Keeping on top of your family food budget is tough.
If you’re anything like me you’re trying to juggle different tastes, fussy eaters, cravings, time and the costs all at once.
But even though prices keep shifting there is one thing that has helped me keep my grocery budget under control – meal planning.
It really is the most useful way of cutting back on food waste and sticking to a budget. When you have a plan, you do fewer top-up shops, you avoid expensive takeaways and you don’t throw away perfectly good food you forgot to cook.
I’ve found that with a bit of structure (and flexibility), it’s possible to eat well, avoid waste, and keep the food budget under control.
So here’s a full four-week meal plan for a family of four that balances affordability, variety and family-friendliness. Each week uses overlapping ingredients to reduce waste and relies on budget staples like rice, pasta, tinned goods, and frozen veg.
You can tweak it for dietary preferences, but this plan feeds a family of four for less than $100 per week.
Quick frugal meal planning tips
Before we get to the meal plan, here are a few tips to follow to help you with your budget meal planning.
Have a list of approved meals
Get to grips with what everyone in your house likes – hopefully you have at least a few meals that everyone can agree on.
Now make a master list of meals that your family likes. You can always categorise them by cuisine, the type of protein or by midweek and weekend treat meals. This can make meal planning faster when you get to it.
Have themed nights
Your meal planning process can be sped up by having themed nights of the week for meals.
For example:
- Meat-free Monday
- Taco Tuesday
- Pasta Wednesday
- Thursday stew
- Friday pizza
- Saturday casserole
- Sunday roast
You can customise this based on what you and your family enjoy the most – there are no rules.
Flexible ingredients
Use the same ingredients in more than one meal. I find it works out much cheaper when I buy larger packs of items – for example mince – and then use it over several different meals.
With a pack of beef mince I can make burgers, meatballs, lasagne, stir fry and chilli.
Shop your cupboards first
So much overspending on food happens when you miss what you already have. Check the back of your cupboards, fridge and freezer for what you have left.
I have a regular fridge clear-out dinner that involves us enjoying mish-mash of whatever is leftover from the weeks before.
Get the basics
The meal plans in this article don’t go into the basic staples like oil and salt, plus I don’t mention breakfast and lunch.
We have a small list of breakfast and lunch options we have on repeat – keeping it simple keeps it cheap.
Those extras to cover your lunches and breakfast include:
- Bread
- Milk
- Eggs
- Butter/spread
- Cheese
- Jam
- Juice
- Cereals
- Lunch meat
- Snacks – such as fruit, peppers, cherry tomatoes, rice cakes, breadsticks, biscuits etc
- Bread
- Yoghurt
- Tinned soup
- Baked beans
One month of frugal meals for a family of four
Week 1: Simple Comforts
You’ll want to make sure you have the basics, such as bread, eggs, butter and cheese, for the meals in these lists. Don’t forget to add those to your shopping lists too!
Shopping list
- 500g beef mince
- 150g red lentils
- 2 chicken breasts (or 300–400g)
- 6–8 sausages
- 1 whole medium chicken
- 2 tins tuna in spring water
- 500g spaghetti
- 500g pasta (for bake)
- 1kg potatoes (for jackets and mash)
- 1 pack tortilla wraps or pizza bases
- 1 bag rice
- 1 onion bag (3–4 onions)
- 1 garlic bulb
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes (or jar pasta sauce)
- 1 bag frozen peas
- 1 bag mixed stir-fry veg (fresh or frozen)
- 4 baking potatoes
- 1 bag carrots
- 1 broccoli or green veg for roast dinner
- 1 bag salad leaves or tomatoes (for sandwiches)
- Gravy granules
- Dried herbs (oregano, basil)
- Tomato puree
- Baked beans (2 tins)
- Cooking oil
- Stock cubes
- Flour (for pizza dough if making)
- Yeast (if making pizza dough)
Focus: Quick wins and affordable crowd-pleasers.
Meal plan
- Mon: Spaghetti Bolognese (use half beef mince, half red lentils)
- Tues: Chicken and vegetable stir fry with rice
- Wed: Jacket potatoes with baked beans and grated cheese
- Thurs: Tuna pasta bake with frozen peas
- Fri: Homemade pizza (using tortilla wraps or basic dough)
- Sat: Sausage and mash with onion gravy
- Sun: Roast chicken dinner — use leftovers for sandwiches or soup next week
Batch-cook tip: Boil extra rice and chicken for next week’s fried rice. Freeze portions of Bolognese sauce.
Week 2: Stretching the Basics
Whenever we have a roast dinner on a Sunday, I always use the meat in a leftovers meal on a Monday. Plus, I try to get as larger chicken as I can so I can also get Monday sandwiches for lunch too.
