A $30 meal plan is reasonable and possible! You just need to know how to meal plan and have a list of ideas that are affordable and easy to mix and match on your meal pan of the week. Here is a crash course on meal planning, a week of dinners for $30 or less, and accompanying recipes.
Crash Course for Meal Planning
The grocery budget is one of the most flexible expense in a monthly budget so it’s totally worth meal planning! The main way to bolster the cost of grocery shopping is a meal plan, and a routine. Breakfast and lunch can be flexible- you can eat the same thing almost everyday for breakfast and not get bored- almost the same is true for lunch, but having the same dinner everyday? That’s where we need variety! And that’s why I keep a Meal Plan Rotation– I have 40+ dinners that I rotate through so that we don’t get bored.
Initially, it takes quite a lot of work to begin starting a meal plan. That starts with understanding, or knowing, the different prices between stores- or at least knowing price ranges for items like milk, produce, breads, meats. Meats tend to be the most expensive, breads are sometimes most cost effective if purchased at stores like Costco. I buy my produce from the local grocery store and buy staples plus in-season produce, and I only buy what is on the meal plan, plus snacks, plus extras for breakfast.
Read my in-depth article about How to Make ANY Meal Plan Rotation.
$30 Meal Plan for One Week
Monday- Baked Ziti
- $1.99 Alfredo sauce (half jar) so $1
- $1 for marinara sauce (whole jar)
- ~$1.49 ground beef (fraction of the cost of the ground beef from Costco)
- $0.24 ½ bag of Pasta *bag of pasta was on special sale for $0.48
- $1 1 cup cheese
- Salt, Pepper, Italian seasoning
$5 for 2-3 dinners for two
Tuesday– Pork Loin & Fixings
- Pork Loin section est $1.89
- Breadcrumbs
- Carrots *6 sticks from 5 lb bag.
- Lemon juice
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- Breadcrumbs, carrots, onion, and garlic barely cost $1 combined
Less than $5 total
Wednesday- Beans and Rice with Steak
- Bell pepper $0.98
- Rice 1 cup
- 1 cup chicken broth ½ cup water
- Steak tip (only used ½ but cooked all) $2
Less than $5 and includes leftovers!
Thursday- Chicken Alfredo with 4 slices of Texas Toast
- Chicken Tenderloins1 “package” $6 estimate- used half for dinner $3
- Alfredo Sauce (half jar) $1
- Bag of frozen peas $0.48
- Pasta $2 (already had it)
- Onion $0.50 (guess-stimate)
- Garlic, salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning
Approx $10 for 4 servings: $5 dinner
Friday- Crockpot Chicken Soup
- 4 cups Chicken broth $2.69
- 1 beef bone (to replace the box of beef broth- it tastes better) I think I bought 5 beef bones for approximately $5? $1
- 3 cups water- set some water aside to monitor flavor throughout the day
- 4 sticks of Carrots less than $1 (from 5 lbs bag which was $3.98)
- 3-4 Celery sticks $1.26
- Chicken – a fraction of a whole chicken purchased a month ago, cooked and some put in the freezer. Estimated cost of the chicken: $1-2
- Seasoning: Bay leaves, Italian Seasoning, Salt, Pepper- you might need to add salt and pepper throughout the day
- Garlic less than $0.50 1 bulb is $0.48 at my local grocery store
- $0.24 ½ bag of Pasta *bag of pasta was on special sale for $0.48
Note- when you eat leftovers, there will be a fatty layer in the container because of the beef bone and it will go away once you reheat the soup. This soup makes delicious leftovers!
Estimated Cost Per Serving: $2! $4-5 for Friday night*
Try the Low Carb Version: Chicken Quinoa Soup
Saturday- Frozen Pizza
You can buy a box of 4 Kirkland Signature pizzas at Costco and that costs $10 for a box. $2.50 for the night.
Sunday- Leftovers
Never underestimate the power of leftovers on your meal plan rotation! They save you money two ways: you don’t have to buy another dinner’s ingredients and if you throw away half your meal, you’re not really saving money.
Check out my 4 Recipes that are made from Leftovers! Recreations from Leftovers
Final Thoughts on a $30 Meal Plan
It is not impossible to make a meal plan with only $20 for one week of dinners. You just need to keep things simple, on a rotation and remember to buy staples. While I normally advocate for low carb options and recipes, dinners with starches are often the most cheap- it’s cheap to make pastas and breads! But there will be low carb meal plans coming soon!
It is not impossible to make a meal plan with only $20 for one week of dinners. You just need to keep things simple, on a rotation and remember to buy staples. While I normally advocate for low carb options and recipes, dinners with starches are often the most cheap- it’s cheap to make pastas and breads! But there will be low carb meal plans coming soon!
