How to Feed a Family of 5 for $200 a Week or Less

Today I will teach you how to save hundreds a year with meal planning. This meal plan is designed to feed a family of 5 for $200 or less.

When my husband and I first started having kids we decided what would make the most sense would be for me to reduce my work hours to part time. I would stay home with our son and my mom – for a nominal fee which we insisted she take – would stay with him the days I worked.

Then our second child we moved to a less affordable (but still manageable) home in 2019. We were still living the good life until I gave birth to our third baby and BOOM! They don’t call the third baby the million-dollar baby for nothing. Inflation hit and our grocery bill more than doubled (among other things). I had to find ways to feed my family, not just feed them, but feed them good quality, healthy food. Despite more difficult times financially I still insist on keeping my family happy and healthy.

As most Canadian families are now dealing with the insane inflation that has affected grocery stores across the country, I’ve found myself struggling to feed my family healthy meals without breaking the bank. One of the ways I’ve found helps my family continue to eat healthy meals is by planning out dinner for the week before I go shopping.

The easiest way is to shop your pantry and freezer before you hit the grocery store, plan your meals around what you already have in the house. If you’ve already read my post on saving money at the grocery store you’ll know how much I believe in keeping a stocked freezer and pantry.

You should always have all the staples stocked (flour, sugar, salt, spices. etc.), for me (and you) this will include freezer items such as meat we eat regularly (ground beef/chicken )breasts, legs, and whole)/bacon) and some frozen veggies and fruit. If you are a vegetarian or vegan you should make sure you are stocked on beans and tofu. That means on a regular grocery trip you should be able to spend $200 or less for the week on food to feed a (my) family of 5.

If you need to purchase meat, obviously your grocery bill will be a bit higher, in that case, you may need to tweak your meal plan based on what is on sale, if you had planned for tacos but chicken is on sale, pivot and change it up to chicken quesadillas or fajitas. It always helps if you can go with the flow. However, if you buy meat when it’s on sale and stock your freezer, you’ll always have more options and won’t necessarily need to plan meals around what meat is on sale.

I have created a meal plan and grocery list with (Canadian) prices for you as an example of what can be done at the grocery store. This list will feed a family of 5 for I see grocery shopping as a game, the lower my total bill the higher my score, I always try to beat my high score.

Breakfast

For weekday breakfast we keep it simple, pancakes and waffles are reserved for Sunday mornings:

• Toast with peanut butter,
• eggs (with toast or homemade baked falafels),
• oatmeal with cinnamon apples, hemp hearts, and a bit of maple syrup,
• Greek yogurt with fruit (fresh or frozen), whey protein powder and hemp hearts

Lunch

Lunches will be different if you are a home feeding the kids, if you are brown bagging it for work, or if you are packing a lunch to take to a nut-free school here are a few options to choose from:

• Bean and cheese quesadillas
• Sandwich with lunch meat (or bacon) or cheese (PB and J if you are at home or not in a nut-free environment)
• Homemade Lunchables – cheese, crackers, and kielbasa
• Noodles in a thermos with butter, salt, and cheese
• Salad
• Caesar salad wraps (with leftover chicken)
• Chicken fingers (I know not the healthiest but once in a blue moon when they are on sale we will buy them from M&M Meat Shops Ltd.)
• Leftovers (everyone fights for the leftover hamburgers)
• Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese (I know, I know, also not the healthiest but the ingredient list is shorter than KD, they use milk from cows that were not given growth hormones and we will replace some of the milk with Greek yogurt for some added protein)

Snacks:

I tell everyone the snack drawer in my house is the fruit keeper, fruit and vegetables are the only things my kids are allowed to take without asking my husband will cut up a veggie tray a couple of times a week to keep in the fridge to put out at and in between meal times with some homemade hummus. But here are some other options:

Usually the hard one but here are a few of our faves that won’t break the bank:

