A very economical menu for a week for a family: budget meals and a list of necessary products

Everyone has to face financial difficulties at least once in their life. And since the lion's share of the budget goes to food, you can reduce costs by creating an economical menu for the week for the family. Planning will help you avoid unnecessary and useless expenses when purchased products have time to spoil, waiting in the wings in kitchen cabinets and on refrigerator shelves. It will also save the housewife from having to wonder every day what to cook for dinner or lunch.

A few secrets of an economical menu

To spend less money on food, but at the same time eat tasty, satisfying and varied, you need to resort to little tricks:

1. Avoid processed and ready-to-eat store-bought foods. Of course, buying such food saves a lot of time, but sausages, chops and salads are very expensive. It’s better to spend one day off and prepare cutlets, meatballs, cabbage rolls, etc. Such a “stash” can be stored in the freezer for up to a month, and will help out the housewife at a time when there is very little time to prepare dinner.
2. Buy meat on the bone. It can be used to prepare the first one. The same goes for birds.For example, if you take not a chicken fillet, but a whole breast, and when cutting off the flesh, leave a little meat on the bone, it will make a pretty decent base for a light soup.
3. Prepare fewer dishes using cut meat. Chops, goulash, etc. are enough to serve for lunch or dinner a couple of times a week. The rest of the time, make, for example, potato pancakes with minced meat, casseroles from minced meat and pasta, chicken pancakes, peppers stuffed with meat and rice, etc.
4. Introduce offal into your diet. Liver, stomachs, kidneys, etc. They are inexpensive, but when cooked correctly they turn into a tasty, satisfying and healthy dish. You can combine these products with meat, for example, adding a little liver to the minced meat for cutlets, meatballs, cabbage rolls or navy pasta.
5. Add more grains and vegetables to the menu. These products are inexpensive, and the body receives a lot of benefits. After all, they are rich in fiber and vitamins, but at the same time have a relatively low calorie content. A portion of buckwheat or salad will not harm your figure as much as fried potatoes.
6. Avoid store-bought juices. Such drinks are not cheap, and their quality leaves much to be desired. It is more convenient to prepare canned compotes in the summer. And if you don’t want to bother with twists, just freeze cherry plums, apricots, plums, cherries, etc., and make drinks from them all year round. And when supplies run out, make compotes from dried fruits.
7. If possible, cook for 2 days. Of course, this doesn't suit every dish. If borscht or cabbage soup can be eaten on the second or third day after cooking, then within a day the soup with noodles or rice will turn into an unappetizing mass, and the meatballs will “draw in” all the tomato sauce.

If family members dine out, it would be better if they take food with them rather than eat in cafes or fast food establishments. Homemade salad with a cutlet is much cheaper and healthier than burgers and fries.

How to plan a menu for the week

There is nothing difficult in planning your diet if you do it in the right order. First, you need to determine the amount that the family can spend on food, making a “reserve” of 500-800 rubles. They will come in handy if the price of some products turns out to be higher than expected or the housewife forgets to include something in the list and then has to buy more.

Having determined the budget size, you need to do the following:

1. Deal with the “deposits” in the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator. Is there a package of kefir missing on the shelf? You can make pancakes before it disappears. 200 g of split peas left? This is enough for a delicious pea soup. Have half a jar of jam? It will perfectly complement pancakes. We need to try to use reserves to the maximum.
2. Create a menu for every day. Of course, based on the preferences of the family. There is no point in cooking cabbage soup if no one will eat it. It is better to put sauerkraut in other dishes. In addition, it is more economical to plan your diet so that there are fewer leftovers. For example, using a quarter of a pack of rice for soup, after a couple of days prepare pilaf from the remaining cereal.
3. Write a list of products. But before you go to the store, check what ingredients you need at home. Don’t forget about the “little things”: salt, sugar, yeast, baking powder, vegetable oil, etc.
4. Decide on volumes. It depends on the number of eaters. For a family of three, one tray of chicken wings is more than enough for dinner.But where parents, five children, grandparents sit at the table, and even a cat begs for pieces from the table, this is clearly not enough.

Now you can go to the store. But just have a snack before that! Very often, when people come to the supermarket hungry, they buy a lot of extra things.

Sample menu for 7 days

The diet presented below is designed so that breakfast is nutritious and healthy, lunch includes first course, second course and vegetables, and dinner, in terms of calorie content, is something between the previous meals. But since many people prefer to have a fairly large dinner, evening meals include meat/poultry dishes or hearty treats rich in protein.

