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7 Days of Yummy Cheap Meals for Family of 2 +
Whether you’re living with a room mate, a penny pinching single parent, or just a budget conscious couple with or without little ones…these super cheap meals for 2, or more, are a game changer!
The reality is; as long as you have a roof over your head and a way to get from one place to the next, your next biggest expense is more than likely food.
You’d be pleasantly surprised at just how luxuriously your family could be fed for $40. Or less! Without even repeating meals!
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With food being the third biggest expense in most American households, we can all do with a good budget friendly meal plan! I’ll be completely honest with you. My wife and I have two kids but we literally follow a weekly meal plan for 2 adults. Period!
Our kids are picky eaters and they’re just gonna eat fries and nuggets all week anyway. I’ve learnt to save myself the headache and just go with the flow when it comes to feeding those guys. Within a budget of course! Afterall, you can never plan to feed a kid.
Their stuff goes in a separate cart based on their weekly mood. Maybe they’d like something this week, and next week it’s a completely different story. If you know what I mean, a cheap meal plan for 2 is all that you need!
Even if you’re lucky enough to have open minded kids when it comes to food, you’re covered as well. For older kids, you may just have to adjust the portion sizes based on their age and appetite. Trust me…there’d be more than enough to go around.
This meal plan can easily be modified into providing cheap meals for large families. So be sure to have a look!
Cheap Meals for 2 Weekly Plan: What to Expect?
Here’s what you can expect in this breakdown of our take on the best cheap meals for a family of 2:
1. 21 budget friendly meal ideas: 7 cheap breakfast ideas, 7 cheap lunch ideas and 7 cheap dinner ideas.
2. The shopping list required to prepare all the meals.
3. The prices of all the grocery items needed.
4. A rundown of the main ingredients required to prepare each meal.
5. Bonus advice to help you stretch your weekly food budget.
6. Some basic meal preparation tips and recipes to follow.
Weekly Plan of Cheap Meals for Family of 2: Additional Key Points
1. The prices listed are based on the current prices in my neighborhood Walmart.
• If you choose to shop all the items at Aldi instead, you can anticipate to pay about $5 dollars more on the overall bill.
2. Sales tax is not included in the prices shown.
3. You should anticipate small price differences based on your exact location.
4. Only the prices of the main ingredients are considered for each meal.
5. Basic pantry items and consumables such as: salt, pepper, oil, condiments and basic seasonings are omitted.
• We will assume that you already have these at your disposal and the cost associated (should be just pennies per meal) will not be considered.
6. Detailed recipes are not included.
7. Meals are simple and easy to prepare.
8. Most meals are straightforward, household favorites.
9. Only a basic overview is included in the description of the meal preparation.
10. Many of you may already have a personalized approach to preparing most of these meals.
• The preparation of these would not be discussed in detail.
11. There are no over-the-top, posh restaurant grade meals included.
12. Meals are repeated to utilize cooked leftovers and leftover ingredients. This saves you money.
13. Leftovers may be utilized as the base ingredient for some new meals.
14. All meals are absolutely delicious and satisfying!
15. There’s a high chance that you’d have food left over for the next week, depending on the size of your appetite.
Super Cheap Meals for 2: The $40 Weekly Shopping List
If you want to be surprised by how well you can eat, while sticking to a tight budget, head over to your nearest Walmart and pick up the following items:
Shopping List for Cheap Meals for Two
Wheat Bread Loaf, Sliced (1 loaf) = $1.42
French Bakery Loaf (14oz loaf) = $1.00
Idaho Potatoes (5lb package) = $2.68
Eggs (12ct) = $2.66
Cereal (24oz box) = $2.82
Tortillas (1 pack: 12ct) = $1.92
Hot Dog Buns (1 pack: 8ct) = $1.46
Brown Rice (32oz package) = $1.64
Pasta, your choice of penne / rotini / elbows, bowtie, rigatoni (16 oz box) = $0.98
Spaghetti (16 oz box) = $0.98
Classic Franks, Chicken with Pork Added (1 pack: 8ct) = $1.18
Ground Beef (1lb roll) = $4.24
Chicken Drumsticks (5lb bag) = $4.94
Iceberg Lettuce (1ea) = $1.88
Garlic (1EA) = $0.73
Vegetable Oil Spread (16oz box) = $1.24
Shredded Cheese (8oz pack) = $2.24
Mayonnaise (15 fl oz) = $2.12
Peas and Carrots (12oz bag) = $0.98
Pasta Sauce (24oz can) = $1.34
Milk (64 fl oz jug) = $1.76
TOTAL = $40.21
Cheap Meals for Family of 2: 7-Day Breakfast Plan
1st Day: Cereal and milk.
2nd Day: Breakfast burrito.
3rd Day: Grilled cheese sandwich.
4th Day: Scrambled eggs and toast.
5th Day: Cereal and milk.
6th Day: Cheese omelet and garlic bread.
7th Day: Repeat any previous meal choice or choose a bonus option below.
Bonus Breakfast Ideas
Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. It just sets everything up for positivity and productivity . If you love a good breakfast, you can select any 2 options from the groups below.
