$29 Grocery Budget Challenge: Meal Plan 1 (2024)

Welcome to our newest meal planning series, the $29 (per person/per week) meal planning series. Join us for the next 8 weeks of trimming our budget and eating well.

I firmly believe you can eat well even on a tight budget. We utilize many ways to make eating on a budget work for our family. These include:

• shopping sales
• using coupons
• stocking up
• buying in bulk
• finding alternative ways to shop, like buying 1/4 cow from the farmer (No worries! It comes butchered and frozen in burgers, steaks, etc.).

However, for the sake of this challenge and the fact that many who live on low incomes cannot shop around, but need to shop the store closest to them, I did each week’s shopping at one grocery store, except my milk and eggs, which come from the farm. I am figuring those at the price I would pay in the store I shop though to be fair.

I am also showing how you can start your pantry from nothing, so that means this week is a little bare bones in our house as I chose produce over things like baking powder. Do not feel you need to do this. In fact, I would love if you use up the foods that have been lingering in your cabinets and freezers.

If you are doing the strict $29 budget with me, take things like meat out of that budget, but use your regular spices, etc. that you already have. My menu will be based on what I shopped this week.

I am also not buying products that I already have, such as spices. However, I took out the price I would have paid for them at the store to keep in the spirit of the Food Bank of NYC’s challenge to people. I will note the product I already had with a *. Cost will be the price I would have paid at the grocery store.

This week will be our “leanest” week as we are starting out with stocking the pantry. After this we have more room in the budget so if you think this week is rough, hang in there. It gets easier. I should also note that this meal plan is for 5 people. My recommendation is to tailor it your family size.

While I shopped at specific stores for this challenge you should be able to easily adapt it to your local grocery stores and may be able save more money depending on your budget-friendly grocery options such as ALDI, etc.

Grocery List
Giant Food Store/PA

Meats

• 4.5 lb. Nature’s Promise whole chicken – $1.99/lb. – $8.97
• 1.75 lb. Nature’s Promise chicken thighs – bone in – $3.50
• 1 lb. ground beef (Organic) – $5.99 (reg. $9.99)
• 1 lb. Nature’s Promise chicken sausage – $4.53 (reg. $5.54)

MEAT TOTAL: $22.99

Produce

• 2 lb. Green Bell Peppers (5) – $3.99
• Grape tomatoes, pint – $2.99
• 3 lb. yellow onions – $2.99
• Garlic, 2 cloves – $1.00
• 1 jalapeno – $0.13 (-$0.20 Ibotta coupon)
• 1 lime – $0.40 (-$0.20 Ibotta coupon)
• 5 lb. red potatoes – $3.49
• 5 lb. apples – $3.49
• 8 ounces bella mushrooms – $1.67 (reg. $2.49)
• 3 bananas – $0.53
• 1.9 lb. broccoli crowns – $0.88/lb. $3.82 (reg. $1.69/lb.)
• Nature’s Promise lettuce mix, 16 ounces – $5.99 (reg. $6.99)
• 5 lb. Nature’s Promise carrots (organic) – $4.99

PRODUCE TOTAL: $35.48

Frozen

• 8 ounce organic blueberries – $3.99
• 48 ounces strawberries – $6.99
• Petite peas, 16 ounces – $1.39
• Cut green beans, 16 ounces – $0.99

FROZEN TOTAL: $13.36

Bakery

• Multigrain bread – $3.29
• Whole wheat English muffins – $1.79
• Nature’s Promise Corn Tortillas, 16 ct. – $1.59

BAKERY TOTAL: $6.67

Dairy

• Stonyfield Yogurt (plain), 32 ounce – $3.59
• Sargento shredded mozzarella, 8 ounce – $2.50 (reg. $3.79) (-$0.30 Ibotta coupon)
• *Cabot cheddar, 8 ounces – $2.50
• *Whole milk – $3.89
• *1 doz. cage-free eggs – $3.09
• *1 lb. Giant butter – $3.59

