It’s summer, which means your kids are home and they’re hungry all the time. It can be difficult to plan and feed a family of four every day while on a budget. If you are low on time and money, here are some recipes and tips to help plan dinner for Monday through Friday for a family of four, while on a budget.
Grocery List:
Mueller’s® Angel Hair Pasta 16 oz: $1.47
Brown Rice Long Grain 1 lb – Market Pantry™ $.89
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts: 1.5 lbs about $3.18 per pound: $4.77
Broccoli: 2 lbs about $3 per pound: $6
Tomatoes: $3-4 a pound (3 tomatoes) – 15 medium tomatoes $15
Goya Black Beans: 15.5 oz: $0.99
Turkey ground beef: 2 lbs around $4 per lb: $8
Garlic: $0.50
Romaine lettuce: $2.49 per head (x2): $4.98
Olive oil: Pompeian Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 16 fl oz: $4.64
Red Wine Vinegar: Pompeian Gourmet Red Wine Vinegar, 16 oz: $1.93
Mrs. Dash: $3.12
Ground parsley: Olde Thompson Parsley Grinder $2.94
Parmesan cheese: $2.39
Roughly $58.23 for the week.
Recipes
Brown Rice, Grilled Chicken, and Broccoli
Start by cooking four cups of rice for about 45 minutes, or according to the package directions. While the rice is cooking, heat a pan over medium heat, and add about a tablespoon or so to cook the chicken. Cook about 2 lbs of chicken seasoned with Mrs. Dash for about 10 minutes on each side or until it is cooked all the way through. Once the chicken is finished, steam about 2 pounds of chopped broccoli for about 4-5 minutes or until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Separate each serving of the rice (about 1/2 cup cooked), chicken (one breast) and broccoli (about 1 cup chopped) into 4 separate containers, let cool and place in the fridge. Set aside the extra servings of each food to prepare into the other recipes.
Broccoli Pasta
Start by boiling the whole package of pasta in 8 cups of water or according to the directions on the package. Finely chop about 3 cups of the broccoli you steamed for the previous recipe. Once the pasta is “al dente”, set aside four servings for the other recipes. Stir in the cooked chopped broccoli into the other four servings of pasta. Combine 4 crushed cloves of garlic, a half cup of shredded parmesan and 1/4 cup of the parsley with about 3/4 cup of olive oil in a small bowl. Mix the sauce in with the pasta and broccoli and separate into 4 containers and store in the fridge.
Brown Rice “Burrito Bowl”
Heat a pan over high heat, and start cooking about a pound of ground turkey. While the turkey is cooking, dice about 4 tomatoes, 2 red peppers, and slice lettuce into thin slivers or separate leaves to create a taco shell. Finally, drain the black beans from the can and add them to the bowl and set aside. Once you are ready to assemble the meals, place the brown rice that you set aside from earlier into four separate servings. Place the vegetables and ground beef neatly on top of the rice and store in the fridge.
Spaghetti (with optional turkey meat sauce)
Heat the oven to 425°. Roughly chop 5 tomatoes, 2 red peppers and about 2 cloves of garlic. Toss the vegetables in about a tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Place them on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes. While the vegetables are roasting cook about a pound of the ground turkey if you desire to add meat to the sauce. Once the vegetables are finished roasting, combine them and ¼ cup of parsley in a high-speed blender. After the sauce is blended, you can add the optional ground turkey. Simply pour the sauce over each serving of pasta that you set aside from earlier and place in the fridge.
Chopped Salad
Chop the rest of your lettuce, chicken, broccoli and 4 tomatoes and add to a bowl. For the dressing, combine 1/2 cup of olive oil with 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, along with a clove of crushed garlic and salt and pepper. Mix in about ¼ cup of parmesan cheese and separate the salad into 4 containers. Set aside vinaigrette until salad is ready to be eaten.
Tips for cooking under budget
This is just a sample list of ingredients and recipes that you can cook while on a budget. When cooking on a budget, don’t limit yourself on flavor, pick ingredients and spices that are economical or on sale. There are many fruits and vegetables that are in season and therefore cheaper. Buy small quantities, if you have to buy one tomato, one lemon, that’s perfectly o.k., at the end of the week you’ll see how buying in small quantities can save you a lot of money. You wouldn’t believe how much food spoils in the fridge because people buy just too much.
Have some recipes in mind when you go shopping, and never go shopping on an empty stomach, that’ll just make you buy more food that you probably don’t need. Be a smart shopper, give your family a variety of different options of protein, and fruits and vegetables. Look through your Sunday paper or download apps that can help you save money with coupons. There are so many ways that you can save money, and still feed your family delicious meals. You just have to get a little creative and do the prepping ahead of time!