Monday

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with milk
• Dinner: Borscht (boil broth from 2 small pieces of meat), navy pasta (with meat from broth), cucumbers and tomatoes (fresh, marinated or as a salad)
• Dinner: Stewed cabbage with minced meat (meat from broth)

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Croutons with cheese (dip pieces of bread in egg and fry on both sides, and at the end of cooking, put a slice of cheese and hold in a frying pan under the lid until it melts a little)
• Dinner: Borscht (yesterday's), baked chicken legs (wings), boiled buckwheat, carrot salad with garlic and sour cream
• Dinner: Lazy dumplings with sour cream

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Omelet with vegetables and herbs
• Dinner: Noodle soup (broth cooked on a chicken breast bone), chicken chops, seasonal vegetable salad
• Dinner: Potato casserole with mushrooms (you can sprinkle with grated cheese if you didn’t use the whole piece on Monday), sliced ​​vegetables, fresh or canned

Thursday

• Breakfast: Pancakes with apples
• Dinner: Mushroom soup (mushrooms that were not used in yesterday's casserole), fried fish (buy the whole carcass, leave the head and tail), mashed potatoes, sliced ​​vegetables
• Dinner: Liver in sour cream, pasta, cabbage and carrot salad

Friday

• Breakfast: Buckwheat porridge with milk
• Dinner: Bean soup with chicken broth (cook the broth on a chicken breast bone), pilaf, sliced ​​vegetables
• Dinner: Chicken fillet pancakes (cut the meat into cubes, add 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of flour, salt and spices), vinaigrette (use half of the purchased sauerkraut and the beans left in the package after preparing the soup)

Saturday

• Breakfast: Pancakes with jam
• Dinner: Sauerkraut cabbage soup (left over from preparing the vinaigrette), meatballs in tomato sauce, boiled potatoes, sliced ​​vegetables
• Dinner: Breaded chicken liver, beetroot, carrot and cabbage salad with sour cream

Resurrection

• Breakfast: Rice porridge with milk
• Dinner: Fish soup (head and tail left over from Thursday), meat and potato stew, seasonal vegetable salad
• Dinner: Cutlets, beet salad with prunes

Of course, this is a very rough version of an economical menu for a week for a family. The housewife will need to adjust it based on the preferences of the household. For example, if your spouse and children do not like pork, purchase chicken and beef for cutlets and meatballs. And for those who do not eat mushrooms, prepare a potato casserole not with “gifts of the forest”, but, for example, with fish fillets, chicken hearts or liver.

List of required products

The list contains the names of products that are needed to prepare the indicated dishes, but not the quantity. The housewife needs to calculate the volume of meat, fish, cereals and vegetables herself, depending on how many people are to be fed.

So, what you need for the week:

• meat;
• chicken breast;
• chicken legs, thighs or wings;
• chicken liver;
• fish, sea or river;
• pasta;
• noodles;
• rice;
• buckwheat;
• oatmeal;
• beans;
• fresh or dried mushrooms;
• sauerkraut;
• fresh vegetables (beets, carrots, cabbage, onions, garlic, seasonal);
• potato;
• greenery;
• salted cucumbers;
• canned tomatoes, zucchini, etc. (if you don’t have your own supplies, you can replace them with a salad of any seasonal vegetables);
• prunes;
• apples;
• eggs;
• cottage cheese;
• sour cream;
• milk;
• kefir;
• cheese;
• butter;
• tomato paste;
• flour;
• baking powder or soda;
• breadcrumbs;
• vegetable oil.

Some of the food may remain, but you shouldn’t put aside a third of a bag of cereal, a handful of mushrooms or half a jar of cucumbers “for later.” It is better to create a menu for the next week so that all leftovers are used. For example, 200-250 g of rice can be added to soup or mixed with minced meat to make cabbage rolls or meatballs. Use cucumbers to prepare pickle or vinaigrette.

And when purchasing products, you should not forget about individual preferences. For example, in some families they drink a lot of kefir/milk, love cottage cheese, or eat at least one apple (orange, banana, etc.) a day. All this will need to be taken into account and missing products included in the list, as well as tea, coffee, cocoa, salt and sugar.

Recipes for budget sweets

Saving does not mean that you need to deprive yourself of small gastronomic joys, namely, giving up sweets. Only the price of pastries and cakes in stores, as a rule, is “biting”. But there are quite budget-friendly desserts that you can prepare at home without spending a lot of time.

