Budget-friendly recipes for an entire week of meals (~$5/day)

Grocery List

• 14 eggs
• 3 Russet potatoes
• 7 tortillas (medium-sized)
• 6 chicken breasts
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 white onion
• 400g (2 cups) uncooked brown rice
• 1 head of cabbage
• 4 carrots
• 3 clementines
• 1 pineapple (or 3 mangoes, 1 cantaloupe)
• 500g ground pork
• Few pieces of green onion
• 50g black beans
• 50g corn
• 1 jalepeno (or cayenne powder)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 head of broccoli
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 500g oatmeal

Seasonings and condiments aren’t listed, as most people have the basics on hand. And remember, let’s make the most of your budget by buying what is on a deal at your grocery store and substitute! For example, chicken thighs are usually noticeably cheaper than breasts.

Depending where you live, canned pineapple may be more cost-efficient.

Breakfast (all 7 days)

Simple Breakfast Burrito

What you’ll need: 14 eggs, 7 tortillas, 3 Russet potatoes

I’m a big fan of grab-and-go breakfasts. This one takes some time to prep, but at least you’ll be able to sleep in a little bit longer in the mornings.

Add diced potatoes to a pan with a little oil or butter and cook them until crispy over high heat. While this is cooking, start scrambling all the eggs. Feel free to season your potatoes and eggs how you like. When they are both finished cooking, fill a tortilla with some of each, roll it up into a burrito, then stash them away in the freezer.

Each morning, just pop one in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes, and head out the door! If you have time to sit, try it with some salsa or chipotle mayo.

Lunch (days 1-4)

Deconstructed Shish Kebabs

What you’ll need: 2 chicken breasts, 1 bell pepper, 1/2 onion, 200g brown rice (can substitute for quinoa, couscous, etc.)

Get started by cooking the brown rice. In saucepan, add the brown rice and double the amount of water. Bring it to a boil, then drop the heat to low. Let it simmer until all the water is absorbed. Brown rice tends to have a an ‘earthy’ flavor, add a little oil or butter and thyme to make it more tasty.

For the protein, dice the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Then cook this in a pan over medium-high heat. If you have a grill pan, it would be perfect. Season the chicken as you’d like; can’t go wrong with garlic salt and black pepper. While the chicken is cooking, dice the bell pepper and onion into 1-inch squares. Add them to the pan when the chicken is almost finished cooking, so they have a nice crunch still.

Divvy this up into four meals for the week.

Lunch (days 4-7)

Crunchy Citrus Chicken Salad

What you’ll need: 2 chicken breasts, 1/2 head of cabbage, 1 carrot, 3 clementines

Cook and shred the chicken breasts, and of course, season to your liking. Shred the cabbage and carrot, then mix them together.

Serve the shredded chicken on top of the veggie mixture, with pieces from a peeled clementine. Eat as-is or pair it with a little sesame ginger dressing or make a simple garlic soy sauce dressing.

Dinner (days 1-3)

Savory Pork Burgers

What you’ll need: 500g ground pork, 1/2 onion, 3 carrots, 4 pineapple slices, 1/2 head of cabbage, few pieces of green onion

In a bowl, mix diced onions, ground pork, salt, and pepper. If you have an Italian seasoning mixture, that would also pair well. Once mixed, form this into 3 patties. Place the patty in a cold pan with a bit of oil or butter, and cook it slowly over medium heat.

I recommend freezer the other two patties and cooking this dinner fresh each night, but you can also meal prep it if you prefer.

While this is cooking, cut your carrot into thick slices and boil them in water for about 7 minutes. Drain the water. Then from 1 pineapple slice, dice it up and toss with the carrots. This is optional, but you can then heat this over low heat for another 5 minutes to break down the pineapple.

When the pork patty is finished cooking, add a pineapple slice to the pan and cook it briefly (2 mins) over high heat.

Serve the pork patty over the pineapple slice, with the carrot mixture on top of a bed of shredded cabbage. Garnish the pork patty with chopped green onion.

Dinner (day 4)

Pineapple Black Bean Salad

What you’ll need: 50g brown rice, 50g black beans, 50g corn, 2 pineapple slices

Get started by cooking the brown rice. In saucepan, add the brown rice and double the amount of water. Bring it to a boil, then drop the heat to low. Let it simmer until all the water is absorbed. Brown rice tends to have a an ‘earthy’ flavor, add a little oil or butter and thyme to make it more tasty.

While this cooking, drain your black beans and corn and heat them up over medium-low heat. Season this to your liking. We recommend lime and cilantro, if you have something like that on hand. Otherwise, garlic salt and black pepper will do.

Dice up your pineapple slices. When the rice is finished cooking, combine everything into one big salad.

With the pineapple being exposed for 4 days at this point, we recommend dicing up the rest and storing it in the freezer. We’ll use these pieces for the last 3 dinners.

Dinner (days 5-7)

Pineapple Glazed Chicken

What you’ll need: 150g brown rice, 2 chicken breasts, remaining diced pineapple, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 jalepeno, 1 head of broccoli

Get started by cooking the brown rice. In saucepan, add the brown rice and double the amount of water. Bring it to a boil, then drop the heat to low. Let it simmer until all the water is absorbed. Brown rice tends to have a an ‘earthy’ flavor, add a little oil or butter and thyme to make it more tasty.

Dice up the chicken breasts and add to a pan with a little oil or butter over medium-high heat. If you want them a little crispy, coat them in flour before cooking. When the chicken is almost finished cooking, add the remaining diced pineapple, diced jalepeno, and 2 tbsp brown sugar.

Serve the pineapple chicken over rice, with steamed or boiled broccoli on the side.

Snacks

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

What you’ll need: 2 very ripe bananas, 350g oatmeal

Mash the bananas and mix them together with oatmeal. To this, you can add 1 tsp baking powder, cinnamon, chocolate chips, whatever you desire or what your budget allows.

Divide this into 7 cookies or 14 smaller ones and place them on a baking sheet. Bake this in the oven at 350F (180C) for 15 minutes. Flip them, then finish baking for another 5 minutes.

Once they're cool, you can store these in the freezer to keep for the entire week.

​

Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I’m just a broke girl in her mid-20’s who likes to cook and eat (what I consider) healthy. This meal plan simply works as a starting point. You can create the dishes exactly as they are, or you can alter them.

If you feel like you are lacking calories, budget-friendly fixes would be to double the carb intake (rice, potatoes, bread), eat more eggs, or add a peanut butter sandwich as an extra snack.

If you want to get in contact, you can message me on here. I've also begun sending recipes/meal plans directly to your inbox for the upcoming week. You can check that out here, if you want more of these regularly - it's free :D

bon appetit