• • Hamburgers (I will usually make the buns myself since I always have all the ingredients on hand, but at The Real Canadian Superstore you can buy a giant bag of bakery fresh Kaiser buns for $5.00, leave out what you will be using and freeze the rest)
    • Chicken Chili (usually deconstructed for the kids – black and kidney beans, shredded cheese, chicken, veggies and a few taco chips)
• • Melt in your mouth chicken.
• • Tacos
• • Quesadillas (either bean or chicken – the kids like just beans and cheese, the adults like beans and chicken loaded with peppers and onions)
• • Fajitas (sorry we love our Mexican food and homemade tortillas are so easy to make, however purchasing store-bought will not break the bank)
• • Meatballs (either sweet and sour with rice, or with gravy and mashed potatoes)
• • Chicken Gumbo (also deconstructed for the kids, usually turns out to be chicken, veg, and rice for them)
• • Homemade hamburger helper
• • Homemade lentil burgers (can also be made with chickpeas)

Please note that all the meals should be served with a vegetable of some kind either fresh or frozen. I like to keep frozen green beans, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts stocked in my freezer for those weeks when the fresh vegetable prices are too high. We will also eat salad when the lettuce is on sale.

So with no further ado, here is the meal plan which feeds a family of 5 for $200 a week or less.

Meal Plan:

Monday:

Breakfast – Eggs and two pieces of toast with butter (or falafel with hummus) or peanut butter toast, coffee

Lunch – chicken sandwich, veggies and hummus, apple, yogourt

Dinner – Chicken quesadillas (bean and cheese for the kids)

Grocery list items (all items with an * is something I keep stocked in my pantry/freezer):

Eggs

Bread

*Butter

*Peanut butter

*Mayo

*Coffee

Cream

Rotisserie chicken (*or chicken from your freezer)

Celery

Carrots

Cucumber

Bell peppers

red onion

broccoli

Apples

*Chickpeas (if making your own hummus) or Hummus

Tortillas (omit if you will be making them yourself)

Mozzarella cheese

Yogurt

Milk (my kids only drink water or milk)

Tuesday:

Breakfast – Eggs and two pieces of toast with butter (or falafel with hummus) or peanut butter toast

Lunch – leftover quesadilla, veggies with hummus, apple or banana, yogurt

Dinner – Hamburgers and salad

Grocery list Items

*Ground beef

Buns (*omit if you will be making your own)

Bananas

Lettuce

Tomato

Onion-yellow

Wednesday

Breakfast – Peanut butter toast and an orange

Lunch – Leftover hamburger and salad, apple

Dinner – Meatballs with gravy, potatoes, with a vegetable (my kids like either broccoli or green beans here)

Grocery list items

*Gravy

*Potatoes

*frozen green beans

Oranges

Thursday:

Breakfast – Greek yogurt with frozen fruit and hemp hearts (or any of the above)

Lunch – egg salad sandwich, veggies and hummus, grapes

Dinner – Spinach and artichoke penne

Grocery list items

Grapes

*Penne noodles

Spinach (omit if you have frozen in your freezer)

Can of artichokes

Parmesan cheese

Cream

*Chicken broth

*frozen fruit

*hemp hearts

Friday:

Breakfast – Eggs and toast with a slice of tomato

Lunch –Salami, crackers, cheddar cheese, grapes, veggies and hummus

Dinner – Leftovers or Bacon and eggs

Grocery list items

Salami

Cheddar Cheese

Crackers

*Bacon

Saturday

Breakfast – Eggs and toast with an orange

Lunch – Annie’s macaroni and cheese with veggies and hummus

Dinner – Tacos

Grocery list items

• Taco shells
• *Taco seasoning (or nothing if you make your own spice blend)
• *Annie’s macaroni and cheese

Sunday

Breakfast – Pancakes with fruit and syrup and bacon

Lunch – Salami, cheese, crackers and pickles, veggies and hummus

Dinner – Chicken, rice and vegetables

Grocery list items

*rice

*pickles

Now that we have our meal plan, let’s calculate our grocery list (this is in Canadian prices as of September 2024), everything with an * means it should be in your pantry or freezer but I’ve included it in case it needs to be purchased. I will be showing the regular prices, however, remember, you should be price matching wherever you can and shopping the sales.