Shopping list
- Leftover roast chicken (from Week 1)
- 400g beef mince (for chilli)
- 2 tins chickpeas
- 6 eggs
- 4–6 fish fingers
- 1 bag rice
- 500g pasta
- 1 bag potatoes
- 1 loaf bread or rolls
- 1 bag frozen mixed veg
- 2 peppers
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 onion
- Garlic
- 1 bag carrots
- Curry paste or powder
- Lentils (use leftovers from Week 1 if possible)
- Chilli powder or seasoning mix
- Tomato puree
- Herbs and spices (paprika, cumin, etc.)
- Stock cubes
- Cheese (grated or sliced)
- Butter/margarine
- Naan bread or pitta
- Plain yoghurt (for curry topping)
Focus: Using leftovers creatively.
- Mon: Chicken fried rice (use leftover roast chicken)
- Tues: Veggie curry with chickpeas and rice
- Wed: Omelettes with cheese, peppers, and leftover veg
- Thurs: Fish fingers, homemade wedges, and peas
- Fri: Tomato and mozzarella pasta (use tinned tomatoes and dried herbs)
- Sat: Homemade chilli con carne (again, half mince, half lentils)
- Sun: Slow cooker vegetable soup with crusty bread
Money-saver tip: Buy a large bag of frozen mixed vegetables — they’re cheaper, prepped, and reduce food waste.
Week 3: Store Cupboard Stars
I love using our freezer and getting tinned beans and lentils that have long dates on them. I will always stock up when I see offers to save money. The trick is to make sure you’re on top of what you have so nothing gets wasted.
- 2 tins tuna
- 300g frozen chicken strips – you can try making them from scratch! I have my favourite chicken nuggets recipe here
- 4–6 sausages (for toad in the hole)
- 500g macaroni
- 1 bag rice
- 1 bag potatoes
- 1 pack wraps (for fajitas)
- 1 loaf bread or garlic bread
- 500g pasta (for veggie pasta night)
- 1 bag frozen broccoli
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 bag carrots
- 1 pepper (for fajitas)
- 1 bag frozen peppers (optional)
- 1 onion
- 1 tin sweetcorn
- Flour
- Stock cubes
- Herbs and spices (fajita seasoning, curry powder, mixed herbs)
- Naan or rice (for curry)
- Lentils (for stew)
- Tinned beans or pulses
Focus: Low-prep dinners from tinned and dried staples.
- Mon: Macaroni cheese with broccoli
- Tues: Lentil and tomato stew with crusty bread
- Wed: Baked potatoes with tuna mayo and sweetcorn
- Thurs: Chicken fajitas (use frozen chicken strips and peppers)
- Fri: Homemade “fakeaway” curry with naan
- Sat: Veggie pasta with garlic bread
- Sun: Toad in the hole with carrots and mash
Batch-cook tip: Double the lentil stew and freeze half for next week’s lunch.
Week 4: Low-Stress, Low-Spend
Remember that you’ll still need to be stocked up on those essentials – cheese, bread, milk, butter, oil, in order to make these meal plans work.
- Sausages or leftover ones from earlier weeks
- 400g mince or tinned beans (for shepherd’s pie)
- Cheese
- Rice
- 500g pasta
- Potatoes (for mash topping and sides)
- Burger buns or rolls
- Oven chips or potatoes for chips
- 1 bag frozen veg
- 1 tin tomatoes
- 1 punnet mushrooms
- 1 onion
- Garlic
- Soup (tinned or homemade)
- Stock cubes
- Flour
- Herbs and spices
- Ketchup or burger relish
Focus: End-of-month simplicity and using what’s left.
- Mon: Egg fried rice (use up stray veg and eggs)
- Tues: Tomato soup with cheese toasties
- Wed: Pasta with creamy mushroom sauce
- Thurs: Bangers and mash (use any leftover sausages from Week 1 or 3)
- Fri: Homemade burgers or bean burgers with oven chips
- Sat: Homemade meatballs and pasta
- Sun: Veggie shepherd’s pie (use frozen veg, lentils, and mash topping)
Final tip: The best way to save money isn’t just about cheap meals — it’s avoiding waste. A “leftover night” once a week saves us money every single month.
How keep your food shop cheap
- Shop your cupboards first. You probably have tinned tomatoes, pasta, and beans already.
- Buy frozen and own-brand. Frozen fruit and veg are cheaper, last longer, and reduce waste.
- Cook double portions. Batch-cooking is cheaper per serving and saves time later.
- Use your slow cooker. Cheaper cuts of meat (like chicken thighs or beef brisket) become delicious when cooked slowly.
- Plan snacks too. Add popcorn, fruit, yogurt, and homemade muffins to your list so you’re not tempted by impulse buys midweek.
Final Thoughts
Budgeting for food doesn’t have to mean giving up nice meals, you just need a plan and to make the most of what you buy.
The key is planning around the ingredients you already have, stretching what you buy, and remembering that “simple” dinners are often the ones everyone loves most.
You may also like these tips for saving money on food.
