We offer our own version of the menu for a week for a family with economy recipes in this article, so that in times of crisis and difficult life situations you can eat tasty and nutritious. There is a moment in every family when you need to tighten your belts a little. Do not be upset, everything will pass. In the meantime, we need to arm ourselves with an economical menu and start implementing it.

Sweet leftovers

Until the main menu is drawn up for the days of the week, I would like to draw attention to the leftovers. It happens that kefir or milk turns sour, for example. In a normal situation, such a product is poured out, but you can make excellent pancakes or pancakes from sour milk products.

Zucchini is another simple, cheap ingredient that has a long shelf life. You can also make pancakes from zucchini, and even pies. During the period of economy, you should take a closer look at dough products and rehabilitate them for yourself. As for vegetables, you should only buy the most affordable ones (they are also very healthy): potatoes, cabbage, beets, radishes, onions and garlic.

Economy menu for a week for a family of 3 with recipes

Monday

Lunch: Chicken noodle soup or rice. It is extremely simple to prepare, while it turns out a delicious and nutritious product. You can also bake the potatoes with your soup to keep you feeling full.

Afternoon snack: Salad with carrots and raisins, seasoned with honey.

Lunch: The same chicken soup. This time you can bake beets for it.
Afternoon snack: Roll with lemon.

Dinner: Fish meatballs, delicious and vitamin salad.

Wednesday

Breakfast: You can cook regular oatmeal in milk. It activates digestion and energizes the whole day.

Afternoon snack: The same lemon roll left over from Tuesday.

Dinner: Fish meatballs and vinaigrette. Dinner is also repeated, but, as a rule, these dishes are enough in a family of three for just two days.

Thursday

Breakfast: Eggs are a must in the diet, so you can make an omelet with onions.

Lunch: Continues to eat pea soup with a new portion of garlic croutons.
Afternoon snack: Fritters. You can cook with kefir or yogurt, and serve with jam.

Dinner: Stew cabbage with rice and minced meat. You can also make a salad of carrots with garlic, season with vegetable oil.

Friday

Breakfast: Again, pancakes with sour cream can be served.

Lunch: It is worth making a soup with tomato paste, to which add noodles.

Afternoon snack: You can safely make a cocktail with a banana, in which add ginger and cinnamon. This afternoon snack is not only tasty, it also strengthens the immune system.

Dinner: Leave cabbage from Thursday.

Saturday

Breakfast: On weekends, breakfast should be more hearty and enjoyable. Therefore, you can make cheese cakes with apples. Moreover, cook them in such quantity that there is still left for an afternoon snack.

Lunch: Tomato soup from yesterday, which should have enough vermicelli.

Afternoon snack: cheese cakes.

Dinner: Chicken cutlets with potatoes. Make a coleslaw salad with prunes.

Sunday

Breakfast: Millet porridge with pumpkin pieces. A great nutritious breakfast that contains many vitamins. And also such porridge pleases with its bright appearance.

Lunch: Russian pickle.

Afternoon snack: Any fresh fruit. These can be apples, bananas, or oranges.

Dinner: Chicken cutlets with rice, salad of beets and canned peas.

How to compare costs

By the way, this is such a great economical menu for a week for a family of 2 with recipes. If some recipes are not in the article, then they can be found on the pages of our website. It is enough to use the search form. Especially for you, we have collected delicious economical dishes, for the preparation of which there are step by step photos.

Important! The total amount on the check will be more than the one spent on meals for one week. After all, many à la carte products are bought immediately in packaging and are simply not eaten within a week. For example, rice, vermicelli.

Nutritionists advise, regardless of the season, to include fresh vegetable salad in your diet. Moreover, there is no need to buy expensive vegetables. It is enough to use seasonal products. In summer and autumn it is clear, but in winter it is cabbage, radish, beets and carrots. You cannot even imagine how many interesting things can be prepared from ordinary, affordable and cheap products!

Today I will tell you how to compose a menu for a week for a family based on my experience. Earlier in the articles, I already mentioned that once a week I set aside time for composing / planning a menu for every day for the whole family, but I did not go into details. Today I want to talk about this in more detail.

Making a menu for a week for a family has many advantages - mom (that is, me) does not stand in front of an open refrigerator every day and does not rack her brains about what to cook? The family's food becomes varied and useful, time, money and nerves are saved. The family eats healthy, homemade food every day, rather than convenience foods.

