$50 Budget weekly meal plan | Monster Meal Plan

Before I understood the benefits of meal prepping and planning, I would aimlessly roam the aisles of the grocery stores, with no idea of what I was going to cook. I would find a cut of meat or a vegetable that looked perfect and then build the meals around that. But more often than not, I would go home and begin to prep and whoops, forgot an ingredient or two!

Meal planning and meal prepping aren’t the same in my opinion and yes they go hand in hand, but you can meal plan without meal prepping, but not vice versa. Again…just my thoughts.

So for meal planning this week, I decided to challenge myself with a budget. I really wanted to make it a true challenge. So I went with $50 with plans to make 6 meals, enough to feed 3 to 4 people. I started by thinking of 2 meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And for me, I am not a big fan of leftovers, so to make it even more difficult, I opted for a variety of meals. But with a budget, I had to really think it through and save where I can.

Coming up with meals that use similar ingredients can really save time on prepping and cooking. And did I mention money?!?! So let’s begin with the meal breakdown:

BREAKFAST

• Turkey bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich
• Ham and veggie egg muffins

LUNCH

• Southwestern chicken salad
• Bacon ham club sandwiches

DINNER

• Sausage baked penne
• Chicken fajitas

So now that I was able to come up with dishes, it’s grocery time! Here is the grocery list to complete your meals and some extra items. I decided to do my shopping at Aldi since they have great prices and they are available in many areas. Mine totaled $50.93 before taxes and fees, so I went over by a little but it was also because I used curbside pickup instead of actually shop myself, and there is a markup on the items when you use this service, so if anything it was less. Plus different areas will vary in prices too based on cost of living. Either way, it doesn’t have to be exact, but just an idea and list to go off of.

Grocery list:
bulk mild Italian sausage
turkey bacon
ham deli meat
chicken breast
bell peppers
onions
romaine hearts
avocados
roma tomatoes
bananas
apples
sliced cheese
eggs
shredded mozzarella
ricotta cheese
penne pasta
tomato sauce
Italian bread loaf
English muffins
flour tortillas
can of corn
can of black beans
potato chips
salad dressing

If you want to see how I plan the meals, watch this meal planning video and you will see my process…which believe me, there is no process exactly😂.

Ham and veggie egg muffins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using a muffin tin, spray cups with non stick spray and set aside.
3. In a small mixing bowl or large measuring cup, crack 6–7 eggs.
4. Add in 1/4 cup water (or milk is even better if you have that).
5. Add in pinch of salt and pepper.
6. Mix until fully blended. Set aside.
7. Add chopped up slices of ham, diced peppers and onions to each cup, divided evenly.
8. Then top off each muffin round about 3/4 of the way up with egg mixture.
9. Stir each cup up with a fork to evenly distribute the toppings before baking.
10. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until egg firms up and cooked through.
11. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

I love making grilled chicken for meal preps. You can batch up chicken and use it in salads, sandwiches, wraps, rice bowls, pizzas, it’s endless. So a really simple seasoning blend I use is a homemade taco seasoning. Now you can take the easy route and just get a pack of taco seasoning, but really this is not hard to do at all and cheaper as well. Most of the time I do a couple shakes of each over the meat, but here is the actual recipe to make enough seasoning to cover 3 large chicken breasts.

1/2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)

Sausage baked penne pasta

1. In a large pot of water, bring to a boil and add a few tablespoons of salt. Add 1 full box (1 lb.) of pasta and cook until al dente. Drain. Add back to cooking pot.
2. While pasta is cooking, in a different sauce pan, heat on to medium high heat and begin to cook sausage, breaking it up as you cook.
3. Add in a half an onion (diced) and 1 tbsp of Italian seasoning. Continue to sauté together.
4. Add in entire jar of tomato sauce and let the pan simmer on medium low heat for ad additional 10 minutes and sauce thickens a bit.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Spoon half the meat mixture into the pot of pasta and mix together, incorporating the sauce into the cooked pasta.
7. In a large casserole/baking dish, spoon the sauce and spread evenly a thin layer on the bottom.
8. Dollop on ricotta cheese, spreading about 2 tbsp worth dollops over the sauce (about 10 dollops).
9. Pour entire pot of pasta into the dish, making sure to level off the pasta noodles.
10. Add on the rest of the sauce to the top of the pasta.
11. Place on 10 more dollops of ricotta cheese all over the top and evenly spread 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.
12. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 350 degrees.
13. If you want a nice top, leave the dish in the oven and turn the broiler on high for 3 to 5 minutes, until the top is melted and golden.
14. Best if eaten right away, but may store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

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