$110 One Week Menu Plan with Printable Grocery List (previously $75 Menu Plan)

Because I think it’s fun and I love frugal menu planning, I thought I would challenge myself to come up with a $75 one week menu plan. Now, this idea isn’t original to me. In one of the homeschool Facebook groups I am in, a mama asked what others would feed a family of six for one week with only $75. There were tons of awesome suggestions in that thread. 

In my opinion, $75 a week is totally manageable. There isn’t much room for extras, but this budget can be done! This mama said there was absolutely nothing in the house. No spices, no pantry items, nada. So, this particular budget includes it all! Obviously, if you have some of these pantry staples on hand, you’ll spend even less. 

I priced all of these items on Walmart.com. I love Walmart’s grocery pick-up system when we don’t use our military commissary.

$75 One Week Menu Plan – Adjusted to $110 in 2025

Breakfast – Oatmeal (add sugar, sliced bananas, apples, and/or peanut butter), yogurt and apple or banana, eggs and toast

Lunch – Tuna salad sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sliced fruit, sliced carrots/celery, leftovers

Dinner –

• Baked chicken leg quarters (using half bag of chicken leg quarters), roasted potatoes, carrots
• Chicken and dumplings (using half bag of chicken leg quarters) 
• Leftover night
• Goulash
• Chili (omit peppers)
• Spaghetti 
• Shepherd’s Pie

$110 Grocery List Breakdown (2025 Prices) (Previously $75)

These prices are based off of my Walmart online grocery prices in Northwest Arkansas in 2025. Prices will obviously vary based on location and the time you are reading this post.

• 10 lbs. fresh chicken leg quarters – $6.72
• 5 lb. ground turkey purchased in 1 lb. rolls – $9.90 (This menu was originally written with ground beef. At the time of this writing ground beef is abnormally high…$26 for the 5 lb roll. The 1 lb. Festive frozen ground turkey rolls are only $1.98 each.)
• 4 lbs sugar – $3.46
• 5 lbs all purpose flour – $2.38
• Iced tea bags – $2.16
• 32 oz elbow macaroni – $1.92
• 2 loaves Great Value bread – $2.84
• .5 gallon milk – $1.86
• 3 lbs. white onions – $2.88
• 26 oz. salt – .76
• Chili powder – $1.24
• Garlic powder – $1.24
• Onion powder – $1.24
• Chicken bullion – $2.54
• 3 dozen eggs – $7.41
• Peanut butter – $3.98
• Jelly – $2.74
• Spaghetti – .98
• 2 cans pasta sauce – $3.34
• Celery – $2.12
• Carrots – $1.32
• 10 lbs. potatoes – $7.44
• 12 oz. frozen mixed veggies – .98
• 1 can tomato sauce – .96
• 4 cans diced tomatoes – $3.84
• 3 cans kidney beans – $2.76
• Mayonnaise – $3.38
• 2 lb. vanilla yogurt – $2.76
• 3 lbs. apples – $4.18
• 2 lbs bananas – $1.08
• Quick oats – $2.66
• Baking powder – $1.98
• Baking soda – .92
• 6 cans tuna – $5.28
• 2 lbs. butter – $7.64

Grand total – $108.89 When I last updated this menu in January of 2025 the total was $74.83.

Possible ways to get this total closer to $75…Shop sales. Aldi runs good sales every week and you may have a local discount grocery store where you can buy these items on sale for much cheaper. If you already have spices and baking powder and baking soda on hand, that will trim the cost down, too. Inflation has gotten us all, folks. I’m definitely feeling it, too.

How I’d Meal Plan with this Grocery List

So, here’s how I would break down all of our meals. I don’t strictly plan breakfast, but we would have either oatmeal sweetened with a bit of sugar and maybe some diced apples. If I had cinnamon on hand, I would add a little bit. I could also serve oatmeal with a dollop of peanut butter and some sliced bananas. 

Another breakfast option would be eggs and toast or yogurt and some fruit. I would be careful with portioning our fruit. The kids could share apple slices from one apple. Each child will only eat half a banana anyway, so I would make sure to portion everything accordingly.

My kids like sandwiches for lunch. I would serve peanut butter and jelly or tuna salad sandwiches. Tuna salad is easily made with mayonnaise, a diced boiled egg, and a bit of onion if you like. I would also cut up a few carrots and stalks of celery for the sides. I could also make oven fries with a couple of the potatoes. Another great lunch option would be leftovers, which my husband often takes for his lunch at work.

Let’s talk dinner. I would try to get two dinners out of that bag of chicken quarters. For the first night I would bake half the bag of the chicken leg quarters. I would season them with some salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and a little of the bullion. In the baking dish, I would place chopped carrots, celery, potatoes and onion and let it all roast together. 

The next night I would make a big batch of homemade chicken and dumplings. The chicken leg quarters would boil and make a broth that is the base for the entire dish. 

On Wednesday, we would have leftovers. There should be plenty of chicken and dumplings left.

I would get at least four meals out of my 5 lbs. of ground beef. You can sub the ground turkey for the ground beef until the beef prices come down.

The first meal would be a simple goulash. Serve any leftover veggies or fruit on the side to help round out the meal.

I would also make a basic chili, spaghetti with ground beef sauce, and shepherd’s pie with mashed potatoes and the bag of frozen mixed veggies.

For drinks, I would make a large gallon of iced tea every day and water is always an option, too. There’s a half gallon of milk that will be used for making mashed potatoes, but could also be served to the kids. (My kids do drink milk every day and 1/5 gallon a week wouldn’t cut it, but if things are tight…)

Finally, everyone needs a good treat every now and then. I would make peanut butter cookies and sugar cookies for dessert.

Not in the budget this week, but if I had it on hand, I would use yeast to make homemade bread sticks and homemade rolls to go with some of our meals.

How would you spend $75 for a week’s worth of food if you were starting with nothing? I’d love to know!

Here are some of my favorite sites for helping you save money on food:

Hillbilly Housewife

The Prudent Homemaker

The Large Family Table

Grab the printable version of this meal plan! It’s in our Homemaker’s Resource Library!

My Favorite Meal Planning Resources

Our printable meal planning pages come in handy (also included in my Clean and Organized Binder).

I use a dry erase calendar in my kitchen. I can write down our menu and also any big events and everyone in the family can see.

My favorite planner pens! 

You’ll Also Love:

How To Plan Frugal Meals