Why do you need to make a family menu for the week?

First of all, let's figure out why even planning a menu for a week, month, day? Isn't it easier to cook spontaneously without planning anything? Why waste your time making menus, lists, and more?

I confess that before, before the birth of children, I did not bother with making a menu, planning purchases, the decision about what we would eat for breakfast / lunch / dinner came spontaneously and was decided together with my husband. They could also eat sausage horns, purchased dumplings, pizza. What? I want to eat. Have a snack, and then start preparing the "right" meal.

But after the birth of children, life changed and the views on nutrition changed, because I wanted my family, children, husband to eat tasty, healthy and varied food. In addition, it was a pity to waste time every day on shopping trips, defending long lines, extra money (without a list, without any idea of \u200b\u200bwhat we will eat in the next week, there were many rash purchases), nerves (well ... with a small as a child or two, going to the store turns into a little adventure - after all, you need not only to stand in lines and select / buy products, but also drag them to the house + child + stroller and so on every day).

1. Saving time. Many people give up planning a menu because they think it will take a lot of time to create a menu, which can be spent on something else. But I assure you - this is far from the case. It doesn't take much time to compose a menu, especially when you get used to it and you have already worked out the compilation scheme (you can even leave the old menus and just alternate them weekly).
   In addition, this time will soon pay off, since I do not have to stand in front of the refrigerator every day thinking about what to cook for lunch or dinner, I do not rush headlong into the store, because at the most inopportune moment I discovered that I do not have refrigerator for borscht beet. I just start cooking right away.
2. We save finances. I will say from my own experience that after we started planning the menu for the week, our unplanned expenses decreased significantly. Because we now go to the store with a pre-compiled list of products that are needed to prepare meals for the coming week (thanks to it, we are saved from unplanned purchases in the supermarket, from filling the basket to the brim with unnecessary goods). Thanks to the compilation of the menu and the weekly revision of the refrigerator, I can include in the menu foods that are unused until they are unusable. We always know that there is something to eat at home, so there is no need to buy dumplings for the third day in a row, since at home they roll a ball, but we want to eat.
3. We eat right. On the day of making the menu, you can make sure that the next week there is the most useful and varied menu, including vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, dairy products and other usefulness. The family will eat healthy, varied and balanced.

1. Select the day of the week on which you will conduct weekly menu planning for the week. I have this day - Thursday, because it is on this day that I work on the refrigerator according to FlyLady's weekly plan (I wrote in more detail about this plan in the article), I revise it, throw out the excess, write down what needs to be purchased in the shopping list. So right away I can add to the same list the products that need to be purchased for cooking next week.

For instance:

Tips for making a daily menu for the whole family

1. Select a day of the week on which you will conduct weekly menu planning for the week. I have this day - Thursday, because it is on this day that I deal with the refrigerator (according to FlyLady's weekly affairs), conduct an audit in it, throw out the excess, write down what needs to be purchased in the shopping list. So right away I can add to the same list the products that need to be purchased for cooking next week.

2. During the revision of the refrigerator, I write down everything that is in it on a piece of paper. For example, chicken fillet, frozen sliced \u200b\u200beggplant, half a pack of frozen raspberries, a couple of pears, half a pack of kefir, etc. Next, opposite each product found in the refrigerator / freezer, I write a dish that I can cook from this product and include it in the menu.

For instance:

chicken fillet - potatoes with chicken and vegetables
frozen eggplant - vegetable stew
raspberries - raspberry pie, etc.

3. When planning the menu, ask your family's opinion that they would like to eat in the next 7 days and include their wishes in the menu for the next week.

Making a list of dishes

First of all, make a list of dishes that you can and love to cook, dividing them into categories (breakfasts, first courses, main courses, side dishes, desserts, salads). In parentheses, it is advisable to write the ingredients that are necessary for the preparation of each dish (this will help you in the future, when you compose the menu for the week, navigate the ingredients included in a particular dish and when compiling lists of missing products).

