I Made 7 Meals This Week and It Only Cost Me $50 in Groceries (2024)

It's no small feat trying to feed your family on a budget, especially when you still want to enjoy tasty, healthy dishes. Over the past five years, I’ve found myself preparing meals for a range of group sizes, from just my husband and me to an army of teens. But instead of the grocery bill skyrocketing, I’ve learned some really good budgeting tricks along the way to make sure our money goes as far as possible while still putting good food on the table.

Here are my top tips for getting the most bang for your buck, plus how I manage to feed four people dinner while only spending $50 on groceries in a week.

How to Save on Weekly Groceries

1. Shop your fridge, pantry, and freezer first. When creating a meal plan, many people work from what they want to eat (or what they’re used to eating) and create a weekly plan. To save money, I always work backward and see what I already have so I can use that up along with any new groceries I need to buy. Is that dairy going to expire soon? Let’s use the milk to make Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Don’t have frozen broccoli? Use whatever frozen vegetables you have. Whatever is in your pantry and freezer is money you have already spent so don’t waste it!
2. Keep versatile basics in the pantry. These are my pantry go-to's: dried pasta, pasta sauce, canned tuna, and boxed mac and cheese.
3. Maximize freezer space. I keep frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, chicken stock (I make my own from leftover roast chicken and vegetable scraps so I never buy it), and ground beef in there to pull out as needed to stretch meals.
4. Make a meal plan. This is so much easier in theory than in practice but I’ve found it’s the best way to keep a budget under control. When you already know what you are going to make for dinner, you avoid last-minute take-out or even worse, the 6 p.m. grocery store run when you are hungry and end up over shopping.
5. Buy the ingredients you use the most in bulk, but ONLY if they’re non-perishable or have a long shelf life. It’s very easy to get tempted by the large portions at Costco but if it’s a fresh or perishable food and you don’t get through it before it goes bad, or you simply get tired of eating it, then you’re wasting money and you might have been better off with spending a little bit more on something that you finish.
6. Repurpose your leftovers. Palate fatigue, i.e. not wanting to eat the same thing over and over, is a real thing. Instead of tossing your leftovers, make them into a different meal. For example, if you have leftover protein, like chicken or steak, use it to make a sandwich or chicken salad for lunch the next day. Leftover vegetables? Stir them into ramen or make a vegetable soup. Leftover mashed potatoes are great for twice-baked potatoes, quiche, or shepherd’s pie.

My Seven-Day Dinner Meal Plan With $50 Groceries

Planning out your meals so you use all of the ingredients, both raw and cooked, plus pantry staples and frozen goods means you can make a week’s worth of dinners for around $50 in groceries.Note: each meal cost listed out is approximate.

Sunday: Roast Chicken, Potatoes, and Green Beans

Meal Cost: $10

There is no better deal than the $5 roast chicken from Costco. For the potatoes and green beans, I stick to Trader Joe's, which has incredible quality and prices on fresh fruit and vegetables like potatoes ($3.99 for a 3-pound bag) and green beans ($1.99 for 1.5-pounds, frozen). I didn’t even use up all of the potatoes and green beans, so I’ll be able to have these another night for another meal. Meal prep tip: make chicken stock from the leftover chicken bones to use for dinner on Friday.

Monday: Chicken and Broccoli Cheesy Spaghetti

Meal Cost: $7

Using leftover chicken from last night, I shredded the chicken and stirred it into a pot with a jar of pasta sauce and frozen broccoli to serve over pasta—topped with cheese. You could also use a jar of Alfredo sauce here. The spaghetti ($0.99), sauce ($1.99), and frozen broccoli ($3.29) are all from Trader Joe’s too but the costs are really similar at Walmart.

I get shredded cheese from Costco for $15.99 for 5 pounds, but you can use it for a month so it's really only $4/week. You’ll also be using it for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night dinners—because there is no such thing as too much cheese.

Tuesday: Chicken Fried Rice

Meal Cost: Approximately $3

Yes, you read that correctly, $3 for this fried rice dinner tonight. That’s because I used frozen Vegetable Fried Rice ($2.99) from Trader Joe’s and added in the remaining leftover shredded chicken and some more frozen green beans and broccoli. I always have soy sauce and Sriracha in my fridge so to compensate for the extra ingredients, I added some extra sauce. You could also scramble or fry an egg and put it on top for some extra protein. We own chickens so we always have a lot of eggs, however, owning chickens doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll save money on eggs since you still have to feed the chickens!

Wednesday: Chili

Meal Cost: Approximately $7

Using ground beef from Trader Joe's ($4.99), cans of beans ($0.85), tomatoes ($0.99), and tomato sauce ($0.99) from Target, I made a hearty and easy beef chili. I had the spices called for in the recipe (chili powder and garlic) but gave it even more flavor by adding some cumin, cayenne, and a can of chopped green chiles I found in my pantry. This is a really good way to use up any shredded cheese, sour cream or yogurt, and onion you might have lying around, too.

Thursday: Chili Dogs

Meal Cost: Approximately $6

Hot dog buns are a steal at Target so using leftover chili from last night, hot dogs ($3.99), and hot dog buns ($1.49), we made chili dogs. I added relish from our fridge but really all these need to be served with are napkins.

Friday: Bacon and Potato Soup

Meal Cost: Approximately $9

Using the remaining potatoes and chicken broth from earlier in the week, whip up a batch of this super-filling Bacon and Potato Soup using bacon from Trader Joe’s ($6.49), onion, carrot, and celery bought in bulk at Costco (you will have also used some of these to make your stock), and leftover shredded cheese from your cheesy spaghetti on Tuesday night.

Saturday: Homemade Mac and Cheese

Meal Cost: Approximately $8

We found that the best deal for dairy is from your nearby grocery store. This is because dairy, especially milk, is heavy to transport so it’s cheapest to get it from a local source. My local grocery store is Hannaford, where a gallon of milk is $2.59. Using milk and your shredded cheese from Costco and any type of pasta you have in your pantry (or $0.99 from Trader Joe’s), you can make homemade mac and cheese. I usually throw in a can of tuna and some frozen peas too for added protein and vegetables, though use what you have!

The Bottom Line on Grocery Budgets

This is just a sampling of how you can make a week’s worth of meals using pantry staples, frozen veggies, and groceries.

We found the best prices for quality meats and vegetables at Trader Joe’s, pantry staples at Target and Walmart, and dairy at our local grocery store chain.

And don’t forget that saving money also means not throwing food away. Get creative with those leftover bits and pieces in your fridge!