Including 7 day family meal plan ideas
We all know that meal planning can save us money but trying to plan your grocery list and weekly menu isn’t always easy. Kids go through fazes of liking different food and between trying to keep to a budget and buying food everyone in the family will eat, it’s easy to see why most of us struggle to meal plan.
If you are having one of those weeks, and glancing at your blank weekly menu planner then keep reading, as we have 7 family meal plans templates to help you keep your budget down and meal plan quickly.
Budget meal planning can be easy if you know how!
If you like the idea of meal prepping then have a look at this post here on how to make meals easier for the whole family.
If you are looking for more £1 a head family meals then have a look at:
The Ultimate £1 Per Head Budget Meal Planning List – This gives you our full list of £1 a head family meals that you can use to fill up your meal plan.
101 Aldi Recipes That Will Give You Dinner Ideas For Tonight – Use this post for dinner ideas when you need are having trouble filling up your meal plan.
The Ultimate Guide to Food Shopping on a Budget – If you’ve never meal planned before then use this post as it talks you through exactly how to save money on your shopping bill.
Printable Meal Planner
Still lacking inspiration but unsure what to do? Then come join our free Resource Vault. We give you plan templates that take all the thinking away. We can create your budget weekly menus, shopping lists and send you the recipes every week so you don’t even have to think about it.
No coupons. No yellow stickers, just easy family-friendly recipes.
Implementing a weekly meal plan really does save you money and time. It stops you going for the takeaway menu when the family go nuclear and means you don’t have to face a cupboard full of food with no clue or inspiration on what to cook.
It also means that you are building up your recipe bank so when you no longer need us, you have all our recipes to fullback on.
What to know more?
Then join our free Resource Vault here
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Family meal planning
If trying to find your own family meal ideas that don’t cost you the earth and it’s causing you a headache, then have a look at our huge list of Ultimate £1 Per Head Budget Meal Planning List here.
It has over 50 simple, budget recipes that don’t require any fancy gadgets or expensive ingredients. All the meals are “normal” family favourites that can be made in advance, from leftovers to Slimming World family-friendly meals that can all be used to build up your meal plan weekly to keep you on budget.
If you are looking to try new foods then have a look at Spicentice. They are great to use if you are new to cooking from scratch or if you are looking to get your family eating new budget-friendly meals and have no clue where to start.
They send out packets of spice but also give you teh full list of ingredients and method on how you make the dish. They are a great way to try new dishes that you’ve never cooked before.
We tried them for a year and so far have made:
Vegan Shepherd’s Pie For Just 82p Per Portion
Spaghetti Meatball Recipe For 73p a Head
Easy Chicken Fajita Recipe: A Family Meal for 94p a Person
Chinese Chicken Curry For Just £1.54 For 4
Really Easy Homemade Beef Burgers For Under £1 a Head
The Best Southern Fried Chicken Recipe For Under £1 a Head
Chicken Tikka Masala Curry For Under £4 a Head
The Best Katsu Curry Recipe For Under £1 a Head
The Best Firecracker Chicken For Just 99p a Head
Meal Planner and Shopping Lists
Grocery shopping can be a breeze and cost you less than you think BUT only when you have a plan!
These 7 family meal planner templates will help you budget your weekly shopping and help bring your grocery bill down. All these meal plans can give you easy dinner ideas that you can use to save money.
All our budget meal plans can be mixed and matched. The whole idea here is to give you some ideas so you don’t feel overwhelmed with that plain piece of paper or just leave without a plan!!
You can also start saving your family that extra bit by looking at Muscle Foods, who offer fresh high-quality meat delivered directly to your door at a price that you can’t compare to anyone else.
Also, to add to your savings, make sure you use a cash back site like OhMyDosh. They also you cashback on anything and everything you buy online through them, and have some great new members offers that could help you save a good £50 off your shopping bill each month.
Read more about how OhMyDosh works here.
Now, let’s start saving your family money and take away the thinking process that happens when you try and meal plan.
If you are short of time then a slow cooker is a great idea. It means that you can put your dinner on in the morning and come home to something cooked.
If you like the sound of a slow cooker then have a look at:
31 Aldi Slow Cooker Recipes For The Whole Family
31 Easy Family Slow Cooker Recipes
7 Gammon Slow Cooker Recipes That Are Budget Friendly
9 Slow Cooker Chicken Curry Recipes That Are Budget Friendly
The £18 a week meal plan
This weekly shop for just £18 is perfect if you like simple food and need to cut your grocery bill down. Some of these meals make great leftovers as well. These are delicious easy meals that you cook on a budget.
The £18 weekly grocery list can be found here.
Friday
Breakfast – porridge with fruit
Lunch – tomato soup & bread
Dinner – homemade ham & cheese pizza
Saturday
Breakfast – overnight oats
Lunch – cheese omelette
Dinner – jacket potato, cheese, beans
Sunday
Breakfast – porridge with fruit
Lunch – ham sandwich
Dinner – tomato pasta
Monday
Breakfast – overnight oats
Lunch – cheese on toast
Dinner –sweet potato curry
Tuesday
Breakfast – porridge with fruit
Lunch – boiled egg & toast
Dinner – fish cakes, mash & beans
Wednesday
Breakfast – overnight oats
Lunch – crackers & cheese
Dinner – gammon, eggs & homemade chips
Thursday
Breakfast – porridge with fruit
Lunch – leftover curry
Dinner – cheese & gammon pasta bake
If the kids are still hungry, try these breakfast muffins and freeze any leftovers.
