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    October Low Cost Healthy Meal Plan

    October 2, 2016 by Tara Buss 2 Comments

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    October low cost healthy meal plan

    Welcome to the October real food frugal meal plan.  Four whole weeks of healthy real food on a budget!  It's fall y'all, so you'll find lots of fall delights like squashes, pumpkins, greens, and root vegetables.  Don't you just love this time of year?

    I design these plans to feed a family of four on $80/week.  If you live in an area with a higher cost of living, your totals may be higher than mine, but this meal plan is still a frugal meal plan full of healthy real food (no cans or boxes), and will still slice your food budget drastically.

    These meal plans are meant to work together so that you are using multiple items for multiple meals and also utilizing leftovers. You will see batch cooking and large cuts of meat stretched for several meals. A typical method that I use is to cook a large amount of protein (whole chicken, large pork roast, or batch beans) to use for multiple meals like bowls, rice dishes, casseroles, or soups. This is a great way to reduce waste and re-purpose leftovers so that they find new tasty life.

    Adapting for allergies

    A note on food sensitivities and allergies. It is impossible for me to write a plan that suits everyone’s dietary needs, but it would be fairly easy to adapt to gluten free for example. Substitute gluten free pasta and gluten free flour for the regular wheat flour listed, or use spiraled vegetable noodles. Please feel free to adapt as needed. Of course, it might add a bit more to your costs, so be mindful of that when making your budget.

    Below you will find the plan and links to recipes. These plans will always be free for those of you who just can't squeeze any more out of your budget.  I get it and it's my mission to help all families get good food on their tables no matter what.

    October Real food frugal meal plan

    Breakfast options:



    toast
    eggs (hard boiled, fried, scrambled, poached)
    peanut butter and toast
    bacon
    oatmeal
    apples with peanut butter
    banana with peanut butter
    pancakes
    french toast
    oatmeal muffins
    pumpkin muffins
    hash browns
    egg sandwiches

    Read: CHEAP BREAKFAST IDEAS

    Lunch and snack options:

    leftovers (always #1 option)
    peanut butter and banana sandwiches
    grilled cheese sandwiches
    carrot sticks
    celery sticks
    apples
    banana muffins
    popcorn
    cheese slices
    oat balls (peanut butter, oats, honey or maple syrup)

    Dinners

    crispy black bean tacos

    Week 1:

    Notes:
    Purchase carrots with the green tops attached and still edible.
    Batch cook black beans for use in weeks 1 and 4.

    Herb roasted chicken, buttered cooked carrots, mashed potatoes:  reserve half of chicken for chicken enchiladas and white chicken chili

    Chicken enchiladas

    Carrot top pesto pasta: Mix cooked pasta of any kind with the pesto.

    White chicken chili:  increase beans to 2 cups, decrease broth to 8 cups, use 2 cups leftover chicken from whole chicken.

    Black bean crispy tacos

    Burgers, homemade buns, sweet potato fries

    French toast, bacon, wilted greens

    2 eggs
    ½ cup milk
    dash of vanilla
    1 T. maple syrup
    ½ tsp cinnamon
    6 slices of stale bread
    1-2 T. butter

    Whisk first five ingredients together in a bowl. Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat. Melt 1 T. butter.
    Dip bread into custard mixture, let drip and place on skillet or griddle. Cook on one side until golden, then flip to brown the other side. Serve with a pat of butter and warm maple syrup.

    Best basic chili. Tried and true and delicious!

    Week 2

    Chili

    Sausage, potatoes, onions, and cabbage (use half head of large cabbage and other half of for the beef and skillet dish)

    Chili mac:  Use leftover chili over hot pasta

    Lentil, bacon, and kale soup

    3 slices bacon, chopped
    1 onion, diced
    1 stalk celery, finely chopped
    2 medium carrots, diced
    2-3 cloves garlic, minced
    14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
    3-4 cups kale, roughly chopped
    6 cups chicken broth (or half broth half water)
    1 cup green or brown lentils
    ½ teaspoon dried thyme
    bay leaf
    1 tsp salt or to taste
    pepper to taste

    Brown bacon in skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon leaving drippings. Add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic and sauté for approximately five minutes. Add remainder of ingredients. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 40 minutes or until lentils are tender. Adjust seasonings if needed.

    Ground beef and cabbage skillet

    Pizza

    Stuffed Acorn Squash

    meatless butternut squash soup

    Week 3:

    Chicken with roasted root vegetables

    Pumpkin risotto, roasted broccoli

    Shepherd's pie

    Butternut squash soup, buttered bread

    1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and cubed
    1 apple, cored and cubed
    1 onion, peeled and quartered
    2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
    pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
    pinch of salt and pepper
    4 cups stock or half water

    Put everything in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Puree in a blender, immersion blender, etc until velvety . Taste and adjust salt, pepper and spices if necessary.

    Broccoli cheddar baked potatoes

    1 head broccoli
    4 large baking potatoes
    4 T. butter
    ¼ cup flour
    2 cups milk
    1 cup cheddar cheese (or more if needed)
    4 slices of bacon (optional)

    Bake potatoes in oven at 350 for about an hour or cook in the slow cooker on low while at work.
    Cut up broccoli into bite sized chunks and steam or roast in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.
    In a skillet, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for a couple of minutes.
    Whisk in milk and bring to a bubble to thicken. Salt and pepper
    When thickened, stir in cheese. Check for seasonings and adjust as needed.
    Serve baked potato with broccoli and cheese sauce and 1 piece of crumbled cooked bacon if desired.

    Nachos:  Place tortilla chips on a large baking sheet.  Top with black beans batch cooked from week 1, cheddar cheese.  Bake at 450 degrees until hot and melty.

    Biscuits and gravy, eggs:  Use the biscuit recipe from my chicken pot pie. Gravy recipe: Melt 2 T. reserved bacon fat.  Add 2 T. flour and cook for a couple of minutes.  Whisk in milk and bring to a bubble to thicken.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

    pork tenderloin with butternut squash and apples

    Week 4:

    Pork with butternut squash and apples

    Chicken and rice casserole

    Pork fried rice with vegetables:  use leftover pork in this dish. Omit oyster sauce, and sesame oil for budget purposes.

    Stuffed breakfast biscuit muffins

    Creamy chicken and rice soup: Just use regular rice instead of buying wild rice unless you already have it in your home.

    Pizza

    Burrito bowls:  Use batch cooked black beans from week one.  Use on top of rice and burrito toppings of choice, salsa, avocado, cheese, etc.

    « September Low Cost Healthy Meal Plan
    Best basic chili »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sandra

      January 08, 2023 at 1:53 pm

      Thank you for this, I've been searching for years to find a meal plan that works. Yes, others have similar recipes but none as simple that work. And by that I mean none as cheap and delicious!

      Reply
      • Tara Buss

        January 09, 2023 at 4:08 pm

        I'm glad you found it helpful!

        Reply

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