Pair one item from Group A with one item from Group B…and voila…a breakfast of champions!
Group A: homemade tater tots, seasoned wedges, garlic bread, toast, French toast, hash browns.
Group B: scrambled eggs, poached eggs, boiled eggs, cheese omelet, sunny side up egg.
If you prefer a solid breakfast, that you can take along for lunch, you can look into the following options:
Grilled chicken sandwich, chicken salad sandwich, burrito (grilled chicken or minced beef or scrambled eggs).
Pro Tips for Cheap Breakfast Preparation
Tater Tots: Wash and cube a few Idaho potatoes. You can choose to peel or leave unpeeled. Salt and season in a bowl to your taste. Heat up a dash of oil in a frying pan. Toss the potatoes and cook until golden brown. Or you can air fry, or deep fry in oil, if your prefer.
Seasoned Wedges: Rinse off and cut the potatoes into wedges, with the peel left on. Follow the same steps as for the tater tots above. Top off with salt and pepper.
Garlic Bread: Spread a teaspoon of vegetable oil spread onto a slice of bread (sliced loaf or French loaf). Finely grate some garlic onto the spread, massaging in with a spoon. Toast to your desired texture and enjoy!
Breakfast Burrito: Warm up a tortilla in the microwave. Place some scrambled eggs and a dash of cheese onto it. You can add seasonings to your taste and some lettuce if you wish. Enjoy your hearty breakfast burrito, which can double as a delicious quick lunch also!
Swap out the eggs for some minced beef or grilled chicken and you got yourself breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Eggs: Get creative! There are tons of different ways in which you can prepare your eggs. Experiment with different cooking techniques so you always have an exciting breakfast.
Weekly Meal Plan for 2 Adults: Lunch Ideas
1st Day: Grilled chicken sandwich.
2nd Day: Pasta salad and oven baked chicken.
3rd Day: Spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread.
4th Day: Stir fried rice and barbecue chicken.
5th Day: Chicken salad sandwich.
6th Day: Grilled chicken and tater tots.
7th Day: Stir fried rice or pasta salad and pan fried chicken.
Bonus Lunch Ideas
Pair a protein from Group A with a side from Group B to get creative with your lunch:
Group A (Proteins): grilled chicken, stir fried mince beef, fried chicken, baked chicken, barbecue chicken, pepper chicken, sweet and sour chicken, chicken salad.
Group B (Sides): pasta salad, potato salad, mashed potatoes, baked potato, tater tots, seasoned wedges, stir fried rice, garlic bread, steamed rice, Caesar salad, pasta pie, pasta casserole.
If you prefer to cut out a designated lunch or dinner preparation, these can easily perform a double duty. Dinner on one day can be lunch the next day. Or lunch one day can extend into covering dinner of the same day.
Pro Tips for Cheap Lunches
Potato Salad: Wash and cube some potatoes. Steam for a few minutes. Drain off water and place in a bowl. Add a few spoons of mayonnaise, peas and carrots, salt and seasonings to your liking. Toss together and enjoy!
Pasta Salad: Follow the same process as for the potato salad, just utilizing pasta instead of potatoes.
Stir Fired Rice: Steam some brown rice, drain off water and cool. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pot. Toss in some garlic, the rice, peas and carrots and stir together. Add salt and other seasonings to taste. Cook together on low heat for about 10 minutes while stirring to prevent burning. Enjoy!
If you have some leftover soy sauce packets from Chinese takeout, you can stir this in for an exotic taste.
Pasta Pie: Add steamed pasta, milk, cheese, seasonings and beaten egg into a casserole dish. Mix ingredients together and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy as a complete meal or side dish.
Or you can mix in some leftover grilled chicken, cooked minced beef or diced hotdogs, before baking, to convert into a complete casserole.
Chicken: Get creative! Check out recipes online and try new things. The possibilities are endless and you have enough chicken in your fridge to try something different every meal if you wish.
Sandwiches: You have enough bread and supporting ingredients to get extremely creative with sandwiches. If you love having a deli style or restaurant brunch quality sandwich for lunch, this is your time to shine.
Cheap Meals for Family of 2 Adults: Dinner Ideas
1st Day: Hot dogs.
2nd Day: Burritos (chicken or minced beef).
3rd Day: Spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread.
4th Day: Stir fried rice and barbecue chicken.
5th Day: Loaded hot dogs (top off your hot dogs with some Bolognese sauce and cheese for a unique flavor explosion).
6th Day: Grilled chicken and tater tots.
7th Day: Stir fried rice or pasta salad and pan fried chicken.
Bonus Lunch Ideas and Pro Tips
Follow all the tips that we included for lunch! The possibilities are endless!
Additional Pro Tips for Cheap Meals for Two
1. Plan around your specific budget
If you have more than $40 available weekly, great! You can get more adventurous with your protein and side selections. If you have less than that, feel free to trim out any luxurious extras that you saw. Work with what you have!
For example, the cheese can be left out, as well as the ingredients for the garlic bread. That’s around 5 bucks in savings right there. Your meals would be just fine without those items.
