When you are just getting started on couponing, and don't have much of a stockpile but still need to save money, here is a sample meal plan. This will be cheap and easy even if you do not use one single coupon, sale item, or item from a stockpile. I've had a lot of people ask me about this, so I wanted to make a post.
How many people have been in this situation? Your cupboards are empty, you have an unexpected bill or emergency, and you have $x.xx amount of money to last x amount of time. Everyone I know has been in this spot before, including me!
You have to cater this around what your family will eat, but here is an idea for a weeks worth of food (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack) for 4 people, for 14 days.
Shopping list-at a discount store like Aldi:
1 Tub of instant oatmeal
2 dozen eggs
3 loaves of bread
2 jars of peanut butter
1 tub of butter
1 package sandwich cheese
6 cans condensed tomato soup
1 box baking mix
1 family pack of chicken breasts
2 packs lean ground turkey
4 jars tomato sauce
4 boxes spaghetti
1 package of hot dogs
1 package of hot dog buns
1 box rice
1 gallon of milk
1 bottle pancake syrup
4 bags frozen mixed veggies
2 cans diced potatoes
2 bags of apples
2 boxes macaroni and cheese
2 bunches of bananas
1 package turkey bacon
4 cans cream of chicken soup
bag of pretzels
bag of carrots
bag of celery
Breakfasts:
7 oatmeal (try brown sugar, cinnamon, and milk in it) with bananas
7 pancakes (baking mix) and syrup, and turkey bacon
Lunches:
9 peanut butter sandwiches with apples
3 grilled cheese sandwiches with soup (each can of soup makes 2 servings)
2 leftovers from dinners
Dinners:
4 chicken pot pie (diced potatoes, chicken, mixed veggies, cream of chicken soup, milk,and baking mix on top, divide into 4 pies worth)
4 spaghetti(1 box of pasta, 1 jar of sauce, and 1/2 package of ground turkey for each meal)
4 chicken and rice casserole (cream of chicken soup, milk, chicken, rice, and frozen veggies, divide into 4 meals)
2 meals of hot dogs and macaroni with cheese (each person gets 1 hot dog)
Snacks:
7 pretzels
7 carrot and celery sticks
This will cost about $75 to feed your family for 14 days. $37.50 per week for a family of 4, or $0.33 per family member, per meal.
Need more ideas?
If your family likes
mexican food, you can get several different meals for cheap with beans, tortillas, ground turkey, chicken, rice, canned tomatoes, refried beans, canned corn, and cheese. I like to look-up recipes on www.allrecipes.com
Homestyle meals? You can slow-cook a whole chicken, and shred it for chicken and dumplings, chicken rice soup, chicken noodle soup. Slow cook a roast and shred it for pulled pork sandwiches, stroganoff, shephards pie, beef stew. you would be amazed how far a bag of onions, bag of carrots, bag of red potatoes, and a bag of celery will go here.
And how about potatoes? You can get a 10lb bag of basic potatoes for $5 or less. Use it for hash browns, cubed breakfast potatoes, mashes, fried, boiled, roasted, baked, oven fries, and add them to many meals!