DAIRY TOTAL: $19.16

Grocery

• Popcorn kernels, 2 lb. – $2.39
• Giant O’s, 8.9 ounces – $1.79
• Giant pretzel sticks – $1.89
• Smucker’s natural peanut butter, 16 ounce – $2.99
• *Nature’s Promise grape jelly – $2.99
• Nature’s Promise organic pasta sauce – $2.49
• Woven crackers (organic) – $1.24 (remember to check clearance sections!)
• Lundberg brown rice (organic) – $2.79 (reg. $3.29)
• *Folgers coffee – $3.99
• 2 lb. black beans – $3.58
• *Giant Extra Virgin Olive – $5.69
• *Nature’s Promise rolled oats (organic) – $2.59
• *Diamond Sea Salt, 22 oz. – $1.99
• *Giant chili powder, 2.5 ounces – $1.99
• *Giant black pepper, 2 oz. – $1.79
• *Giant parsley flakes, .5 ounces – $2.19
• *King Arthur unbleached flour, 5# – $3.99

GROCERY TOTAL: $46.37

TOTAL: 144.03

COUPONS: -$0.90 in Ibotta

Meal Plan 1

Breakfast

• Cheerios with frozen strawberries
• Apple and Oat Yogurt Parfait ( apples sauteed with a bit of butter)
• Oatmeal with frozen blueberries
• Oatmeal withbanana and peanut butter
• Fried potatoes and scrambled eggs with broccoli
• Egg sandwiches with a bit of chicken sausage on English muffins
• Smoothies – 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup lettuce mix, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 cup frozen strawberries

Lunch

• Peanut butter and jelly, carrot sticks, popcorn, apple slices or banana | Salad with beans, extra veggies, oil, salt, and pepper
• Peanut butter and jelly, pretzel sticks, carrot sticks, frozen strawberries | Salad with black beans, rice, and tomatoes
• Grilled Cheese, side salad
• Quesadilla with homemade salsa, rice and beans, carrot sticks (homemade flour tortillas)
• Baked flour tortilla chips, black bean dip, carrots sticks, green bell pepper strips, pretzel sticks
• Leftovers
• Salad with leftover roast chicken

Dinner

• Stuffed Peppers with hamburger, rice, and pasta sauce (COOK: 1 cup rice then MIX – 1 lb. browned burger, cooked rice, and 1/2 jar sauce. Cut peppers in half lengthwise, stuff with meat and rice mixture. Top with 4 ounces mozzarella. Bake in covered dish at 400 degrees for 45 minutes – 1 hour.)
• Vegetarian Mushroom Tacos (no sour cream, cumin, crushed red pepper| salsa made with 1/2 grape tomatoes, onion, garlic, lime, and jalapeno)
• Chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli – chicken thighs browned on the stove (3 minutes each side in a bit of oil) then baked with 2 cloves garlic, diced and 2 small onions, chopped ( bake at 350, covered until chicken is cooked through, appr. 30 minutes),mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli
• Whole chicken roasted with carrots, potatoes, onion, and garlic, green beans on the side – roast chicken per instruction on package with 1 medium/large potato per person, 5 cloves garlic, diced, 3 carrots, cut in 2 inch pieces, and 3 small onions, chopped
• Chicken Sausage, beans, rice, 1/2 jar pasta sauce, steamed broccoli – Make 2 cups rice per instructions on bag, heat a bit of oil in a pan and fry cut up sausage (save 1 for breakfast eggs), add 1-2 cups cooked black beans, and sauce. Heat until well incorporated.
• Rice with peas, carrots, black beans, onions, garlic, and eggs – Cook rice per directions on bag with 1/2 bag of peas, and 1 cup diced carrots, 1 tablespoon parsley, 1/2 cup diced onion, 2 cloves of garlic. When done, add 2 scrambled raw eggs to rice. Heat until egg is cooked.
• Pancakes (flour, milk, eggs, fruit puree)with vegetable soup (using all leftover veggies, seasonings, and water as base)

Original Publish Date: May 1, 2015