2. Have a strategic meal plan, not just a plan to cook food!
Don’t spend all day, every day just cooking! Plan the sequence of your meals to save time and energy. Breakfast can double as lunches on some days. Dinners and lunches can intertwine on most days.
3. Meal prep as much as possible
Prepare your base ingredients on your free time. Meat can be washed, seasoned and packaged out on weekends. Sides and chicken salad can be prepared and refrigerated as well. This way you’d never get bored or tempted to order takeout.
You could do all your cooking on your free time so can mix and match sides with protein whenever you’re hungry. Toss in a sandwich here and there and all meals could actually be different.
4. Be creative
Check out recipes and cooking styles online. Try different things to utilize the ingredients that you have.
5. Don’t waste leftovers
Before you cook again, ensure that you have a plan to consume what you have before it goes bad. Don’t waste food! That’s just money down the drain.
Leftover raw ingredients from one week can always roll over to be a saving in the upcoming week. Not so for cooked food. It’s perishable so eat that first!
6. Shop your pantry
Before buying new ingredients, see what you have at home. Meal plan around the items that you have before prioritizing new recipes.
7. The less shopping trips you make, the better
The more trips you make to the store, the more likely you are to be tempted to pick up extra items. Do your wallet a favor and stick to a few designated grocery runs. Once or twice a week should be sufficient.
If you so happen to run back because you missed an item, don’t pick up any random extras along with it!
8. Buy online
To limit your exposure to in-store temptations, shop online as much as possible. Remember that stores are strategically set up to get you to spend more.
Nice music, packed colorful shelves, essentials situated all the way to the back…it’s a trap!
9. Use deals to save money
Make use of deals, specials, membership shopping, coupons and any other ways that you can to save money.
If bulk buying works for you, just adjust your weekly budget into a bi-weekly, monthly or bi-monthly budget. Once you’re saving money at the end of the period…go with it!
10. Supplement your Grocery Budget with Free Money Online
Do your essential online shopping with cash back reward sites like Rakuten, in order to gather some extra funds. You might as well make some money while you buy the things that you need to.
11. Don’t overthink cooking
Anyone can cook! As long as your food has enough salt and meats are fully cooked, it should taste just fine…and you won’t die. Look at some YouTube videos, follow some recipes and you’d be perfectly fine.
When it comes to a tight budget…spices and seasonings are overrated! Do not break the bank in order to add extra spices and seasonings, just for the sake of following a recipe. Salt and pepper should be fine in most cases.
Don’t go taking a loan just to add paprika, cayenne pepper and oregano to your spaghetti Bolognese! And if you pay for it with your credit card, it’s a loan whether you want to believe it or not.
12. Feel free to substitute ingredients
If you have dietary restrictions or personal preferences, plan around it and substitute accordingly. Just work within your budget.
Frequently Asked Questions for Cheap Meal Plan for 2 +
FAQ: What is the cheapest meal you can make?
When all else fails and you need to buy something; Ramen costs 30 cents per meal! However, the cheapest meal that you can make is anything that you can prepare from the items that you already have available in your pantry.
If you just have rice, that can be steamed and stir fried. If you have flour, you can make a yummy flat bread. Potatoes can be made into tater tots or wedges. A Grilled cheese sandwich or French toast is always an option if you have bread on your hands. Think around what you have!
FAQ: How to eat for two on a budget?
Eating for two on a budget comes down to meal planning and sticking with it. Determine the budget that you have and review some meal ideas that fall within that price range. Be sure to pick things that you’d actually enjoy eating in order to remain in a positive mindset.
Know that budget eating isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s just you taking control of your spending and choosing to allocate your money how you think best.
There are tons of absolutely delicious budget meal options to choose from. You do not need to feel like money is tight whenever you’re about to eat. Instead, come up with a meal plan that you can be proud of and happy to participate in.
FAQ: What to make for dinner when you are broke?
Start with what you have available in your pantry! Pasta and mayo equals pasta salad, steamed rice and a little oil gives stir fried rice, baked potato is another cheap option. Get creative with what you have.
When your pantry is bare, there’s always ramen noodles at 30 cents a pop!
FAQ: How do I feed my family with $10?
A family of four or even five can be easily fed for less than $10. Eight complete hotdogs can be made for $2.64 and sixteen for $5.28. Deli quality chicken salad sandwiches can be made for everyone for around the same. A delicious pasta casserole can be made for under $5 also! With chicken! Just get creative and think positively.
All the individual meals discussed in this post can be used to feed a family of two to four people for under $10. Quite easily actually!
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Final Thoughts on Cheap Meals for Two
I bet you never thought you and your family could eat that well for $40 per week. Even if your budget is tighter than that, you can trim off some of the extra items if you wish. Or roll over the extra ingredients from one week, into the next for extra savings.
It’s crazy how lavishly you could eat, while setting a limit to your grocery bill. With the meal plan and bonus options that we discussed, you’d never be bored at meal time and you’d never feel as though money is tight. It’s a pretty sweet deal.
Are there any other budget meals that you swear by? How about side dishes that cost a little but pack a rich punch? Any tips that you’d like to share with us? Share with us in the comments section. We’d love to hear what you have to say!
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