7 Days Of Breakfasts, Lunches, And Dinners — All Built From The Same, Under-$70 Grocery List
Maybe you're trying to cook more at home. Or perhaps you're trying to stick to a stricter grocery budget. Whatever the case, finding wholesome recipes that are both exciting and satisfying can be a challenge. That's where this weeklong meal plan comes into the picture.
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It'll help shake up your mealtime routine, simplify the process of grocery shopping, and prove that it's totally possible to cook delicious recipes on a budget. As an added bonus, because these recipes call for similar ingredients — like eggs, pasta, beans, and other inexpensive staples — it also produces little waste.
The following grocery list is for one person's breakfast, lunch, and dinner — not snacks — but you can easily double, triple, or quadruple it depending on how many people you're cooking for. Depending on your appetite, you'll probably also have plenty of leftovers to play around with.
Depending on where you live and where you shop, the total cost of these groceries will vary. But taking into account prices from Walmart, this list came out to around $65 for me.
You'll also need a few pantry staples such as olive oil, salt, pepper, vanilla extract, baking powder, and whatever spices you might already have on hand.
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Get creative and use what you've got. While some of these recipes call for more ingredients, many can be omitted without compromising flavor. Together with those few pantry staples, this grocery list should be sufficient for the entire week of meals.
Breakfast: Frittata With Tomato, Bacon, and Cheese
Bake this frittata on Sunday and enjoy the leftovers all week for meals or snacks. Use bacon, spinach, tomatoes, and cheese as the recipe calls for, or toss in whatever you have in your fridge. I would suggest cutting the recipe in half because this veggie-packed frittata will still go a long way for one.
Lunch: Five-Ingredient Chicken Salad
If you've got boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts, the recipe possibilities are limitless. Shred some chicken, and toss it with mayo or Greek yogurt, salt, pepper, and a little squeeze of lemon or vinegar. Serve it on a sandwich between whatever bread you have on hand or with crackers.
Recipe: Five-Ingredient Chicken Salad
Dinner: Spicy Garlic Spinach Pasta With Chickpeas
This vegetarian pasta is so satisfying. Start with your favorite pasta shape, add garlic, spinach, red pepper flakes, and canned chickpeas, and it all comes together in one pot. The best part is all the leftovers.
Breakfast: Five-Ingredient Flourless Banana Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins
Given that this breakfast also creates plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week, you might want to consider meal-prepping on Sunday. If you don't want chocolate, consider substituting something like blueberries, walnuts, or dates.
Recipe: Five-Ingredient Flourless Banana Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins
Lunch: Easy Chopped Avocado Caprese Salad
Six ingredients are all you need: avocado, tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, basil, and balsamic vinegar. Since you picked up a jar of store-bought pesto, you might want to add a dollop of that, too.
Dinner: Sheet Pan Chicken Tinga Bowl
Winner, winner, sheet pan chicken dinner. It comes together in just 15 minutes using simple ingredients. If you don't have all the spices the recipe uses for the tinga sauce, don't fret: a blend of fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotles in adobo, garlic, and onion should do the trick.
Recipe: Sheet Pan Chicken Tinga Bowl
Breakfast: Eggs in Purgatory
Use canned diced tomatoes or your favorite tomato sauce as the base of this baked egg dish. Garnish with some shredded Parmesan or Cotija, red pepper flakes, basil, and whatever bread you have for dunking.
Recipe: Eggs in Purgatory
Lunch: Leftover Spicy Garlic Spinach Pasta With Chickpeas
Leftovers really are the gift that keeps on giving.
Dinner: Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
The essentials of this recipe are sweet potatoes, black beans, broth, ground turkey, onions, and whatever spices you can pull from your pantry. Better yet, grab some taco seasoning and stick with that.
Recipe: Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
Breakfast: Leftover Flourless Banana Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins
Another day, another breakfast muffin.
Lunch: Avocado Egg Salad
Hard boiled eggs + avocado + mayo (or Greek yogurt) + salt and pepper are really the only essentials here. Add some pantry staples if you have them, like mustard and herbs.
Recipe: Avocado Egg Salad
Dinner: 20-Minute Skillet Caprese Chicken
There's something about this flavor combination that is so easy yet so exceptionally tasty. Put tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and balsamic on just about anything, and you've got a great meal.
Recipe: Skillet Caprese Chicken
Breakfast: Leftover Frittata
Time for round two of that delicious frittata you made the other day. Aren't you glad you meal-prepped?
Lunch: Leftover Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
Today is a day full of leftovers, but luckily they're anything but boring.
Recipe: Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
Dinner: Tomato Basil Coconut Chickpea Curry
Don't be intimidated by this ingredient list. If you have canned chickpeas, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, coconut milk, garlic, and onion, you don't need much else. If you happen to have some of the Indian-inspired spices in your pantry (curry powder, garam masala, ground cumin), by all means add a dash.
Breakfast: Avocado Breakfast Tacos
When you're starting the morning with tacos, you know it's going to be a good day. Since you bought some bacon and Parmesan or Cotija cheese, toss a bit of that in here too.
Recipe: Avocado Breakfast Tacos
Lunch: Leftover Sheet Pan Chicken Tinga Bowl
Remember that sheet pan recipe from Monday night? The leftovers are still in your fridge ready to be devoured. Serve it over rice like a chicken burrito bowl or with tortillas, fajita-style.
Recipe: Sheet Pan Chicken Tinga Bowl
Dinner: Chicken and Pesto Stuffed Sweet Potato
Baked sweet potato, shredded chicken, cherry tomatoes, and store-bought pesto are the only four ingredients you really need for this hearty dinner.
Breakfast: Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
These pancakes taste so darn good, you would never know they're good for you, too, loaded with rolled oats, ripe bananas, and eggs. Use a little bit of Thursday's extra coconut milk to make these pancakes even more fluffy and decadent.
Recipe: Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
Lunch: Leftover Frittata
Use up the rest of your frittata for lunch today. The best thing about this baked egg dish is that it's totally appropriate to eat any time of day.
Dinner: Turkey Taco Skillet
Tonight you'll use up the remainder of your ground turkey in a big skillet with canned beans, corn, canned tomatoes, and taco seasoning. Serve it with the remainder of your avocado and some rice or whatever grain you've got.
Recipe: Turkey Taco Skillet