Yes, it will take time. You may not immediately remember all the dishes you know how to cook. No problem. Gradually, as you remember new dishes, add to the lists. Take this point seriously, because in the future, this list will make it easier for you to make a menu for your family for a week, saving you a lot of time. As a result, you should get something like this:

Breakfast
Cottage cheese casserole
Omelet
Rice milk porridge
Buckwheat milk porridge
Milk soup with noodles
Oat milk porridge
Semolina
Millet milk porridge
Wheat milk porridge
Barley milk porridge
Corn milk porridge
Scrambled eggs, etc.

First meal:
Chicken soup
Borscht
Beetroot
Rassolnik
Cabbage soup with sauerkraut
Pea soup
Mushroom soup
Fish soup
Buckwheat soup
Meatball Soup
Vegetable soup
Kharcho soup, etc.

Second courses
Cabbage rolls are lazy
Meatballs
Fish in batter
Pilaf
Fish cutlets
Meat cutlets
Nuggets
French chicken
Stuffed peppers
Goulash
Bolognese
Solyanka
Chicken pancakes
Baked chicken
Chicken on a can, etc.

Side dishes
Rice
Buckwheat
Mashed potatoes
Pasta
Boiled potatoes
Pearl barley
Vegetable stew, etc.

desserts
Pancakes
Pancakes
Biscuits
Baked apples
Charlotte
Sponge cake
Pizza
Buns
Fruit pie
Pies with various fillings, etc.

Salads
The vinaigrette
Beet salad
Carrot salad
Fish salad with rice and eggs
Olivie
Sunflower salad
Mushroom glade salad, etc.

How to make a family menu for the week

So we got to the most important point - making a menu for the week for the family. You can create a table consisting of 3 columns (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and 7 lines (respectively, list the days of the week) and write in each cell the dishes that you will cook on this or that day.

I am free to plan my menu. So in the menu I do not prescribe specific days of the week that are tied to a particular dish: on Monday my family will eat buckwheat with meat, and on Tuesday French fries and nothing else.

I simply list the meals that my family will eat next week by category (breakfast, lunch, dinner), but I do not assign them a specific day of the week.

Then, every day, I choose for each of the categories (breakfast-lunch-dinner) what I want to cook from the compiled menu and start cooking (I cross out the dish that I have prepared from the menu and this week I no longer cook it). This approach has become more convenient for me than strict planning with reference to a specific day of the week.

I prepare breakfasts and dinners daily (dinners sometimes stay the next day, but this is very rare). We usually have enough soups for 2 days. From these features I make up the menu. There should be 7 breakfasts and dinners, and the first courses - 4. I also write salads and desserts that I plan to cook in the menu. In parentheses, next to each dish, I write down the ingredients that are needed to prepare the dish, but they are not available).

Breakfast:
rice porrige
buckwheat porridge
oatmeal
curd casserole (cottage cheese, semolina, milk)
omelet (eggs)
milk soup with noodles
corn porridge

Dinner:
Borscht (beets, cabbage)
Pickle (pickled cucumbers)
chicken soup (chicken)
pea soup

Dinner:
pilaf with chicken
fish in batter and mashed potatoes (fish)
cutlets with buckwheat
pasta with bolognese sauce
vegetable stew
French meat (cheese)
rice and lazy cabbage rolls (cabbage)

Next, I rewrite the products that are in parentheses on a separate sheet and on my husband's next weekend (I cannot plan the exact day, since he has a floating schedule), we go to the store to shop.

How to arrange a menu for a week for a family

Design the menu depending on your preference: electronically (in Word, Excel, programs), write by hand, or print and hang on the refrigerator. It already depends on how it will be convenient for you and your family.

These are all the secrets of how I create a menu for every day for the whole family. Try it too - I am sure that you will definitely succeed! If you have any questions - ask in the comments, I will answer. If you have your own ideas for making a menu for a week, please write in the comments.

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Best regards, Olga

Food is an important item of expenditure in the family budget and a kind of test for the hostess how economical and skillful she is. After all, in order to save on food and at the same time feed the family fully, you must agree, you need skill.

We already know how to eat sparingly.

I have already written about this on my blog more than once.

It is necessary to draw up a menu for a week, control food leftovers in the refrigerator, make supplies for the winter.

The biggest and unnecessary waste we make when visiting shops, markets and supermarkets. To avoid them, you need to adhere to certain rules.