The £2.50 a day family meal plan
Looking for budget meals for the whole family? Then try these 15 awesome budget meals to feed the family for under £17, that’s just £2.50 a day. You can find £2.50 a day for a family of four grocery list here.
Saturday
Breakfast: Porridge with plums
Lunch: Sweet Potato & carrot soup with Homemade Bread
Snack: Easy Peasy Biscuits – 2 each
Dinner: Hidden vegetable Pasta and sauce
Sunday
Breakfast: Toast & Banana
Lunch: Ham & Onion Omelette
Snack: Homemade Fruit Flapjacks
Dinner: Chicken roast
Monday
Breakfast: Porridge & Cooked Apple
Lunch: Egg & Soldiers
Snack: Banana
Dinner: Sweet & Sour Chicken with Rice
Tuesday
Breakfast: Fried Egg & Tomato
Lunch: Scotch Pancakes
Snack: Homemade Fruit flapjack
Dinner: Sweet Potato & Chicken Curry
Wednesday
Breakfast: Porridge with plums
Lunch: Cheese & Onion Omelette
Snack: Easy Biscuits 2 each
Dinner: Chicken Pasta Bake
Thursday
Breakfast: Egg & Soldiers
Lunch: Sweet Potato & carrot soup with Homemade bread
Snack: Left over fruit smoothies
Dinner: Sweet Potato & Chicken Curry Left Overs
Friday
Breakfast: Over Night Porridge
Lunch: Scotch Pancakes
Snack: Easy Peasy Biscuits – 2 each
Dinner: Homemade Four Seasons Pizza (half of cheese, quarter of chicken & tomato, quarter Pineapple & Ham)
The £16 a week budget meal plan
Have a look at some of these meal ideas and just pick one or two a week to try and bring your bill down. You can always add or take away anything the kids don’t like. We also buy bigger packs of meat and freeze them for multiple meals that week to make sure that the meat is used and reduce our shopping bill spend. You can find the full shopping list for the £16 meal plan a week here.
Monday
Porridge
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Vegetable Fajitas
Tuesday
Toast
Omelette
Lasagne
Wednesday
Scrambled Egg
Crackers and Cheese
Egg fried Stir fry with Rice
Thursday
Fruit Porridge
Cheese Sandwiches
Mince Pasta Bake
Friday
Over night porridge oats
Homemade Tomato Soup
Jacket Sweet Potato & Beans
Saturday
Boiled eggs
Homemade Tomato Soup
Egg noodle stir fry
Sunday
Toast
Crackers and Flapjack
Homemade Pizza
The vegan meal plan
It’s not easy to ensure your whole family are getting the right nutrients, especially if some one in your family has a dairy intolerance. This really easy vegan meal plan is for beginners who have a family of fussy eaters and who need to curb their spending. None of this is set in stone, and can be changed up depending on what your family like to eat. Grab the vegan meal plan grocery list here.
Sunday
Breakfast: Overnight oats
Lunch: Soup & bread (tomatoes, herbs)
Dinner: Roast (mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, roast parsnips, onion & carrot)
Monday
Breakfast: Bruscetta toast (bread,tomatoes,onion & herbs)
Lunch: Salad & falafel (flour, chickpeas, spices, spinach, tomato, onion, pepper)
Dinner: Spag Bol (meat free mince, leftover veg)
Tuesday
Breakfast: Porridge (optional banana)
Lunch: Falafel wrap (carrots, celery)
Dinner: Chilli & rice (mixed beans, lentils, chopped tomatoes, onions & peppers)
Wednesday
Breakfast: Overnight oats
Lunch: falafel wrap (carrots, celery)
Dinner: Lentil shepherds pie (lentils, chopped tomatoes, onions, carrots & potatoes)
Thursday
Breakfast:Toast & guacamole (bread, avocado, onions)
Lunch: Jacket potato and beans (Potatoes and beans)
Dinner: Stuffed aubergine & salad (aubergine, rice, onions, tomato, spices and spinach)
Friday
Breakfast: Bruscetta toast (bread, big tomatoes, onion & herbs)
Lunch: Salad & falafel (flour, chickpeas, herbs, spinach, tomato, onion & pepper)
Dinner: Stir fry (carrots, onion, pepper, broccoli, rice, tofu plus anything else you have)
Saturday
Breakfast: Eggless pancakes (made from kitchen staples)
Lunch: Soup & bread (tomatoes and herbs)
Dinner: Curry with rice (potato, coconut milk, chickpeas, lentils, spinach and spices)
The Vegetarian Slimming World meal plan
This whole meal plan id for the whole family and comes in at under £25 excluding drinks. You will have some leftovers, so using something like our leftover app all these can be used in other meals or frozen. You can find our Vegetarian Slimming World grocery list here.
