Low-cost Eats Week 4 (Heat Climate)

You’ve made it to Week 4 of a budget eats meal plan! By now, your pantry is absolutely stocked, your kitchen’s working like a well-oiled machine, and also you’ve acquired three full weeks of home-cooked dinners beneath your belt. This week wraps issues up with one other spherical of easy, satisfying meals—all nonetheless beneath $3 per serving.

As all the time, this plan is supposed to be versatile. You don’t need to comply with it in precise order, and also you positively don’t have to make all seven recipes if that doesn’t work in your week. Be happy to swap in one thing else, eat leftovers, or double up on a favourite.

Want to regulate parts or swap meals? Our customization tool continues to be in beta, however it’ll allow you to make modifications and generate a contemporary purchasing checklist. It’s not fancy, however it does the job.

And if you need just a little further assist in the kitchen, every recipe has a step-by-step video tutorial on our web site so you may comply with together with confidence.

A decorative image showing the menu for week 4 of the Cheap Eats Meal Plan.

Make sure to discover the total month of recipes, the pantry staples checklist, and our different weekly plans. Whether or not you’re right here for just some meals or the total month, it’s simple to customise.

Observe

This week’s meal plan is filled with taste! You’d be shocked by what you are able to do with our pantry staple spices and seasonings. This week, you’ll learn to make your individual fajita spice mix and learn how to season do-it-yourself sauces. Your meals will style higher and also you’ll spend much less cash, too.

Grocery Haul

Your last grocery journey is usually made up of contemporary components and a few dairy and meat. All these pantry staples you purchased in Week 1 are nonetheless pulling their weight, serving to you retain prices low and waste minimal.

Don’t overlook to obtain the Week 4 Shopping List PDF to take with you to the shop.

Groceries for the fourth week of the Cheap Eats Meal Plan laid out on a kitchen counter.

Receipt

Whole Spent: $137.49
Whole Servings: 52
Common Value Per Serving: $2.64

Week 4 offers you the best serving rely of the month—and nonetheless is available in effectively beneath $3 per plate. This consists of full family-style meals utilizing on a regular basis grocery retailer costs with no gross sales, coupons, or bulk offers.

Finances Saver

Large batch meals like baked ziti, casseroles, and pasta salads are key to stretching components and lowering meals waste. You’ll see some overlap in components throughout recipes, and that’s by design—every merchandise does double obligation so nothing sits unused within the fridge.

The Recipes

A photo of Rachel in The Stay At Home Chef Kitchen with the meals from Week 4 of the Cheap Eats Meal plan on display on the kitchen counter.

Up above, you’ll see what every of this week’s dinners appears to be like like plated. We’ve included a snapshot of the serving sizes and a brief video that reveals the meals in additional element. It’s useful to see the true quantity of meals you’ll be working with.

Right here’s a fast breakdown of the week:

Monday

This baked ziti appears to be like and tastes prefer it comes from a elaborate Italian restaurant, however it’s surprisingly simple to make. And the ricotta and cream cheese topping takes this one excessive!

Best Baked Ziti Ever

That is significantly the Finest Baked Ziti Ever. Your loved ones goes to like the do-it-yourself meat sauce, and ricotta and cream cheese topping!

Tuesday

Say goodbye to boring rooster dinners with this rooster fajita recipe. With our do-it-yourself spice mix, you don’t need to spend some huge cash to get lots of taste! One other profit to creating your individual spice blends? You’re not getting preservatives and anti-caking brokers in your meals—extremely suggest!

Sizzling Skillet Chicken Fajitas

Get pleasure from scorching rooster fajitas, made in a single skillet in simply half-hour! Fajitas are all the time a simple weeknight dinner the entire household will love.

Wednesday

This pasta salad is a complete meal with hearty floor beef, cheddar cheese, and veggies. Southwestern taste mixed with easy and reasonably priced components makes this one an everyday go-to, particularly in the course of the summer season months.

Cowboy Pasta Salad

Cowboy Pasta Salad is filled with beef, bacon, cheese, and veggies, all tossed in a fast do-it-yourself creamy smoky salsa verde dressing.

Thursday

Costume up your normal rooster and rice dish with Mexican spices and gooey cheddar cheese. Prime with salsa and bitter cream so as to add just a little one thing further and not using a complete lot of additional effort.

One Pot Queso Chicken and Rice

Flip your queso cravings right into a full dinner! Queso Rooster and Rice is creamy, tacky, filled with taste, and made in only one pot.

Friday

This isn’t your canned Manwich sandwich! Floor beef is mixed with a flavorful tomato sauce and bell peppers for a simple, do-it-yourself sloppy joe recipe that’ll make you loyal to the true factor!

Best Homemade Sloppy Joes

Improve your Sloppy Joes with actual components, veggies for texture, and toasted buns. This restaurant-worthy model is prepared in 45 minutes!

Finances Saver

For this week’s meal plan, two of the recipes name for salsa verde, so we purchased two 16-oz jars of salsa. Should you’re wanting to avoid wasting cash, simply purchase one jar and a 7-oz can for the enchiladas as a substitute of shopping for a complete second jar.

Saturday

Spaghetti by no means seemed higher with this simple, lemon and herb rooster pasta. This recipe is mild and contemporary and appears prefer it got here from an Italian restaurant, however with out the value tag.

Lemon Herb Chicken Spaghetti

This simple recipe combines tender, lemon and herb rooster with contemporary tomatoes and olive oil for a lightweight and flavorful pasta dish.

Sunday

This isn’t your typical, bland enchilada casserole. The avocado cream sauce is made with salsa verde and jalapeño, which add a refined kick of warmth whereas offering moisture.

Creamy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This simple rooster enchilada casserole is made with a scrumptious avocado cream sauce that can have you ever making it time and again!

Make It Work for You

By now, you already know the drill. If life’s too busy for seven full dinners, skip one or two and revel in a leftovers evening. If one thing on the checklist doesn’t sound like your factor, sub in a favourite from earlier weeks.

Use the customization tool in beta to swap meals, change serving sizes, or generate a brand new purchasing checklist that matches your precise wants.