Two rules for thrifty housewives

1. The rule of buying food - we buy what we need, not what they want to sell us.

We make a list of products and buy strictly according to the list

We monitor nearby supermarkets on the Internet for ongoing promotions on products of interest to us

We do not fall for all sorts of "enticements", such as "buy two for the price of three and get the third for free"

We go for groceries, having thoroughly refreshed at home

We choose slowly, compare prices and check the expiration date

The main purchases are made once a week, according to the compiled menu, and during the week we buy only bread and dairy products.

We do not buy semi-finished products.

2. To eat sparingly, you need to cook yourself, making up the menu.

Since spending money on food is directly proportional to the number of visits to supermarkets and markets, we can reduce it to a minimum.

To do this, we will choose the time (preferably right after the paycheck), draw up a menu for a month and purchase all the basic products once.

Monthly menu

This, of course, is not an easy job. Need to:

Make a list of products and make purchases

Prepare semi-finished products yourself

Divide into portions and freeze, whatever is to be frozen.

Calculation of the number of dishes per month

Let's count:

One week is 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 7 dinners.

Therefore, in a month we get 28 breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Ideally, breakfast consists of salad, main course and drink, lunch - salad, first, second and drink, and dinner - salad, main course and drink.

In addition, we usually prepare desserts or sweet pastries for tea, coffee,

If you cook a fresh dish every time, then a month you need to cook - ATTENTION YOU-Melon ... - 84 salads, 84 main courses and 28 first courses !!!

But don't be alarmed. Everyone knows that in practice this is not the case, each family has its own preferences. For some, a hearty breakfast is important, while others have breakfast with coffee and a sandwich. Many families only have lunch together on weekends. Therefore, one way or another, your own menu for the month should correspond to your habits and preferences.

Besides:

We cook the first dish for two or three days. We get 28: 3 \u003d 9-10 (first courses), and if in the middle of the week no one dines at home even less (only four on weekends)

The second dish, if it is "solid", for example, such as pilaf, cabbage rolls, roast or dishes that require side dishes (cutlets, chops, meatballs) - also cook for 2-3 days. Therefore, 84: 2 \u003d 42 (second courses), again with meals at home (without meals, 5 * 4 less \u003d 20 dishes, 42-20 \u003d 22)

Side dishes: if it's porridge, cook for two days.

Salads: With them, the situation is a little different - salad is not a salad. "Olivier", "Lakomy", salads with chicken or meat do not lose their taste for 24 hours, that is, if you cook such a salad in the evening, then the next day in the morning or in the evening it is still very edible. These are two-in-one complete dishes and salad and second.

Simple or seasonal salads (cucumbers and tomatoes in summer, radishes in spring, radishes, beets, cabbage and sauerkraut - all year round), are prepared quickly and do not require any special tricks. They must always be fresh.

Baking: if there are children in the family, this is indispensable. Firstly, children need snacks for school, and it is much better to give your child yogurt and a muffin or a pie made by you personally than to risk his stomach, buying the same in the store.

It was a prelude to the main work. Having reasoned in this way, we take in our hands a list of economical dishes (if you don't have one, I insist - it will greatly simplify your life), choose the appropriate ones and write out those that we will cook.

Before making the menu, check all your "bins" in the refrigerator (freezer), cupboards, pantry. Control your "strategic stocks" use what you have and don't buy too much.

Cook semi-finished products

If we buy products for a month, some of them need to be quickly processed into semi-finished products. It is the prepared and frozen semi-finished products that will allow you to no longer spend money on food in the next month and reduce the time for cooking.

If you want to save money and eat meat, you need to use it sparingly. From the same piece of meat, you can fry the chops and eat at one time, or you can grind it into minced meat, cook cutlets, cabbage rolls or stick dumplings.

Home liver is very beneficial. It is simple to prepare, it is inexpensive and, as needed, you can use it for pies, pancakes, dumplings or naval pasta.

Therefore, wanting to save money, after listening to my prompts and your own "voice of reason", include dishes with minced meat or liver in the menu for a month.

You can also make stocks for the first courses. Boil chicken or meat (boil meat for broths for two weeks, and freeze fresh for another 2 weeks). Cook the broths rich, in a large saucepan, 5-6 liters, and divide the finished broth into 5 portions and freeze. Defrost one serving as needed and add the required amount of water. Do the same with the next portion of the preparations for the first courses when these are over.

Use the meat cooked in the broth for salads, casseroles or, like liver, for filling in dumplings, pies, pancakes.

