7 Day Meal Plan for $25: Cheap And Easy Family Meals

Here is a 7 Day Meal Plan for a family of 4 that you can make for as little as $25! This includes cheap, quick and easy family meals great for families with kids. These meals are easy to make and you’ll also find easy and tasty recipes!

7 Day Meal Plan for $25: Cheap, Quick And Easy Family Meals

Here is a cheap family meal plan with a grocery list for a family of 4! Even if you don’t know how to meal plan, we’ve made it super easy for you! This post contains easy family dinner ideas and easy recipes to go with the daily meal plans. You can feel free to adjust this meal plan to your family’s taste, but if you’re concerned about the cost, be sure to consider the cost of the individual substitutions.

7 Day Meal Plan:

Monday

B – Breakfast egg burritos

L – BLT Sandwiches with 1/4 can peaches

D – Cheeseburger Rolls with tossed salad (pg 182)

S – Peanut butter cookies (pg 279)

Tuesday

B – Pancakes with 1/4 lb. Bacon

L – Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwiches served with 1 lb. bananas or celery sticks

D – Hamburger Gravy on Toast with green beans (pg 228)

S – Peanut butter cookies (pg 279)

Wednesday

B – Mom’s Sweet Muffins with added banana (pg 56)

L – Cheese Quesadillas with 1/2 can fruit cocktail

D – Japanese Goulash with bacon (omit carrot add chopped celery) (pg 151)

S – Peanut butter on celery

Thursday

B – Eggs and Toast

L – Macaroni and cheese with 1/2 can fruit cocktail

D – Beef Tacos with salsa, chopped lettuce and cheese (pg 194)

S – Leftover peanut butter cookies

Friday

B – Mom’s Sweet Muffins

L – Bacon Bean Soup (pg 112) And Cornbread

D – Leftovers with salad

S – Leftovers – cookies, muffins, peanut butter with celery or bananas

Saturday

B – Egg and cheese omelette

L – Potato cakes made with mashed potatoes

D – Beef Enchiladas with shredded lettuce

S – Banana cake (pg 228)

Sunday

B – Cinnamon Toast

L – Macaroni and cheese

D – Baked Potatoes with 1/4 lb. bacon

S – Leftover snacks

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Shopping List For The 7 Day Meal Plan:

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 lb bacon
• 1 package flour tortillas (not burrito size)
• 1 loaf of bread
• 2 dozen eggs
• 1 package cheddar or Colby cheese
• 1 jar of salsa
• Head of iceberg lettuce
• 1 can peaches
• 1 can fruit cocktail
• 1 can green beans
• 1 can ranch style beans
• 2 boxes macaroni and cheese
• 5 lb. bag of potatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• 2 lbs. bananas
• Celery

Total Cost: $25 The meal plan prices are calculated using Aldi prices. If you don’t have access to an Aldi store, add $5-$10.

This meal plan assumes you have these basic items in your pantry:

Baking supplies, peanut butter, jelly, spices, and fats. Add $5 more if you don’t.

 

Recipes For This Meal Plan:

This cheeseburger rolls recipe makes a delicious and easy main dish that everyone, especially kids will love! Serve with an easy side dish and you’ll have a no complaint meal!

Cheeseburger Rolls Recipe

1 batch ninety minute roll dough
1/4 lb. hamburger
1/2 tsp. onion salt
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
salt and pepper (to taste)
cheddar cheese, grated

Make ninety minute roll dough. Roll into twelve 3-inch circles*.  In a saucepan, brown hamburger. Drain. Add onion salt, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Put 1 tablespoon hamburger mixture and 1 tablespoon of cheese in the center of the 6 circles. Then press another circle on top and seal the edges. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes (until golden brown).

*or if you don’t want to roll out circles you can make one long rectangle and just put the mixture on it and then just roll it up like you would cinnamon rolls. Then just carefully put the entire loaf on a baking sheet and bake. 

 

This easy omelette recipe is delicious and easy to adjust to your taste! Homemade omelettes are a super tasty and healthy breakfast treat, but you don’t have to spend a lot to eat out to get this yummy breakfast item! Here’s our easy recipe!

How To Make An Omelette – Easy Omelette Recipe

2 eggs
salt and pepper (to taste)
olive oil or other cooking oil (optional)

Fillings of your choice, up to 5 Tbsp. combined of the following:
grated cheese
bacon or bacon bits
ham, or other lunch meat, sliced small
sliced black olives
sliced mushrooms
chopped green onion, white onion or red onion
bell peppers or other peppers
diced tomatoes
salsa
any other meat, cheese or veggie ingredient that sounds good to you

Gather the filling ingredients you intend to use. Slice or chop each ingredient and put in separate bowls or in separate piles on a plate.

