I can’t believe it’s already Friday! This week has really gotten away from me. We’ve been fighting a bug at our house since last week. It started with my oldest and then trickled through all of us. The toddler gets super cranky and difficult when she doesn’t feel well, so I feel behind on EVERYTHING. Weeks like this make me extremely grateful I don’t have to think about dinner as it’s already planned. I used to end up ordering food or picking something up in a drive thru on the way home from work before when we had weeks like this, but we stayed on track!

This week we have another amazing seven dinners for you. My total for this week was cutting it close to my budget of $100! Hopefully you also have some of the staples already on hand, but if not, this week is about $128.50 if you literally need everything. As a reminder, the only ingredients I don’t list on the shopping list are salt and pepper. So the list DOES include things like oil to cook with, seasonings, etc.

This week’s meal lineup includes: Cheddar BBQ Chicken, Crispy Cheesy Italian Chicken, Buffalo Chicken Paninis, Beef & Bean Enchilada Skillet, Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Fettucine Alfredo with Bacon & Peas, and Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes. Let’s dive in!

Cheddar BBQ Chicken

I love how simple this recipe is, yet it still really delivers on flavor. Since it has both cheese and barbecue sauce, it’s sure to be a family hit!

I make sure I have a chicken breast per person, cutting them in half if they’re super big, or supplementing if they’re super small. I’ve been getting some very large pieces in my bags lately! We are going to start by seasoning the chicken with garlic salt and pepper and then cooking them over medium-high heat in a large skillet. We want to get a nice crispy brown crust on it to give it a really nice flavor.

Next we’re going to add the barbecue sauce into the skillet and reduce the heat to medium. This will allow the barbecue sauce to simmer and thicken up a bit while the chicken continues to cook. Once the chicken is fully cooked (check with your meat thermometer!) top each piece with a slice of cheese. I like to cover it because the cheese melts a little faster when I do, but then that’s it! It’s ready to serve!

If your budget allows, we like to serve this with French fries or oven baked garlic broccoli and potatoes.

Crispy Cheesy Italian Chicken

This recipe is almost as easy as the last one, but this time we’re going to start with the skillet and finish in the oven. I like the crispiness the skillet gives, but the oven helps prevent it from over browning and helps provide an even cooking.

Start by preheating your oven to 450°F and then cut the chicken crosswise. Essentially, you want to cut them thin so they’re similar in thickness to each other and will cook evenly. If you need a video, I found this one online, but I have no affiliation with the maker. If necessary, after cutting, pound them to an even thickness. To do this, I usually put the chicken in between some plastic wrap to keep it less messy and then use my meat tenderizer. If you need a meat tenderizer, here is one I love! I love all things KitchenAid because I feel they are built to last. After your chicken is nice and even, season well with salt and pepper.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise and the egg for dipping the chicken. In a second shallow bowl, set up the breadcrumbs for dredging. Start with the mayonnaise egg mixture and coat each piece of chicken and then dredge in the breadcrumbs for a nice coating.

Cook the chicken in a large skillet with hot oil over medium-high heat until nicely browned. We are not cooking the chicken all the way through, so about 2-4 minutes per side should be plenty. After the chicken is browned, we are going to place them on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake the chicken for about 10 minutes and then top each chicken breast with mozzarella cheese. Cook an additional 5 minutes or until fully cooked per your meat thermometer. And you are ready to serve!

Buffalo Chicken Paninis

My husband loves anything with buffalo sauce on it and this is an easy recipe to switch for the kids if they are not buffalo fans, simply swap buffalo sauce with barbecue! We actually really like this meal because it’s easy for us during the week. I tend to slow cook chicken breast in bulk over the weekend if we have any meals that will be using it during the week, so day of it only takes as long as it takes to cook the sandwiches! I use my Ninja PossibleCooker to slow cook the meat on low for several hours, and then when it’s done, I shred it up using the wire attachment in my KitchenAid mixer and it gets very finely shredded, which is perfect for absorbing sauce for sandwiches! Having the chicken ready like that also allows us easy lunches with similar style sandwiches, quesadillas, or more! I have the regular PossibleCooker, but if I were to do it again, I would definitely get the Pro.

I wrote this recipe approximating some of the ingredients, because to be honest, I don’t measure for this. Get out enough sourdough bread for everyone in your family and preheat your panini press. For mine, that just means I turn it on. If you don’t have a panini press, you can use a grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat.

Mix together the shredded chicken and the buffalo (or barbecue!) sauce. The chicken will absorb it if you shred it as much as I do, so don’t be afraid to use a lot, even if it’s more than the recipe called for, definitely adjust to your taste!

To assemble the sandwiches, put a slice of cheese on each piece of bread (so top and bottom of the sandwich). Spread half of the mini avocado or guacamole cup onto one side of each sandwich and about a half cup (I just eyeball it until it looks like a full sandwich!) of the chicken and sauce mixture on the other half. Put the sandwich together and then put butter on the outside of each sandwich on top and bottom. This well help get a crispy panini! Since the chicken is already cooked, you’re really just heating up the sandwich, crisping the outside, and melting the cheese, so once it’s melted to your desired level, you are good to eat! Careful, it will be very hot!