The semi-finished products prepared by you are also good because if they are not used, they will be perfectly preserved until the next month (the main thing is not to forget about them)

We choose, write down on the plate, and next to it we note what will need to be bought.

Dishes for the menu for a month and their composition

First meal

Second courses

Salads, desserts, pastries

If you, following my example, filled out such a plate, then it will not be difficult to calculate the number of products and write a list with which you will go for groceries. You can buy everything at once, except for milk, bread and parts of vegetables and fruits.

And you can shop once a week or every two weeks.

Don't forget to check what you have at home. For example, you have prepared jam, pickled cucumbers, and herbs for the winter, but semolina and cocoa buckwheat were bought recently and for the planned number of dishes, there are enough of them. We will not include them in our list. And so on for all positions.

Our task is to optimize food costs. Now, thanks to the fact that we have compiled a monthly menu with a complete list of products, it's easy. If the amount received is too large, we change one or more dishes for more economical ones.

Well, then - for shopping and, at our discretion: we buy everything at once, leaving a small amount for the purchase of bread, dairy products and fruits, or write a menu for a week and buy food for a week plus, in part, for semi-finished products.

In any case, you will win - either the money for food is set aside, or the food is purchased for a month. And there will not be a question that some careless housewives ask "The money is over, what to cook to eat?"

A compiled menu and the purchase of food for a week or a month will protect you from such problems and help you save on food.

To compose a menu for a week for a family with economy recipes, you need to be able to properly plan your meals. Unfortunately, not all mothers teach this, therefore, young families often have difficulties with the fact that there is simply not enough money for food.

Important! The first thing to remember is refusal of a spontaneous, unplanned trip to the store. If you want to learn how to spend your budget, then you need to start with buying groceries. First you need to think over the menu for the week, then make a list of products. Then go to the store and put in the basket only the products that are on the list.

• Make a list in advance, follow the list strictly;
• See which nearby stores have promotions and discounts for products that are already on the list;
• We do not buy "two for the price of one", we ignore others, hidden unprofitable advertising offers;
• You only need to go to the store on a full stomach;
• Purchase once a week according to a compiled list. During the week, you can only buy bread, milk;
• To refuse semi-finished products: it is not only not economical, but also terribly harmful to health;

How to make a menu

You decided to make a menu for a week for a family with economy recipes (with a photo). Where do you start? The menu should include a variety of foods in order to have a balanced diet. Always make lists and buy, strictly following your own lists. You can cook semi-finished products (dumplings, sausages, jerky) at home from ordinary products. And every housewife should know.

For one allotment, you need to come up with seven breakfasts, lunches and dinners. The task, of course, is not an easy one, especially for young housewives. Lunch, plus everything, often consists of several dishes at once. But you should not be afraid, because you can create a menu for a week for a family with economy recipes and a list of products that will satisfy you on all counts: tasty and varied, food, inexpensive, quickly prepared.

What else to consider when drawing up a menu:

• The first courses (soups, borscht) are immediately prepared for several days. That is, it is enough to cook 2-3 soups per week;
• The main dishes (pilaf, cabbage rolls) are also prepared for two days. Meat dishes: cutlets, meatballs, chops can be stretched for several days, only by changing the side dishes;
• If you serve porridge as a side dish, then you can also immediately cook it for several days in advance;
• Salads cannot be prepared in advance, at least from fresh vegetables. But many salted salads, on the contrary, can be prepared several days in advance. They will be even tastier the next day;
• Bakery products. There should always be something sweet in the house, especially if you have children. Be sure to make baked goods (by the way, you can take it with you to school, to work);

An approximate economy menu for one week (links lead to specific recipes with a step-by-step description of the cooking process)

Monday:

• Breakfast. Boil buckwheat porridge in milk or water.
• Dinner. ...
• Afternoon snack. Salad with dried apricots and carrots, seasoned with vegetable oil.
• Dinner. Vegetable salad, chicken or fish stewed in sour cream, noodles for garnish.

Tuesday:

• Breakfast. Fried eggs with boiled sausages.
• Dinner. ...
• Afternoon snack. Fruit salad.
• Dinner. Vegetable Salad, ;

Wednesday:

• Breakfast. Semolina with raisins.
• Dinner. ...
• Afternoon snack. Rice with stewed vegetables.
• Dinner. stuffed with potatoes.

