$5 Budget Meal Recipes 4 Meals with 6-8 Serving Meals for $20

 

Food is SO expensive these days. Many more individuals, college students and families are struggling to make ends meet. Many turn to fast food or convenience meals when you can make meals at home for much cheaper.

I challenged myself to spend $20 to make 4 meals that equal about $5 each that were filling, multiple servings and were quick and easy to make. They also ALL have meat in them. They are made along with staple pantry items that most people already have at home such as water, milk, butter, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano and Italian seasoning. Any of these meals can be made to your taste with lower sodium options or salt and pepper added and can be added to with what you may already have at home in your pantry. 

I originally wanted to purchase all of the groceries from Walmart. I know that most people have a Walmart in their area, but with price increases and out of stocks, I took a trip to Aldi and bought some items there for a lower price than at Walmart. 

Be sure to check out the video at the bottom of this post to see how to make these meals! The Grocery List is at the bottom and typed up recipes are coming soon. 

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Mac & Cheese Casserole

The first meal that I created is Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Mac and Cheese Casserole. Canned Chicken, cream of chicken condensed soup, broccoli and mac and cheese topped with shredded cheese from a block of cheese of your choice. It's easy to make, filling and super cheesy! My husband, daughter and I could not get enough of it! My daughter asked for Cheesy Chicken for 3 days! It cost $3.88 to make and you use the block of cheese in 3 of the 4 meals. You also share the chicken with another recipe as well as the broccoli.

Ground Turkey Tacos

Next are simple to make Turkey Tacos. Ground Turkey, Taco seasoning, shredded cheese from the block, soft flour tortillas and if you have lettuce, tomato and onion you could add these in as well. Very easy to make and 6-8 two taco servings can be made with this meal. This meal costs $4.81 to make. 

Chicken Pot Pie with Crescent Roll Crust

Third is Chicken Pot Pie. I make this recipe all the time for us at home. I normally use pre-made pie crust but I tried using crescent rolls which were cheaper. I used the wrong sized pan, since my other pan was full, so it didn't look the best in the pan. It tasted amazing and we will be making it again. We use the other half of canned chicken, a can of condensed cream of chicken soup, a large can of diced potatoes and a large can of peas (I wanted peas and carrots but Walmart was out). Cost to create this meal is $4.81

Meat Sauce and Shells with Cheesy Broccoli and Cheesy Garlic Flatbread

The final meal is Meat Sauce and Pasta Shells with Broccoli and cheese sauce and Cheesy Garlic Flatbread. You get 6-8 servings of pasta and bread out of this meal. The meat is pork sausage, with tomato sauce with seasonings. The pasta are shells from Great Value .43 cents Mac and Cheese. Broccoli left over from the Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole, covered in cheese sauce made from the cheese packet from the mac and cheese. The bread sticks are made with leftover flour tortillas, butter, garlic powder and leftover shredded cheese from the block of cheese. Use more of the shredded cheese to melt over the pasta and meat sauce. Total cost for this meal is $4.99.

I cooked 4 days this week and we have leftovers for 4 more days for a family of 3. My toddler may be small, but she eats A LOT!

Grocery List:

Walmart: 

1 oz package of Great Value Taco Seasoning 

1- 7.25 oz Box Great Value Shells and Three Cheese Mac and Cheese

 1- 5.5 oz Box of Great Value Mac and Cheese Spirals 

1-15 oz can of Great Value Tomato Sauce

 1-15 oz can Great Value Peas

 1-15 oz Can Great Value Diced Potatoes

 1- 12.5 oz can Swanson White Premium Chunk chicken breast

 1- 16oz roll Shady Brook Farms 85/15% Ground Turkey 

Aldi: 

2- 10.5oz cans Chef's Cupboard Cream of Chicken Soup (condensed)

 1- 12oz bag Frozen Season's choice Broccoli Florets

 1-8 oz can Bake House Crescent Rolls

 1-8oz Appleton Farms Premium Pork Sausage (roll)

 1-20ct (1 lb 7oz) package Pueblo Lindo Small Flour Tortillas

 1-8oz block Happy Farms Cheese (Flavor of your choice. I used Mozzarella) 

Total cost for the above items was $20.10 

Staple Pantry items used:

 milk

 butter

 onion

 powder 

garlic powder

 Italian seasoning

 Oregano Seasoning 

Optional if you have on hand: 

Lettuce 

onion 

tomato

 Stay Safe and Be Well!