Feeding a family of six means every week looks a little different, and this one was a mix of home-cooked favorites, busy-night shortcuts, and one very delicious take out dinner (can’t believe we didn’t think of this one sooner). No extreme budgets, no “$40 for a week of meals” headlines, just a realistic look at what we actually ate as a family with four kids, multiple activities, and real-life busy schedule. Welcome to family meal plan diaries – volume 2!
Meal Plan – here’s what we ate
Lamb meatballs with yogurt sauce
- These are a fave. you can make them with ground lamb (we find it sometimes at aldi for $6.99/lb!!) or you can use ground beef.
- You can cook the meatballs ahead or even use premade madeballs and then just throw them in the slow cooker with tomatoes.
- The whole family likes this meal. Frankie only eats the meatballs, Freddie only eats the noodles, Ben and Sam eat some of everything.
Tacos
- We made chicken tacos – this recipe, sooo good. No notes. We just made the chicken in pan with Tajin and then followed the recipe.
- They reminded me of these pineapple chicken tacos!
Salmon bites with avocado cucumber salsa
- I don’t know why or how, but this is a family favorite! It’s sooo yummy.
- I get instant rice
- Frankie calls this ‘pink fish’ which I think is so cute
Steak, sweet potatoes and broccoli
- This is a recipe/concept I saw on Insta.
- Steak, grilled with sweet potato fries and microwaved broccoli.
- It was so dry, made for really bad leftovers too, would not recommend.
Fried chicken
- We got take out from Gold Chicken in Hales Corners
- This was such a hit – can’t believe it took us so long to get take out fried chicken, it makes for such a good family dinner.
- I made a coleslaw on the side because I had some in the fridge. We ordered mac n cheese and fries with the chicken.
- We made breakfast for dinner, these Serbian crepes – palacinke with a side of bacon
- This is a huge fave, all the kids like the crepes, we serve them with jam or nutella
Breakfasts
- We made pumpkin spice pancakes for the week ahead! So good.
Recipes Made
Costs
- The total grocery bill (we went to Aldi) and it includes everything we needed for breakfasts/lunch/dinner/and snacks and desserts was $180 plus $31 for the chicken for a total of $211 this week!
If you’re looking for real family meal inspiration, not a perfectly portioned meal plan that collapses day 2 lol, I hope you find this helpful!
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