Weekly Meal Planning Tips from a Single Mom

As a single mom, living on a tight budget is just part of life. Creating meals that please and fill up bellies while not breaking the bank is always a challenge. For the Walmart challenge, I was asked to create a week-long meal plan-three meals a day-for my family of four on a budget of $75.

Here's what I came up with.

My Shopping List

Great Value Fruit Spins cereal - 2.50
Great Value Potato Flakes - 1.24
Loaf of Italian Bread - 1.50
Great Value Macaroni - 1.00
Great Value Fries - 1.96
Great Value family size chicken noodle soup - 1.38
Imperial Margarine Quarters - .68
1 Half-Gallon 1% milk - 1.97
Banquet frozen meals - chicken and fries, sesame chicken, pepperoni pizza, fettuccine alfredo - .88 each (x4)
Great Value Radiatore pasta - 1.00
Ramen noodles - chicken flavor - .18 each (x4)
Great Value Toaster Pastry - chocolate fudge - 1.25
Great Value Saltine Crackers - 1.18
Pancake Syrup - 1.78
Great Value frozen chicken breast - 5.98
Pillsbury Toaster Strudel - Cinnamon Roll - 1.98
Pizza crust mix - .42 each (x2)
Great Value Rice and Sauce (chicken flavor) - 1.00 each (x2)
Pork Loin Filet - 5.68
Tony's Frozen Pizza - 1.98 each
Great Value canned corn - .67
Martha White Blueberry Muffin mix - .88
Great Value refrigerated cinnamon rolls - 1.43
Great Value BBQ Sauce - 1.23
Great Value Sliced American Cheese - 2.32
Turkey Bacon - 2.48
Great Value Lemon Pepper marinade (for chicken) - 1.22
Great Value spaghetti rings - .64
Braeburn apples (3) - 1.27/lb - 3 apples - 1.54
Loaf of wheat bread - 1.38
Great Value hot dog buns - 1.18
Pancake mix - .50
Great Value Parmesan cheese - 2.48
Hillshire Farm sliced turkey 2.78
Great Value crescent rolls in can 1.43
Bar M hot dogs - .88
Yoplait Whipped Strawberry yogurt - .58
Hunt's 4 Cheese pasta sauce - .98
Great Value peanut butter 1.72
1 dozen eggs - 1.64
Great Value hamburger buns - 1.18

+6.58 tax

Total: 75.86

Meal Plan
(Note: My meal plan calls the evening meal "supper" instead of "dinner"--that's what it's called in my neck of the woods and old habits are hard to break.)

Sunday Breakfast:
1 can cinnamon rolls

Sunday Lunch:
frozen pizza

Sunday Supper:
pork loin in crockpot (be sure to put it in crockpot on Sunday morning, after supper shred leftovers for bbq sandwiches later in the week)
chicken rice
mashed potatoes
crescent rolls

Monday Breakfast:
blueberry muffin mix

Monday Lunch:
kids peanut butter sandwiches, apple slices
Mom Yoplait yogurt
Hillshire Farms sliced turkey on wheat bread
apple slices

Monday Supper:
Pasta and sauce
Italian bread

Tuesday Breakfast:
Pillsbury Toaster Streudel pastries

Tuesday Lunch:
Banquet microwave meals

Tuesday Supper:
BBQ sandwiches from leftover pork (need buns, BBQ sauce)

Wednesday Breakfast:
scrambled eggs
turkey bacon
wheat toast with margarine

Wednesday Lunch:
spaghetti rings
toasted cheese sandwiches (bread, cheese slices)

Wednesday Supper:
crockpot chicken breasts with lemon pepper marinade
mashed potatoes
chicken rice
corn

Thursday Breakfast:
pancakes (mix)
syrup
margarine

Thursday Lunch:
chicken noodle soup
crackers

Thursday Supper:
homemade "hard times" calzones and sauce (see Hard Times Calzones recipe), topped with Parmesan

Friday Breakfast:
Cereal and milk (fruit spins)

Friday Lunch:
Chicken ramen noodles

Friday Supper:
Variety Buffet! Hot dogs and buns
french fries

Saturday Breakfast:
toaster pastries

Saturday Lunch:
BBQ sandwiches

Saturday Supper:
Macaroni and cheese
Texas toast (slice Italian bread, toast lightly in oiled skillet then add butter and a dash of garlic powder)

I found that as a busy mom working from home and homeschooling my children, having a meal plan made it easier for me to fix our meals quickly. I did not need to waste my valuable time trying to decide what to make for each meal and my kids knew what was on the menu for specific days.

The important thing with creating this meal plan was to stay within budget, and while I went over by approximately 80 cents, which was due to sales tax, the overage was small enough that I was pleased. All items for the meal plan were purchased new, but the cost would be greatly reduced by using items I would normally keep on hand (syrup, Parmesan cheese, BBQ sauce) and not having to buy them. This was definitely a challenge that I had a lot of fun undertaking!