Beef & Bean Enchilada Skillet

If you haven’t noticed, we enjoy Tex-Mex foods! This week we’re going to enjoy it as a skillet to keep it quick and simple.

Start by browning some ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Once brown and crumbly, drain it and return it to the skillet. Next we’re going to add the skillet taco sauce (or in my case this week, we’re using red enchilada sauce because our store didn’t have the skillet taco sauce). Drain and rinse the pinto beans and add them to the skillet with ½ cup of water. Cook this mixture for about 5 minutes.

Cut your corn tortillas into 1-inch strips. Then, stir them into the mixture. Top with the Fiesta blend cheese and cover to help melt the cheese. It should take about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Top with salsa and green onions and serve with sour cream!

If your budget allows extras and you want to have a side dish, consider Mexicorn, or rice.

I love this one pot meal because not only was making the meal super simple, but clean up will be simple also!

Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Our next budget-friendly meal is a delicious and hearty soup. This meal is my 11-year-olds favorite, although I’m sure she prefers Panera… It’s a great meal to get some veggies into her diet but it’s also a comfort meal and great for the colder days.

Start by chopping all the veggies. Dice the onion, chop broccoli into bite size pieces, and slice the celery nice and thin. We’re going to add all the veggies, salt, pepper, and chicken broth to the crock pot. As with most of my recipes, I’m using my Ninja PossibleCooker. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.

After the 5 hours, melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and whisk the flour into it. Add this mixture into the crock pot. Then, add the milk and shredded cheese stirring constantly to avoid clumps. Cook with it covered for about another hour and serve!

We like to serve this with baguettes or other rolls.

Fettucine Alfredo with Bacon & Peas

We like to play with this basic recipe a lot at our house. Sometimes we use Boursin cheese instead of alfredo. Sometimes we use different veggies such as broccoli. We change the type of pasta we use for different textures. But we LOVE my homemade alfredo sauce, so that’s what we’re using this week.

To start, we want to cook the bacon. I’ve seen so many ways to cook bacon over the years, so even though the recipe says to use a skillet, do whatever you prefer. Honestly, we’ve been fond of using our air fryer because it seems to have the easiest clean up for us and it gets really crispy.

While the bacon is cooking, start your pasta according to the package instructions. In the recipe, I was trying to help save you on some dishes, so I tell you to make the sauce in the large skillet you use for the bacon, but I use a small or medium pot. Start by adding the butter and cream and simmer on low for about 2 minutes. Then, whisk in the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Add the parmesan next, whisking the whole time to avoid clumping. This is the alfredo sauce base. You could use this in so many other recipes!

Next add the frozen peas and the bacon into the sauce and cook until the peas are warmed, about 3 minutes. Mix in the fettucine and serve!

We often don’t have a side with this meal, but if you want, garlic bread would be delicious or a nice dinner salad!

Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

Our final recipe this week is another comfort meal and a family dinner classic. Preheat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, onion, oats, Worcestershire, thyme, ½ tsp salt, and eggs. I honestly use my hands for this as I find it the easiest way to make sure everything is well incorporated. Press the mixture into your loaf pan and bake 50-55 minutes. You want it to reach 165°F on a meat thermometer when inserted into the center of the loaf. I know this blog is to be on a budget, so any meat thermometer is fine. We used one that had been handed down for years, but recently my husband got into smoking meats and we got a Meater and it is so fast and I absolutely love it!

When you have about 10 minutes left on the meatloaf, grab a saucepan and melt butter over low heat. Whisk in flour and then gradually add in the broth and ¼ tsp salt. Also, start a tub of refrigerated mashed potatoes and cook per package instructions.

When you remove the meatloaf from the oven, let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting into it. Serve it with the mashed potatoes and gravy!

When we add a side dish to this, we usually keep it simple: corn, peas, or green beans.

Shopping List

To make these seven dinners, here is a comprehensive list of ingredients to buy at the store. The only ingredients NOT listed on my weekly shopping list are salt and pepper. This list DOES include oils for cooking in and all seasonings you will need to make these meals. I already have some of the ingredients on hand, which helps me stick to my budget. Hopefully, you will have some of these already at your house to help you stay on budget also! I share the graphics because I’m hoping you might be able to save them to your phone for easy reference.

Total if you need EVERYTHING:

This brings your total (at my local grocery store) to $128.50!

This is my grocery cart total.

I did not need: butter, barbecue sauce, buffalo sauce, salsa, breadcrumbs, quick-cooking oats, Worcestershire sauce, flour, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, thyme, olive oil, yellow onions, garlic or frozen peas. By being able to skip those items, my total is $96.30 for these 7 dinners! This will enable us to add some of the sides discussed in the blog, and replace everyone’s toothbrush so we don’t get sick again!

I hope you enjoy these meals! In the next few weeks, I plan to put these recipes into a PDF download on the Etsy shop so you can purchase them in an easy to print format! Don’t forget to check out our Facebook group to follow along with us during the week!

Week 3 Budget Friendly Meal Plan for Families