Meal Plans are an important part of sticking to a grocery budget.  This week we have 4 delicious and hearty meals you can make for your whole family for less than $40, complete with recipes, and a shopping list to make sticking to the grocery budget even easier!

Meal Plans – 4 Meals for Less than $40

French Toast Wrapped Sausage – $11.94

First up is breakfast for dinner with French Toast Wrapped Sausage.  Our family loves breakfast food and will eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  These French Toast Wrapped Sausages are so delicious and filling!  We pick up a value pack of sausage links, a loaf of bread, and some frozen hash brows and with what we usually have on hand, we have a quick and easy meal that is filling.  They are pretty easy to eat on the run too for those nights that the kids are running in different directions.  Who am I kidding, that’s every night!

Lemon Pepper Cauliflower Pasta – $8.07

Next up is a gluten free pasta dish that we can’t get enough of.  You don’t have to use gluten free pasta as any pasta will do.  This Lemon Pepper Cauliflower Pasta is full of flavor and sure to be a family favorite of yours too.  Again, it’s quick to prepare and filling!  It only takes a few ingredients to make a meal with pasta.

Pork Fajita Filo Lasagna – $10.34

Love pork?  Love fajitas?  Love lasagna?  Who am I kidding, everyone does right?  This Pork Fajita Filo Lasagna is a totally different take on lasagna but man is it delicious!  It’s a hearty and flavorful casserole for when you’re wanting to change things up.  You probably have rice in your pantry so you’ll only need to stock up on a few items to make this tasty dish.

Lemon Pepper Poached Chicken – $9.56

Last but not least on our Meal Plan of 4 Meals for Less than $40 is Lemon Pepper Poached Chicken.  I’d never really poached chicken before but it is a quick and simple way to prepare chicken for a lot of people.  Poaching it makes for a flavorful and juicy piece of chicken and you can use any cut of boneless skinless chicken.  The bonus is that boneless skinless thighs and other cuts are much more affordable than breasts.  Picky eaters won’t notice the difference in this meal though.  It’s great served with rice and sauteed peppers, onions, zucchini, and summer squash.

Most of these recipes call for olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and other seasonings or staples you probably have on hand.  You’ll want to double check the recipes for each to make sure you have everything you need.  We’ve compiled a Shopping List of all the main ingredients for these 4 meals.  The total for all the items on the Shopping List came in at just under $40 at my local Walmart.  This Shopping List is also set up to save time.  Most Walmart stores are set up with basically the same layout.  I work my way from the back to the front, hit the check out, and am on my way home.  The list is organized just that way, isle by isle so that I can get in and out with just what I need and not a cart full of stuff that was tempting!