$125 Budget Weekly Menu –After two years of $100 Budget Menus, we’ve increased the grocery budget to $125 a week for six people including three teens and one pre-teen.
Print my FREE Customizable Menu Planning Forms to help plan your meals!
*Items marked with an asterisk were purchased in previous weeks in the $125 Budget and are in the pantry, fridge or freezer.
Click purple links to go to recipes!
BREAKFAST
Very Blueberry Smoothie, Cheese Toast
Oatmeal* with cinnamon and raisins*
Oatmeal Pancakes* (flour previously purchased)
Scrambled eggs, orange slices
Organic Yogurt with Crockpot Granola and fresh fruit
Cereal with milk x2
LUNCH
Turkey Avocado Wrap, cucumber slices with ranch dressing*
Nachos with avocado slices
PBJ, apple slices with cinnamon
Easy Cheese Quesadillas, veggies with ranch dressing, canned peaches*
Turkey Sandwich, pepper slices and ranch dressing* x2
Leftovers from dinner
DINNER
Greek Pasta Salad, garlic toast
Baked Potatoes with bacon*, steamed broccoli and cheese, salad
London Broil*, home fried potatoes, steamed broccoli and cauliflower (repeat because we ate leftovers last week instead of this)
Spicy Black Beans, rice, garlic toast triangles
Crock Pot Chili* (kidney beans and tomatoes previously purchased), corn chips
Chicken Tenders*, steamed green beans, Tropical Fruit Salad
Chuck Roast, mashed potatoes*, steamed green beans*
Read what we do about snacks here.
Read how I feed my family for less without extreme couponing in my Save More-Clip Less ebook!
Please Note: I post my weekly menu to encourage menu planning and to give meal ideas, not as a nutritional standard. You should feed your family based on your priorities and values. You may not be able to replicate this exact menu for $125 because sales vary by region and you will have different items on hand, but you can save money just by using a menu. 🙂)
If you would like menu planning help, check out eMeals*–weekly menus based on your local store’s sales including recipes and a grocery list!
Click here and use promo code PEACEFUL for a 10% discount off of eMeals already low prices!
What’s on your menu this week? Leave a comment or link. 🙂
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For more menu ideas, check out OrgJunkie Menu Plan Mondays.
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I am curious about two “recipes” I see frequent your menus. Would you please share how you prepare london broil and cheese toast? I find your blog so inpirational those days I only have time for a quick read it is always you! I can’t thank you enough.
Hi Nadene! You can make cheese toast several ways. The first is to pop the toast in the toaster, then when it’s done, remove it from the toaster and add a slice of cheese (or shredded cheese) and put in the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds to melt the cheese. You can also use a toaster oven by placing the slice of bread with the cheese on top into the toaster oven and cooking for a minute or two until the cheese is melted.
We personally don’t own a microwave, so I make my cheese toast in the oven. I place several slices of bread on a cookie sheet, add a layer of shredded or sliced cheese on top, and then place it on broil for 1-2 minutes until the cheese melts. The bottom of the bread does not toast with this method, but the kids and I don’t mind. Hope that helps. 🙂
Oops, I forgot about the London Broil. London Broil is made using top round beef roast which I purchase on sale. To prepare the meat, I score the meat diagonally and marinate it with lemon juice and garlic (or my Delicious Steak Marinade Recipe here) for 4-5 hours in the fridge. I then preheat the broiler of my oven. The meat should be placed about 3 inches from the heating element and cooked 8 minutes on the first side and then 7-10 minutes on the second side depending on how rare you like it. Once it has cooked, you can let it rest for a couple of minutes and then slice it thinly on the diagonal.
It took me a few cycles of budgeting to figure out that we needed to separate items that you may buy all at once when “grocery shopping.” Our budget has an amount for household and paper products, cosmetics and personal care items, and even one for cat supplies! This way the food budget is only for food.
I’m so nerdy, I even separate them in the cart so I can get a separate receipt. 🙂
I wish there was a “like” or “me too” button on blogs….
I have done this as well 🙂
I have a question for you. I am looking at my list right now and there’s approx 18 things on it that we need or are out of and not one of these will make a meal. (ie sandwich bags, fabric softener, stain spray, trash bags, dish liquid, milk, yogurt, sponges, kitty litter, boxed mashed potatoes, various cheeses, etc. etc). I can get some of this at the Dollar Tree (and do) but this kind of stuff still ads up. I also buy when BOGOs are available and frequent BigLots, Dollar Tree and the like. Where does this fit in your budget? It always seems like my list is full of miscellaneous stuff like this before I ever start meal planning. Thank you!
I keep a separate list for all non-food items and I have $50 budgeted for the month, but sometimes we spend as much as $75. I usually try to stock up when things are on sale, so that helps. I currently have a box in the closet filled with razors, shaving cream, hair products, feminine products, etc., so we “shop” there first.
As far as food items, I keep a list on the fridge and we mark whatever we are low on. I just add that to the regular grocery list for my shopping day. Is that what you were asking?
Yes, I guess so. Thanks. It seems the miscellaneous can ad up fast. You explained that you have a separate budget for that so maybe I could look into doing that