Affordable meal plan for the whole week: $106 for 28 healthy meals!
- Replies 2
One of the best things we can do for our health (and wallet) is to cook at home more often.
On top of that, it's a fantastic method of monitoring your food intake, which is especially useful for those with particular dietary restrictions.
Of course, cooking at home isn’t always as cheap as you’d hope – especially if you have a large family to feed!
Thankfully, one Aussie mum has revealed how she creates seven delicious dinners for her clan of four… all for under $110.
The ALDI shopper, who runs an Instagram page about budget and kid-friendly meal planning, showed how a relatively inexpensive shop at their favourite discount supermarket could make enough food for her family all week long.
And trust us – these aren’t just your average pasta and canned tomato’ type of meals! The menu across the week includes:
So how does she do it?
To get the most out of one's ALDI purchase, savvy shoppers know to divide up items so that they can be used in multiple dishes.
The four pieces of chicken breasts she bought are split up so that one night she can make Mexican chicken bowls, and the next night she can make Greek chicken bowls. To stretch the Greek chicken further, she adds a mix of brown rice and quinoa, as well as a side salad.
She also uses the Mexican spice from a taco kit to flavour the Mexican bowls, and she stores the remaining ingredients in the fridge to use for fish tacos later in the week. The dish is completed with corn chips, sliced tomatoes, black beans, and corn.
Her family of four can eat soft fish tacos for two nights thanks to the eight-serving bag of pre-battered fish fillets she bought from ALDI. She paired the recipe with some coleslaw and mayonnaise that she already had at home.
She also used the store-bought pumpkin tortellini and whipped up a creamy spinach sauce to complement the dish. The gnocchi bake is made from gnocchi, tomatoes, and onions.
She doesn't forget protein, of course! Meatballs made from both pork and beef are served in hotdog buns with spaghetti sauce and a bagged salad mix to make an ideal dinner for any night of the week.
Finally, ALDI's butterflied pork is the base for her Char Siu, which she serves over a bed of coconut, lemongrass, and chilli rice. She tosses in some broccolini for extra greens.
She also makes sure that her family gets enough vegetables by using basic ingredients like tomato, cucumber, red onion, spinach, a coleslaw pack, and broccolini. Of course, these vegetables will vary depending on seasonal availability and prices.
Given the usefulness and affordability of this meal plan, it was not surprising that many of the mum's friends in the Facebook group also found her hack to be quite helpful.
'What I love the most is that you make well-rounded, healthy meals! I am going to be copying this for this week's shopping!' one user wrote in the comments section.
'This is so helpful, thank you!' added another.
What are your thoughts on this, members? Do you also make a habit of planning your meals the weekend before each week? If you're able to pull it off, please share your secret in the comments. We'd love it if you could give us some tips and ideas!
On top of that, it's a fantastic method of monitoring your food intake, which is especially useful for those with particular dietary restrictions.
Of course, cooking at home isn’t always as cheap as you’d hope – especially if you have a large family to feed!
Thankfully, one Aussie mum has revealed how she creates seven delicious dinners for her clan of four… all for under $110.
An Aussie mum shared her budget-friendly meal plan for the week. Credit: Instagram.
The ALDI shopper, who runs an Instagram page about budget and kid-friendly meal planning, showed how a relatively inexpensive shop at their favourite discount supermarket could make enough food for her family all week long.
And trust us – these aren’t just your average pasta and canned tomato’ type of meals! The menu across the week includes:
- Mexican chicken taco bowls
- Greek chicken bowls
- Soft fish tacos with coleslaw
- Pumpkin tortellini with creamy spinach sauce
- Gnocchi bake
- Meatball subs and salad
- Char Siu pork with lemongrass rice and broccolini
So how does she do it?
To get the most out of one's ALDI purchase, savvy shoppers know to divide up items so that they can be used in multiple dishes.
The four pieces of chicken breasts she bought are split up so that one night she can make Mexican chicken bowls, and the next night she can make Greek chicken bowls. To stretch the Greek chicken further, she adds a mix of brown rice and quinoa, as well as a side salad.
The mum's grocery bill cost her $106. Credit: Instagram.
She also uses the Mexican spice from a taco kit to flavour the Mexican bowls, and she stores the remaining ingredients in the fridge to use for fish tacos later in the week. The dish is completed with corn chips, sliced tomatoes, black beans, and corn.
Her family of four can eat soft fish tacos for two nights thanks to the eight-serving bag of pre-battered fish fillets she bought from ALDI. She paired the recipe with some coleslaw and mayonnaise that she already had at home.
She also used the store-bought pumpkin tortellini and whipped up a creamy spinach sauce to complement the dish. The gnocchi bake is made from gnocchi, tomatoes, and onions.
She doesn't forget protein, of course! Meatballs made from both pork and beef are served in hotdog buns with spaghetti sauce and a bagged salad mix to make an ideal dinner for any night of the week.
Finally, ALDI's butterflied pork is the base for her Char Siu, which she serves over a bed of coconut, lemongrass, and chilli rice. She tosses in some broccolini for extra greens.
She also makes sure that her family gets enough vegetables by using basic ingredients like tomato, cucumber, red onion, spinach, a coleslaw pack, and broccolini. Of course, these vegetables will vary depending on seasonal availability and prices.
Given the usefulness and affordability of this meal plan, it was not surprising that many of the mum's friends in the Facebook group also found her hack to be quite helpful.
'What I love the most is that you make well-rounded, healthy meals! I am going to be copying this for this week's shopping!' one user wrote in the comments section.
'This is so helpful, thank you!' added another.
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where are all the daily vegetables 