Crack eggs into a measuring cup or bowl. Scramble lightly with a fork. Add salt and pepper.

Make sure all of your ingredients are prepared before heating the pan and that you have a wide spatula (food flipper). Heat non-stick frying pan on medium high heat for 2 minutes. If you like, you can add a small amount of oil to make sure the omelette will not stick to the pan.

When the pan is heated, pour the egg mixture into the frying pan. Watch carefully as it will cook quickly.

As the edges of the egg begin to stiffen, quickly add each of the desired filling ingredients.

As the eggs cook, they will get less runny. When the edges of the eggs pull away from the pan slightly and the eggs are less runny in the middle, carefully slip the spatula under one side of the eggs and fillings and fold it over the other half. Reduce heat and let it cook a little more to seal the omelette closed. Continue cooking until the eggs are as cooked as you desire, flipping the omelette over after it seals if you’d like to cook the other side more.

Don’t overcook the omelette or it will get dried out.

Using the spatula, slide the omelette out of the pan onto a plate. Garnish with some of the remaining filling ingredients to make it pretty. Cheese, olives, onions and tomatoes make nice garnish toppings.

Serve right away.

Notes:

You can make this recipe with 3 eggs or 1 egg if you prefer a larger or smaller omelette.

If you plan to make more than one omelette, prepare all of the filling ingredients in advance. After cooking the first omelette, remove the pan from the heat for a moment to let it cool slightly. If the pan gets too hot, the eggs will begin sticking to it and will be more difficult to turn.

If something goes wrong and you don’t manage to keep the omelette together while you’re flipping it, you can still serve it. If you don’t like how it looks, you can quickly break it up as with scrambled eggs and turn it into “ranchero eggs”. ;-)

 

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This easy homemade enchiladas recipe is one of Mike’s favorite recipes! It’s in the top 3! It’s on page 216 in our Dining On A Dime Cookbook.

If you need a meal that is quick and easy to prepare this is one of my go to recipes! Of course you can make it easier by using Mexican cheese and just sprinkle some onion and garlic powder inside and it’s even quicker.

You can mix and match this recipe any way you want. Just put some shredded leftover beef or chicken in for beef or chicken enchiladas or add green peppers, cilantro anything you would like for you taste.  Easy and adaptable for every family!

Easy Homemade Enchiladas Recipe

6-8 tortillas, warmed
1 cup Cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 can of enchilada sauce or homemade (see below)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, onion and garlic. Place enchilada sauce in a bowl. Dip 1 tortilla into sauce. Place in greased 9×9 inch pan. Spoon about 1/4 cup cheese mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and tuck in ends; place seam sides down. Repeat with the rest of tortillas. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Bake covered until cheese is melted and bubbly (about 40 minutes). Serves 4.

Enchilada Sauce

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. chili powder
5 Tbsp. green pepper, chopped (optional)
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt (more to taste)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cumin

Combine all ingredients in saucepan, mixing well. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Makes 2 cups.

 

This best homemade sweet muffins recipe makes moist, sweet and delicious muffins! It is our most favorite muffins recipe! Our family loves them and your family and friends are sure to love them, too!

Mom’s Best Homemade Sweet Muffins Recipe

1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 1/2 cups flour

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Place 2/3 full in greased muffin tins or muffin tins lined with papers. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.

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This easy homemade pancakes recipe takes about 15 minutes to make and everyone loves them! These pancakes are a staple at our house and your family will love them too!

Easy Homemade Pancakes Recipe

2 Tbsp. sugar
2 cups flour, all-purpose or wheat
5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk

In a bowl, mix ingredients just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Mixture will be thick and lumpy. Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium heat and lightly grease. Cook on a hot greased griddle. Flip when bubbles break on the surface and the edges begin to dry. Makes 15-18 medium pancakes.

 

This old fashioned peanut butter cookies recipe is the homemade cookies recipe my great grandma and grandma made! These cookies are super delicious and easy to make and your family will love them! You can find this recipe in our Dining On A Dime Cookbook on page 279.

This peanut butter cookies recipe calls for a few more ingredients than the 4 ingredient peanut butter cookies recipe but don’t be afraid to try it. These cookies are nice and fluffy and it’s not any more work to mix them up.

Give these old fashioned peanut butter cookies a try! They’re just like grandma’s– OK, they ARE grandma’s, so everyone will rave about your cookies, too!

Grandma’s Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream shortening and sugars. Add peanut butter, eggs, vanilla and dry ingredients.  Stir until well blended.

Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork dipped in flour. Turn fork 90 degrees and make another fork print for the design.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10  minutes or until brown. Make 6-8 dozen. 

 

For more home cooking recipes like the ones in this easy meal plan, check out our cookbook:

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

 

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