Diet Bites Logo

14 Diet Wise Budget Menus

Article by Diet Bites

Inexpensive Meal Suggestions

With everything increasing these days except our bank accounts, we wanted to offer a few classy meal suggestions for your diet.

Our budget-wise diet menus can be served to the entire family for an average of about $4 per meal if your kitchen is stocked with the common ingredients below OR about $5 per meal, if not. That's a total of $4 to $5 for the entire meal - not per person.

Common Ingredient List

Milk, margarine, jam or preserves, Mayo, ketchup, salad dressing, salsa, chili powder, cornstarch or flour, mustard, dried parsley, eggs, salt and cracked black pepper.

Our recipes serve four - sometimes more, making future meals from leftovers, if desired, thus expanding the value of these 14 menu suggestions. The links to all of the menus are posted at the bottom of this page.

Store specials, dollar stores and clipping coupons can save you even more. The key ingredients necessary to prepare the 14 diet-friendly menus are  listed below.

Bread Section

Ciabatta Bread (4 Ciabatta Bread Rolls) or you can opt to use your favorite type of bread.

Flour Tortillas, 1 package
Biscuits - 2 cans

Hot Dog Buns, 1 package

Bread Bowls - large rolls work well; you'll need four.

Corn Taco Shells. 1 box
 

Dairy Section

Mozzarella Cheese Slices - 2 packages, 60 calories per slice
Grated Mozzarella Cheese (small package)

Sour Cream, 1 small container
 

Frozen Section

Frozen Stir Fry Veggies, 1 medium size package of any variety
Puff Pastry, flat sheets, 1 small box

Mixed Vegetables, 1 medium size bag

Produce/Vegetable Section

Onions, a small bag
Bell Pepper, 1 small

Mushrooms, 1 medium container
of your favorite variety
Baby Spinach, 1 package

Tomatoes, about 5 small tomatoes

Potatoes - 5 pounds

Carrots, 1 small bag of baby carrots

Meat Section

Extra Lean Ground Round, 2 pounds
Lean Franks, 1 package of 8 franks

4 Beef Cutlets

Pepperoni Slices, smallest package

8 Chicken Breasts OR 1 large oven-roasted chicken with skin & bone removed
 

Canned/Bagged/Jarred Sections

1 Jar or Can of Chicken Gravy (or container from favorite fast food spot)
Canned Soup - 1 family size, any flavor such as Chicken Noodle

Baked Beans, 1 small can

Refried Beans, 1 small can

Diced Tomatoes, 1 can

Rice, 1 medium-size bag

Pizza Sauce, 1 small jar

Hot Dog Sauce, 1 can

Sweet n Sour Sauce or Duck Sauce or Chinese Sauce of your choice

Pretzel Rods, 1 package

Ziti, 1 box or package

Spaghetti Sauce (1 jar or 1 can)

Egg Noodles, 1 package

Preparing the Meals

You can print out the ingredient list above and you should everything that you need to prepare the following fourteen budget menus.

Menus 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

Diet Bites  |  Site Disclaimers

Diet Bites is a Trademark