Thursday:

• Breakfast. Cheese casserole. You can cook.
• Dinner. ...
• Afternoon snack. Same muffins, pie.
• Dinner. as well as vegetables, potatoes as a side dish.

Friday:

• Breakfast. Vareniki (which you can prepare and freeze in advance) with any fillings. Don't forget about sour cream.
• Dinner. ...
• Afternoon snack. ...
• Dinner. and any side dish of your choice.

In frosty weather one wants so much warmth and comfort, as well as hot delicious food. In the cold season, the body requires more calories, more fat, and more importantly, more vitamins. True, fruits and vegetables are not cheap in winter, and therefore our food costs inevitably skyrocket. Let's try to figure out how to eat cheaper in winter, and we will compose an economical menu for a week.

What the body needs in winter: myths and reality

So, it is generally accepted that nature itself is intended for us to eat more and more densely in the cold. This is partly true: it takes a lot of calories to heat the body, and the body itself, preparing for wintering, tries to stock up on a fat layer that will protect us from hypothermia. Does this mean that we need to overeat from the belly and, accordingly, buy more products?

If you work as a janitor or woodcutter - of course! In the cold, and even physical labor! But the average city dweller, jumping into a warm car from a warm apartment and going back to a warm office, has no need to follow the call of nature. The energy consumption of an ordinary person who does not work physically increases insignificantly in winter, so everything eaten in excess of the usual diet will inevitably be deposited on the sides.

To saturate the body with vitamins, you need to eat vegetables and fruits. In winter, fruits and vegetables are several times more expensive than in summer and autumn. In general, does it make sense to buy them?

1. To begin with, winter tomato cucumbers are simply tasteless. As they once said in advertising "no taste, no color, no smell."
2. Secondly, for their safety they are treated with chemicals, otherwise how do they manage not to rot and wither for so long?
3. Thirdly, of course, there are no vitamins there, from the word at all. So it's better to buy a good vitamin and mineral complex with this money. The only way to preserve at least some benefit in vegetables and fruits is to freeze and preserve. Sauerkraut, frozen berries, vegetable mixtures, and homemade juices do the best with fortification.
4. Fourthly, it is beneficial for health to observe the principle of seasonality. That is, you do not need to buy those products for which it is not the season now. Everything is clear here: tomatoes do not grow in winter. Potatoes and cabbage, too, but they are great without chemicals, so as long as they are naturally preserved, eat to your health.
5. It is not so simple with the principle of terrain. The adherents of the theory of "genetic" nutrition are convinced that people should consume those foods that grow in their habitat. Well, that is, any exoticism - it is not for us. I do not know how scientifically substantiated this is, but the fact that it is definitely useful for a wallet is an indisputable fact. Although recent studies by Finnish scientists have proven that the beginning of mass production and consumption of dairy products in the country of Suomi gave rise to the incidence of allergies associated with lactase deficiency. It turns out that milk is not typical for the Finnish organism, so its nature was deprived of the necessary enzymes for this. So there seems to be some reasonable grain here.

Economy food rules for winter

1. Drawing up a menu of dishes for the week ahead, taking into account the seasonality. In winter, it is advisable to switch to potatoes, carrots, cabbage to the maximum. Frozen broccoli and cauliflower are several times cheaper than fresh ones. We forget cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants until summer, but without fanaticism: once a week or on a holiday, you can buy if the budget for food allows.
2. An economical weekly menu should be made with the maximum use of homemade preparations, if any. You may not have thought about it this summer. But for the future, keep in mind: an economical housewife always makes preparations during the season and has stocks of "basic" products in the house (flour, cereals, sugar, etc.).
3. When you've planned a budget-friendly family menu for the week, make a list of the foods you need. If you did everything right, it won't be very big. You will clearly know what you already have for cooking and what needs to be purchased. It is better to make a purchase no more than once a week, if your planning horizon is 2 weeks or a month, then even less often. During the week, only perishable food is allowed to be allowed: milk, fresh bread, etc.

How to make a family menu for the week

Saving savings, but food should be of high quality, varied and tasty.