Manna

Lush, porous pie, filling and incredibly tasty.Can replace breakfast one day.

List of ingredients:

• semolina – 1 cup;
• sugar – 1 glass;
• kefir – 1 glass;
• eggs – 3 pcs.;
• flour – 4 tbsp. l.;
• soda or baking powder - 1 tsp;
• salt - a pinch;
• oil - for lubricating the mold.

Preparation procedure:

1. Mix semolina, sugar and salt in a deep bowl, pour in kefir and leave for 40 minutes. During this time, the grain will swell and the sand will dissolve.
2. Add the eggs and beat the contents a little with a fork.
3. Add flour and baking powder, stir until smooth.
4. Pour the dough into a greased form and place in an oven preheated to 180°C for 35-40 minutes.

The finished manna has a light brown tint, and when the surface is pierced with a match, no lumps of dough remain on it.

Chocolate sausage

This delicacy has been known to many since childhood. Sweet, aromatic “sausage” is suitable not only for family tea; it is not a shame to serve such a dessert on a festive table.

List of ingredients:

• cookies without additives (“Baked milk”, “Condensed milk”, etc.) – 500 g;
• butter (can be replaced with butter margarine) – 180 g;
• walnuts – 100 g;
• sugar – 1 glass;
• cocoa powder – 2 tbsp. l.;
• milk – 100 ml.

Preparation procedure:

1. Melt the butter, add sugar and cocoa, stir and put on low heat.
2. Warm up (but do not boil!) the mixture, stirring constantly. When the sugar dissolves and the mass becomes homogeneous, remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. At this time, crush the cookies and nut kernels using a rolling pin or mixer, pour in milk and mix.
4. Add the cooled mixture of butter, sugar and cocoa. Stir the mixture until smooth.
5. Form several sausages, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

To make the sausages harden faster, you can first place them in the freezer for about half an hour, and then transfer them to the refrigerator.

Quick Corn Cake

Another delicacy known to all Soviet children. To prepare it you will need only 3 products and half an hour of time.

List of ingredients:

• corn sticks – 200 g;
• boiled condensed milk – 1 can;
• butter – 180 g.

Preparation procedure:

1. Cut the corn sticks into circles 7-10 mm wide.
2. Melt the butter, combine with condensed milk and beat a little.
3. Mix the cream and base until smooth, pour the mixture into a springform pan or plastic tray, smooth it out and put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Before serving, you can decorate the cake with grated chocolate, coconut flakes or colored confectionery sprinkles.

Chocolate soufflé

Chocolate lovers will love this dessert. Its taste is so bright and rich that the soufflé can compete with chocolate candies.

List of ingredients:

• milk – 500 ml;
• sugar – 100 g;
• cocoa powder – 2 tbsp. l.;
• dark chocolate – 1 bar;
• agar-agar – 10 g;
• salt - a pinch.

Preparation procedure:

1. Pour 400 ml of milk into a thick-bottomed saucepan, add broken chocolate and place on the fire until it melts.
2. Soak the agar in a small amount of water and leave to swell.
3. Mix the remaining 100 ml of milk with cocoa and salt until smooth. Pour the mixture into the pan when the chocolate has completely melted.
4. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until boiling.
5. When bubbles appear on the surface, remove from heat, add agar and stir again.
6. Pour the mixture into a plastic tray or cut plastic bottle, let it cool, then put it in the refrigerator until it hardens completely.

After 2-3 hours, dessert can be served. It turns out dense, and cutting it into portions will not be difficult.

Cottage cheese dessert

Another delicacy that can become a complete breakfast. After all, cottage cheese is not only healthy, but also a very satisfying product.

List of ingredients:

• cottage cheese of any fat content – ​​400 g;
• sour cream – 200 g;
• gelatin – 10 g;
• vanillin - a pinch;
• sugar - to taste.

Preparation procedure:

1. Soak the gelatin in a small amount of warm water and leave to swell.
2. Mix dairy products with sugar and vanilla, using a blender to bring until smooth. The consistency of the resulting mass should resemble thickened kefir. If it is too thick, add a little more sour cream.
3. Add gelatin and mix again.
4. Place the mixture in a plastic tray. You can immediately divide it into portions, placing it, for example, in sockets for cooking.
5. Place in the refrigerator to harden. As a rule, this takes about 3-4 hours.

During the cooking process, you can add a little berry juice, such as cherry. Then the curd mass will acquire a beautiful pinkish tint. Or just sprinkle the dish with cocoa powder before serving and garnish with mint leaves.