$200/MONTH MENU PLAN FOR OUR FAMILY OF 5 (POST #7) (2024)

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$200/MONTH MENU PLAN FOR OUR FAMILY OF 5 (POST #7) (1)

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Eating all your meals at home can be a lot of work, but the thing is, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as a lot of people think it is. By implementing little time-saving tricks it can actually become something that is fairly easy to do.

One of the things that helps me a lot, especially if I know I’m going to have a busy week, is to make enough of a recipe to last us two meals. Making two of something only takes just a little bit longer than making one, and then you can enjoy another meal later that week or even put it in the freezer to pull out and make life easier another day!

You’ll notice below, in the second week of meals, that I used this time-saving trick with Easy Chicken Pot Pie. So we didn’t get tired of eating the same thing, we didn’t eat it two nights in a row, but instead enjoyed it Monday night and then again Wednesday night. It was a simple thing, but it made my weekso much easier!

If you are new to these menu plans of mine, it’s probably helpful to know a couple of things first:

Our family of five consists of two adults with fairly big appetites, a 6-year-old boy, a 3 ½-year-old girl and a 15-month-old girl.
I buy lots of fruits and veggies in bulk from local farmers/orchards in the summer and then freeze or can them. This is not only much cheaper it is also healthier too. But that is why if you look at my Weekly Spending Summaries you won’t always see lots of produce.
I have a stockpile- my cupboards are full from previous shopping and here’s why. When I can get pasta for free with coupons, I buy as much as I have coupons for. If I’m able to get flour for $0.50/bag like I did last fall, I’ll buy half a dozen and put them in the freezer to use as needed. I do this as much as my budget allows, on as many items as I can and as a result save lots of money. Then when I go to plan menus, I simply plan our meals around what I already have in my cupboards and freezer, as much as possible. Obviously, I still might have to buy a few things at regular price here and there, but by stocking up when the price is at rock bottom I save a lot.
I cook almost totally from scratch.That means when I make a cake, I rarely use a cake mix. I make my own bread totally from scratch. I rarely use pre-packaged sauces.I make my own cream soupsand pie crusts. Making your own food is typically less expensive and healthier too.
We rarely snack.By eating “heavy” food like granola at breakfast we don’t get hungry until lunchtime.And the same goes for the afternoon. Our lunches are big enough that we usually are fine until dinner time.When we do need a snack, I try to keep it mostly healthy by offering fruit, nuts or maybe No Bake Energy Bites. We don’t always do it perfectly though, and sometimes end up having chips or cookies instead.
Our breakfasts consist of Easy Homemade Granola or Baked Oatmeal, the occasional bought cereal that I was able to get for $0.50/box and sometimes some fruit too.I know that might seem awfully boring to some of you, but we actually all really enjoy it and prefer it over other breakfast food. I also have a homemade iced latte, homemade frappeor some other fun beverage every morning. It’s just one of the little things that I do to add a bit of sunshine to my days!

Below you will find our lunches and dinners.(If we ate something other than our usual breakfast, I’ll note that too.) Monday through Friday, 3 days a week the lunches are just for the two youngest and me, the other 2 days my husband joins us.

Our son gets lunch at school and 3 days a week my husband takes a packed lunch with him to work. His lunch typically consists of sandwiches, fruit, homemade yogurt and sometimes random leftovers too.

WEEK 1
Sunday

Herb Roasted Chicken and Potatoes; Frosted Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
– Since it was Mother’s Day we did a shared lunch at church and the men prepared all of the food. This is what my husband made. And he also made an extra cheesecake for us since he knows it’s my favorite.He’s a keeper!
Toasted Tuna Salad Sandwiches (using Homemade Bread); Potato Chips; Easy Frozen Fruit Smoothie

Monday

Egg Salad Sandwiches (using Homemade Bread) for the kids; Lettuce Salad topped with Chicken for me; Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Peaches (I preserved); Frozen Blueberries
John Wayne Casserole; Green Bean (I preserved); Homemade Applesauce; Leftover Frosted Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Tuesday

Various Leftoversfor the kids; Lettuce Salad topped with Chicken for the husband and me; Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Peaches (I preserved);Frozen Blueberries
Salsa Chicken Soup; Lettuce Salad; Homemade Applesauce; Ice Cream

Wednesday

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Shannon @ Of The Hearth
June 19, 2015 at 5:57 AM
I love seeing your meal ideas! I plan monthly menus for my family in order to help us save money at the grocery store (it also helps save time and effort when it’s time to make dinner). Sometimes it is a challenge to come up with a month’s worth of meals at once, so I love seeing what affordable meals are being made by others.
Reply
- ThriftyFrugalMom
  June 22, 2015 at 10:39 AM
  Yes, I love getting ideas and inspiration from others too, Shannon. It’s just so easy to fall into the rut of eating the same thing over and over!
  Reply
Dorcas
June 5, 2015 at 10:13 AM
Will you post your recipe for toasted tuna sandwiches? I just bought some cheap tuna, and would love to have a tried and true recipe for tuna salad, and I see you make it frequently on Sunday nights, so yours must be good! 🙂
Reply
- ThriftyFrugalMom
  June 5, 2015 at 10:11 PM
  Dorcas, I wish that I could say that I have a recipe. 🙂 Really, I usually am a recipe girl and don’t make things by just mixing and dumping, but with tuna salad, that is what I do. Tuna salad seems to be one of those things that everyone has a different opinion about how to make it. We like ours fairly basic and here’s the gist of how I make it. I dump the tuna into a small bowl and add enough mayo to make it nice and moist. Then I add a squirt of mustard (for 2 small cans of tuna I do maybe 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. mustard) and sprinkle in some garlic powder and sometimes a bit of salt or pepper too. Then I stir in some shredded cheese (maybe a little less than 1/4 cup for 2 cans of tuna). I butter my bread on one side, put it on the electric skillet, butter side down, top it with tuna salad and another piece of butter bread (butter side out) and toast it until it’s brown. Hope that helps!
  Oh, and about having tuna salad pretty much every Sunday night. Last year was one of the most busiest, wildest years of my life due to a variety of things, and in order to not go crazy I realized that I had to implement a few things to make life more manageable. One of those things was to simplify Sunday meals by almost always having the same thing. For lunch it’s almost always ham loaf with potatoes/sweet potatoes or a chicken dish that is super easy to make. And for dinner, we almost always have tuna salad or chicken salad sandwiches with smoothies. It’s kind of crazy, but that one simple thing has made my weekends so much more relaxing because it’s one less thing to think about! And the unexpected blessing is the fact that it’s kind of become a tradition and our kid’s actually look forward to it because they know what to expect. 🙂
  Reply
  - Dorcas
    June 8, 2015 at 6:59 AM
    Thanks so much for your tuna salad info! It sounds like something I’ll try. One thing I like about couponing is that it makes us try things we wouldn’t have otherwise! 🙂
    Oh, and your Sunday sanity-saver plan sounds smart! 🙂
    Reply
    - ThriftyFrugalMom
      June 9, 2015 at 10:25 PM
      You are welcome! And I hear ya on couponing being awesome because of allowing you to try new products that you wouldn’t bother to try otherwise. Definitely part of what makes it fun, in my opinion!
      Reply

$200/MONTH MENU PLAN FOR OUR FAMILY OF 5 (POST #7) (2024)

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