1. The fact that products should be fresh, with a normal shelf life, without GMOs and additives is not discussed. You can't buy health.
2. Do not forget about the weather outside the window: in winter it is not very pleasant to eat cold salads. The priority is hot soup, porridge, mashed potatoes.
3. Consider the lifestyle and needs of the household. It is not enough for a growing child to gnaw a carrot; he needs a complete protein diet. With mental stress, carbohydrates, etc., do not interfere with the brain. It is also worth remembering that even kilograms of sauerkraut and lemons will not fill the winter vitamin deficiency - be sure to buy vitamins for the whole family.
4. Seek the opinions of all family members. When planning a menu for a week, ask the household members in advance what they would like to see on the table in the next 7 days. This does not mean that you need to fulfill all the whims and cook delights, but if you do not take into account the wishes of your husband and children at all, there is a risk of not saving on food, but sending a bunch of food to the trash.
5. Variety is another secret of a delicious budget menu. If you cook different dishes, none of your loved ones will be outraged by the absence of expensive overseas fruits on the table. Collect delicious and budget recipes for all occasions and for every season.
6. When creating a budget-friendly family menu for the week, use the available products wisely. For example, you can buy chicken, bake it in the oven, and eat it in one sitting. Or you can cut off fillets from it and cook pilaf, and cook broth from the leftovers.

If you take into account all these nuances, problems of how to make a menu for a week for the whole family will not arise.

Delicious menu for the week: an approximate list of "winter" dishes

Let's move on to the practical part. There can be as many options for dishes as you like, because we all have different traditions, tastes, a set of products and a wallet size. Another caveat: many families categorically do not accept heated food. The desire to eat only a dish that is fresh and hot in the heat is quite understandable, but it is difficult to fulfill if a woman works, and does not stand all day at the stove. In addition, with such an approach, one can hardly speak of significant savings: cooking at one time is unproductive for both temporary and financial reasons.
Therefore, I propose an example of a winter menu for a week (if you don't like it, suggest your own):

1. Soup for 2 days: borscht, chicken soup, cabbage soup with sauerkraut, pea soup.
2. For the second: cutlets, pilaf with chicken, fried or baked fish, lazy cabbage rolls,.
3. Side dishes: boiled buckwheat, rice, mashed potatoes, pasta (a side dish of your choice for cutlets and fish, on other days either it is not cooked or what is left is eaten). If you prefer salad as a side dish, then you can neglect them.
4. Breakfasts: oatmeal with fruit, pancakes, scrambled eggs, wheat and pumpkin porridge.
5. Salads: cabbage with carrots and homemade mayonnaise, vinaigrette, fish salad with egg and rice, sauerkraut with butter.
6. Delicious: cottage cheese and carrot casserole, yogurt with fruit (homemade), pumpkin cheesecake, cabbage pie,.
7. For safety net: boiled potatoes with herring, boiled eggs, omelet, muesli, frozen vegetable mixture for frying.

For convenience, we combine as follows:

• chicken soup + pilaf;
• we cook borscht - at the same time we plan cabbage and carrots for salad or lazy cabbage rolls;
• twist the minced meat into cutlets, leave a part for the next day for stuffed cabbage;
• cook rice for a side dish, leave a little for fish salad;
• we cut the fish for frying, at the same time we put a couple of tails on the salad.

I hope the principle is clear, and based on this set of dishes, you can create your own menu options for the week.

Cheap + fast + tasty \u003d perfect menu for the week

Why are these dishes given as an example? Based solely on my own experience. Since most of the "basic" products are bought in bulk and in shares, there are certain stocks at home. And when they come to an end, buying a few packs of cereals or a bag of potatoes for the money is not at all expensive. As a result, to prepare all of the above set of dishes, you need to buy:

• beets and beans, pumpkin;
• minced meat, 1 chicken, a package of chicken breasts;
• inexpensive fish;
• eggs;
• milk and cottage cheese.

In general, try not to adjust your purchases to the menu, but the menu to what you have in the refrigerator and in the bins. If you overlook something while shopping, then do it this way. Forgot to buy raisins for a casserole - add frozen berries or rub an apple.

All of the listed dishes are simple and quick in execution, no delicacies and complicated recipes. You can include recipes that work best for you in your menu. It is ideal if the dishes are cooked “by themselves”: in a slow cooker, in an oven with a timer.

In general, that's all the advice "gained through suffering" from my own experience on how to eat sparingly in the cold season. If you have any secrets, share in the comments.

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