A from-scratch weekly cooking plan on a budget
Cook once on Sunday, eat well all week. A shopping list, one afternoon of batch cooking and seven days of meals from rice, beans, eggs and one chicken.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Time
- About 3 hours on Sunday, mostly hands-off, then 20 minutes a night
- Cost
- [placeholder: your weekly cost at local prices] for two adults
- Region
- Anywhere
- Safety
- Medium: can hurt you if done wrong
This guide is a draft and hasn't been reviewed yet.
The cheapest food in the store is the food you cook yourself from basic ingredients. The trick isn’t recipes. It’s a plan, a shopping list and one afternoon of cooking. Cooking at home can also help you eat less salt and sugar, because you decide how much goes in.
[AI illustration: a kitchen counter with a pot of beans, a pot of rice, a roast chicken and labeled containers]
Shopping list (two adults, one week)
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Long-grain rice | 3 lb (1.4 kg) |
| Dried black or pinto beans | 2 lb (905 g) |
| Rolled oats | 2 lb (905 g) |
| Eggs | 18 |
| Whole chicken | 4–5 lb (1.8–2.3 kg) |
| Onions | 3 lb (1.4 kg) |
| Carrots | 2 lb (905 g) |
| Garlic | 1 head |
| Cabbage | 1 head |
| Frozen mixed vegetables | 2 lb (905 g) |
| Canned tomatoes | 2 cans, 28 oz (794 g) each |
| Bananas or seasonal fruit | 1 bunch or 3 lb (1.4 kg) |
| Flour, oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin | From the pantry |
Buy what’s on sale and swap freely: any dried bean, any cheap vegetable in season.
Sunday: the batch cook
Plan on about 3 hours, most of it waiting while things simmer.
- Saturday night: cover the beans with water by 2 inches (5 cm) and soak overnight.
- Roast the chicken. 425 °F (220 °C) for about 1¼ hours, until the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 °F (74 °C).
- Cook the beans. Drain, cover with fresh water, bring to a hard boil, then simmer until soft, 1 to 2 hours. Salt them at the end.
- Cook the rice. A big pot: 4 cups (800 g) of rice makes about 12 cups cooked.
- Make stock. Pick the meat off the chicken. Put the bones in a pot with an onion, a carrot and water to cover. Simmer 2 to 3 hours while you do the rest.
- Pack it up. Cool everything fast in shallow containers. Label with the day.
The week
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Oats with banana | Rice and bean bowl | Roast chicken, carrots, rice |
| Tuesday | Oats with banana | Chicken and rice | Chicken soup with stock, carrots, cabbage |
| Wednesday | Eggs and toast | Leftover soup | Bean chili with canned tomatoes |
| Thursday | Oats | Chili over rice | Egg fried rice with frozen vegetables |
| Friday | Eggs | Bean and cabbage tacos (flour tortillas, see below) | Leftover chili |
| Saturday | Pancakes from flour, eggs and milk or water | Fried rice | Cabbage and onion skillet with eggs |
| Sunday | Oats | Clean out the fridge | Batch cook for next week |
Quick flour tortillas: 2 cups (250 g) flour, ½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt, 3 tbsp (45 ml) oil, about ¾ cup (175 ml) warm water. Knead, rest 15 minutes, roll thin, cook in a dry pan 30 seconds a side.
Make it yours
- Freeze half the beans in 2 cups (475 ml) bags. They thaw fast and are cheaper than canned.
- Keep a running list of what your household actually ate. Next week, buy more of that.
- Save it as a system. Copy this plan into My systems and tick off the shopping list as you go, even with no service in the store.