This means you may have oranges on your shopping list but a 3lbs bag of oranges is $8.99 but a 5lbs bag of pears is on sale for $5.99, to me that’s a no brainer, leave the oranges and get the pears. As much as having a shopping list and meal plan is important to help save money at the till, it’s most important to be a little flexible. That said, if you are adding something to your list, make sure it’s a replacement item, not an addition. Also, all prices are from the Real Canadian Superstore unless otherwise noted. (There are just some items that are significantly less at other stores and you cannot price match unless it is in the flyer)

Eggs – $20.18 (I usually have to buy at least 60 eggs for my family for the week and it is currently $10.09 for a flat of 30 eggs) *update* since writing this LAST WEEK eggs have now gone up to $10.22 for 30

Bread – $9.00 (I will buy 3 loaves of City Rye Bread (local), usually I spend less on this with price match)

*Butter – $5.99

*Peanut butter * – $4.77 (at Walmart)

*Mayo – $5.95

*Coffee – $8.99 (this one will fluctuate too, I have 2 different brands and I’ll buy what is on sale and stock up if it’s in the budget

Cream – $5.26

Rotisserie chicken (*or chicken from your freezer) – $7.97 (at Walmart or Costco)

Celery – $2.99

Carrots -$4.94 5lbs

Cucumber – $2.97 (pack of 3 English cucumbers)

Bell peppers – $7.00 (2.5 kg bag of naturally imperfect bell peppers)

red onion – $2.99 per pound or $6.99 for a 3lbs bag – 1 red onion for about $2.44

*broccoli – $3.49 fresh or $3.99 frozen

Apples – $9.99 for 5lbs (this one really bugs me – you can usually price match for $6.99 but this is the regular price now)

*Chickpeas (if making your own hummus) or Hummus – $1.49 per can or $6.99 for a 454g container

Tortillas (omit if you will be making them yourself) – $4.29

Mozzarella cheese – $8.79 for 700g (or $14.99 for 1.5kg at Costco)

Yogurt – $5.00 for 750g of Greek yogurt and $5.99 for 12 x 100g variety pack

Milk (my kids only drink water or milk) $5.74 for 4L (I usually have to buy at least 2 a week so $11.48)

*Ground beef – This one will fluctuate, I will buy a lot when it’s on sale – usually $16 for the club pack which is approximately 5 lbs probably a little less. If you can get it for $3.99/lb or less stock your freezer, if not then pivot to something else.

Buns (omit if you will be making your own) $5.00 for 18 buns

Bananas – $4.00 (or 79 cents a lb) (we go through A LOT of bananas here)

Lettuce $7.99 for 6 romaine hearts

Tomato – $2.00

Onion – yellow – $3.99 for 3 lbs

*Gravy – $1.29

*Potatoes – $11.00 for 20lbs

*frozen green beans – $2.59 (right now on same for $1.99 so a stock-up item)

*frozen strawberries and blueberries- $3.00 each

Oranges – $6.99 for 5lbs

Grapes – $5.99 or less (or they will not be purchased)

*Whole wheat Penne noodles $2.99 or less (or will be skipped – this is a stock-up item so I only purchase when it’s on sale.)

Spinach (omit if you have frozen in your freezer) – $3.97 for 100g

Can of artichokes – $3.29

Parmesan cheese $11.99 for 250g wedge (this will last about 3 weeks depending on the meal plans)

*Chicken broth $1.79 for a 900ml box (if you make your own with your leftover chicken bones and freeze it, you can omit this entirely)

Salami – $8.99 for 375g

Cheddar Cheese- $8.79 for 700g (or 14.99 for 1.5kg at Costco)

Crackers (Triscuits) – $2.00 or less otherwise skip

*Bacon – $4.99 for 500g

Taco shells $3.99

*Taco seasoning (or nothing if you make your own spice blend) – .99

*Annie’s macaroni and cheese – $19.97 for 12 boxes at Costco

*rice (brown or white or rice of choice – $7.99 or less

*pickles (Bick’s)- $4.99 (Or the big jar at Costco for 10.99)

Total = $273.5

Thus, you know what you need, but if you’ve been stocking up on what you use most often half of what is on the list does not need to be purchased. Let’s see how much this costs once we’ve shopped our pantry and freezer and subtracted all the stock-up items. We are now down to $198.30 if you are buying hummus.

We can go even further and omit what you can make like the hummus, buns, and tortillas we get down to $182.02, and remember you will not usually need to buy everything every week. 20 lbs of potatoes will usually last a few weeks to a month. Yellow onions and carrots may not need to be purchased every week.

Add this to your price matching and you are golden.

Please leave any comments below and let me know how you feel about this, do you have any other tips I may have missed?

P.S Don’t forget to go with the flow

If you liked this post here are some others you might find helpful:

Shopping Mindfully: How to Save $100’s on Groceries

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