Monday
Frozen mixed summer fruits (raspberries, strawberries and blackberries) covered in fat free natural yogurt.
3 egg omelette with your choice of filling (Bacon, Ham, Spinach, Tomatoes, Mushroom, Onion)
Syn free tomato and garlic pasta
Tuesday
Poached eggs and bacon with a syn free Hash Brown
Sweet baked potato, sliced ham, beetroot and a salad
Syn free butternut squash lasagna
Wednesday
Sliced pear, honeydew melon, strawberries and fat free Greek style yogurt
A baked potato with choice of toppings
Syn free bacon cheesy tomato pasta
Thursday
2 syn free hash browns, 1/2 tin of baked beans and scrambled eggs
Slimming World Creamy tomato sauce from Iceland mixed with cooked pasta
Syn free pizza
Friday
Sliced banana topped with a syn free Mullerlight yogurt.
Slimming World quarter pounder burger from Iceland with a salad.
Syn free sausage casserole
Saturday
Fried breakfast using Frylight: 6 eggs, 6 Slimming World sausages, 6 bacon medallions, 8 cherry tomatoes, 6 mushrooms and 2 tins of baked beans.
Slimming World Smoky tomato, bean and chorizo sausage soup (from Iceland)
Syn free vegetarian chickpea curry
Sunday
Omelette with your choice of Syn free toppings. (Ham, bacon, spinach, mushrooms etc.)
Slimming World mushroom sauce mixed with cooked pasta
Syn free cottage pie
Slimming World extra easy food meal plan
You should be able to do this shop for around £40, and still have leftover items in the freezer, like the frozen berries or the mixed vegetables, meaning that your bill will be less the following week. (Disclaimer: My kids are at pre-school or school all week, so don’t eat lunch with me. That makes no difference to how much I buy, as my husband and I still need lunch, and any leftover cupboard essentials get used the following week.)
Monday
B: Dried Everyday Essentials Porridge Oats with Frozen Mixed fruit
L: Ham and mixed Vegetable Quiche
D: Homemade burgers with sweet potato fries
Tuesday
B: Harvest Morn Wheaties
L: Syn Free French Onion Soup
D: Mediterranean chicken (breasts, tomatoes, herbs, vegetables roasted)
Wednesday
B: Harvest Morn bran flakes with Brooklea Fat Free Greek Style Lemon Yogurt
L: Sweet potato and chilli soup
D: Chilli
Thursday
B: Benefit lighter granola with strawberries
L: Syn Free French Onion Soup (leftovers)
D: Stir fry chicken noodles with vegetables
Friday
B: Harvest Morn light benefit bars
L: Sweet potato and chilli soup (leftovers)
D: Spaghetti Bolognese
Saturday
B: Dried Everyday Essentials Porridge Oats with Frozen Mixed fruit
L: Omelets with handful of frozen vegetables.
D: Grilled chicken kebabs (with mushrooms, onions and peppers on skewers in soy sauce and garlic) served with boiled rice.
Sunday
B: Full English: bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, scrambled eggs, beans and brown toast
L: Ham and mixed Vegetable Quiche (leftovers)
D: chicken stroganoff – fry onion, garlic, celery, pepper, carrot in fry light. Add chicken, mushrooms and paprika and fry until cooked. Remove from heat then add fat free natural yoghurt – lovely with rice!
The “pick your own” meal plan
So once or twice a month I let the kids pick our menu out of my tub of budget recipes. The full list of cooking on a budget recipes are here but we have loads in our Resource Vault as well.
Monday
Porridge with fruit
Pizza toast
Vegetable Lasagne
Tuesday
Overnight oats
Choice of sandwich filling
Cheese & ham(or any leftover meat) pasta bake
Wednesday
Toast with banana
Spaghetti with dried herb to taste (we use chilli flakes and oregano)
Vegetable Fajitas
Thursday
Scrambled eggs
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Fish cakes, mash & beans
Friday
Boiled eggs & soldiers
Crackers ploughman
Homemade Four Seasons Pizza (half of cheese, quarter of chicken & tomato, quarter Pineapple & Ham)
Related Posts:
- 101 Aldi Recipes That Will Give You Dinner Ideas For Tonight
- One Month of Family Meal Ideas on a Budget
- 31 Cheap Family Meals That Are Under £1 a Head
Saturday
Fried Egg & tomat0
Butternut penne
Sweet potato curry
Sunday
2 frozen hash browns, baked beans and scrambled eggs
Scotch pancakes
Gammon (or ham), eggs & homemade chips
Laura x
If you enjoyed this post and would like some more family friendly budget recipes or meal plan ideas, then head over to the budget food section here on Savings 4 Savvy Mums where you’ll find over 30 cheap posts dedicated to helping you cook and shop wiser for less. There’s enough tips to help you save over £300 a month! You could also pop over and follow my family food Pinterest boards for lots more ideas on how to eat well and spend less; Family Meal Plans on a Budget, Budget Family Meals & Budget Slimming World Recipes for Families.
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