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3 Budget Meats + 30 Family Meal Ideas

3 Budget Meats, 30 Family Meal Ideas: Your monthly meal plan sorted!

This post is sponsored by Coles.

Modern family life can be expensive and one of the realities of working for myself is that at times (especially depending upon what else is going on in our family life) income flow can be a little on the inconsistent side. We are so blessed that I can work from home and contribute to our monthly household expenses but we do have to stick to a pretty tight budget to make it all work – especially when irregular incidentals like the need for new school uniforms, or music tuition and dance costume fees come due. The reality is, I have to think and plan carefully when it comes to our monthly meal plan and grocery shopping, that we eat pretty plainly, stick to cheaper meal options and make a lot from scratch to keep costs down and make it all work.

3 Budget Meats, 30 Family Meal Ideas: Your Monthly Meal Plan Sorted!

When Coles recently challenged me to create a collection of recipes featuring three products in their Down Down range I felt right at home – these are the meats and meals we eat in regular rotation on our meal plan. They are well priced and provide good value for money for families who need to stick to a budget. In fact just one packet of each of the RSPCA Approved Chicken Breast Fillets (approx. 500gm) at $6, 3 Star No Added Hormone Beef Mince (1kg) at $5 and Thin Beef BBQ Sausages (1.7kg) at $7 could feed our family of four for six nights. That is the meat for one day shy of a week of meals for just $18. And chicken, mince and sausages are easy family favourites that can be used to prepare a great variety of delicious family meals…that kids will actually eat!

I was happy to take the challenge and am excited to share with you 30 family meal ideas that won’t break the bank – your next monthly meal plan is sorted!

3 Budget Meats, 30 Family Meal Ideas

Chicken breast recipe ideas

1. Simple Chicken Kebabs

2. Chicken Meatballs

3. Oaty (Wheat Free) Chicken Patties

4. Chicken Burritos

5. Chicken Schnitzel

6. Fried Rice

7. Chicken & Vegetable Pie

8. Sweetcorn & Chicken Nuggets

9. Chicken Cacciatore

10. Teriyaki Chicken

Sausage recipe ideas

11. Sausage & Rice Bake

12. Sausage & Cheese Rolls with Balsamic Onions

13. Summer Sausage Skewers

14. Scrambled Egg & Sausage Meatball Tortilla Wraps

15. Curried Sausages (this is one of my girls’ all time favourite dinners!)

16. Burrito Dogs

17. Sausage Stroganoff

Beef mince recipe ideas

18. Cottage Pie

19. Cannelloni

20. Homestyle Bangers & Mash

21. Sang Choy Bow

22. Beef & Spinach Burgers

23. Meat & Vegie Pasties

24. Freezer Friendly Meatballs

25. Crunchy Topped Meatloaf

26. Homemade Sausage Rolls

27. Sweet Mince Curry

28. Beef Rissoles

29. Chilli Beef

30. Beef Enchiladas

3 Budget Meats, 30 Family Meal Ideas: Your Monthly Meal Plan Sorted!

What is your family’s favourite budget friendly recipe?

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. Jode@mummymusingsandmayhem says

    This is fantastic thank you Christie! I use these 3 meat products on high rotation at our place so was in dire need of some new ideas! Great prices too when you are trying to feed not only toddlers in the house but teenagers too.

  2. Penny says

    I love that Coles is making everything cheaper for our families. I also love the RSPCA proved brand. Good food at a reasonable price, with good animals ethics is really important to me. Great dinner ideas too, thanks Christie!

  4. Cherry says

    These are amazing idea and I use these 3 meat regularly it's nice to know I can do a lil differently with my meals instead of the same old boring stuff. thank you so much for your fab interesting ideas I'm so grateful. What would b really good is if this was made into a recipe book I would really love that. I need it in my life lol. For now I will just have to go on each recipe and print it all off x

  7. Bron Parry says

    Fantastic ideas thankyou. I have 1 you might like. I have 4 kids and a very hungry husband and there is plenty for lunch the next day. 1kg mince, 1kg dry pasta (I use curly pasta), 2 onions, 2 capsicums, 2sml or1large zucchini, 2 carrots greated, 3 tins of Coles brand tomato soup, mixed herbs, generous salt and pepper (and chilli for the adults and brave kids) 1. Cook pasta and set aside. 2. Brown mince (it doesn't need oil), drain excess moisture, add all veggies and cook untill they are starting to soften. 3. Add tomato soup, mixed herbs, salt and pepper. 4. At this stage you can add 100ml of cream if you are after a creamy version it is supper yummy. 5. Add pasta and mix untill well combined. 6. Pore into an oven safe dish with a lid. 7. Place in 150c for 1 hr. You can remove lid and add cheese for the last 15mins

  8. sam says

    I think ill have to ask my Mum if she had another daughter we didnt know about..,this could have been written by myself or one of my sisters. Other favourite recipes are anything chicken based..chicken curry with rice, stirfry with either rice or 2 min noodles (my kids actually prefer these) or my super quick easy meals- Spanish omelette, scrambled eggs on toast, chicken noodle soup- 1 large chicken can give us 3 meals of poached.

  9. Leah says

    How resourceful! Thanks for the great tips Christe. People sometimes don't realise that meal planning is not only a time saver but a major cost saver that minimises food waste too. Meal planning can also encourage you to see what you have in your fridge and use your creativity to plan a meal around those ingredients. It's amazing how many recipes you have created just using those three simple meats. Comes to show that meals and portion sizes, when planned out properly, can go a long way. Many thanks.

  10. Anita says

    Awesome recipes. And a list that I can actually see myself using in its entirety! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to using it as my next meal plan!

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