen that has been thawed and drained. I use 2-3 frozen packages for this recipe.
- Make your own flour tortillas for a inexpensive and delicious replacement.
- Purchasing different types of cheese can get expensive, especially if there are leftovers. Instead purchase the Mexican cheese blend for this recipe, you can hardly taste the difference.
- Make your own pinto beans, it’s a cheaper option and they are simple to make. You can even make enough to freeze for another meal.
- Make your own Spanish rice, it’s simple to make, tastes amazing and uses items you probably already have in your pantry.

Tuesday
Cheeseburger Pie – served with French fries.

Serves 8
Cost Cutting Tips:
- Top the pie with homemade biscuit dough, it’s simple to make and inexpensive.
- When you see ground beef on sale, stock up. Ground beef will keep for several months in the freezer if packaged correctly.
- Lower your budget by making your own French fries. A pound or two of potatoes and a cheap French fry cutter is all you need to save yourself a few dollars.

Wednesday
Instant Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken by Life Made Keto – served with buttered noodles and asparagus. If you don’t have and Instant Pot (pressure cooker) there are also directions for cooking the dish in a cast iron skillet.

Serves 6 – Freeze leftovers or take them for lunch.
- Recipe Notes: Buttered Noodles – boil 8-ounces of egg noodles in salted water. Drain and stir in a 1/4 cup butter and 2 cloves of minced garlic.
Cost Cutting Tips:
- Chicken thighs often go on sale, when they do be sure to stock up.
- Use bone-in chicken thighs, they are a cheaper option.
- I eliminated the fresh lemons and used bottled lemon juice instead, it’s a cheaper option, especially when lemons are not in season.
- You can make chicken stock for free, using ingredients that you would normally throw away.
- Instead of using heavy cream, which can be pricey, use whole milk, it has a similar flavor, it’s just not as rich.
- The best time to buy asparagus is in April, that is when it is at it’s peak in flavor and the prices are incredibly low. During off season, purchase frozen asparagus at a fraction of the price.

Thursday
Leftovers – cheeseburger pie and French fries.

Friday
Blackened Tilapia – served with rice pilaf and Brussels sprouts.

Serves 4
Cost Cutting Tips:
- Purchasing Tilapia from the freezer section is the most economical way to buy tilapia.

Saturday
Southwest Pork Loin by Gimme Some Grilling– served on flour tortillas with seasoned black beans and chips and salsa on the side.

Serves 8
Cost Cutting Tips:
- Keep an eye out for pork tenderloin, it often goes on sale for less than $2 per pound.
- Make your own flour tortillas for a inexpensive and delicious replacement.
- Make your own restaurant style salsa, for a delicious and inexpensive alternative.
- Cook up your own black beans, it’s a cheaper option and it’s easy. Make up a big pot and freeze to use later.

Sunday (Mother’s Day)
Pork Chops and Mushrooms from Taste of Home – served with stuffing, green beans and for dessert cinnamon roll cake from Eating on a Dime.

Serves 4
Cost Cutting Tips:
- Replace the dry white wine, in the pork chop recipe, with chicken broth, for a cheap alternative. Chicken broth can be make for free, so it makes it a really cheap alternative.
- If you keep a well stocked pantry you won’t need to purchase anything to make the dessert.

Download – Week 18: Menu & Shopping List

Budget Friendly Tips

✔ Keep a well stocked pantry, it is an essential part to feeding a family on a small budget. Plus it’s comforting knowing that there is always something at home to cook.

✔ Stock up when prices are at there lowest. Sales usually go in a 3 month cycle, so if you see an item at it’s rock bottom price, buy enough to use between now and the next sale.

✔ Another way to keep your grocery bill low is by using coupons for the items that you need. I rarely plan my menu around coupons that are available, I find that I end up spending more. Instead I create my menu first and then look for coupons that will lower the bill.

Time Saving Tips

✔ Do your grocery shopping online, you’ll save so much time because someone else does the shopping for you. It also allows you more flexibility for staying on budget, you don’t check out until your total is just right. Use my Walmart Grocery Pickup link and get $10 off your first order of $50 or more.

✔ Spending some time meal planning can make your life so much easier. It’ll save you time and money, improve your nutrition, it’ll make cooking more manageable and it will give you more control over what you put on the table.

✔ A simple way to save yourself some time in the kitchen is by prepping your food for the week. This can be done by simply washing your fruits, chopping your vegetables or portioning the food for each meal. It’s up to you how much you want to do to save yourself sometime later in the week.

About Our Meal Plan

✔ Our menus are designed to feed a family of four, two adults and two teenage boys. It can also feed two adults and 3-4 young children.

✔ Many of the meals included in our meal plan are budget friendly to begin with, however we do offer tips that will reduce the grocery bill even further.

✔ Our family eats a pretty simple meal for breakfast and lunch, like cereal or sandwiches and sometimes leftovers. We don’t make to much of a fuss over it.

✔ Sunday dinner is our biggest meal of the week, that’s when all of the family gets together, so we tend to spend a little more money and include dessert. I try to make enough for leftovers during the week.

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