It’s no secret that everyone’s trying to make their dollar stretch a little further these days, and meals are no exception to that.
Five dollars may not seem like much when you’re making dinner for a family of four, but with a few simplified recipes, some pantry staples, and some proteins that you may be able to find on sale, it’s really not as hard as it looks. So here are recipes that may be cheaper than you think.
1) Olive Oil Pasta
Not only is this cheap, but it takes less than 15 minutes to throw together. Most of us have dried pasta in our pantry. Cook that with a combination of minced garlic and olive oil or butter. Make sure that you don’t burn your garlic beyond repair, because once it’s burned, it’s ruined.
If you have any lonely greens in your fridge, you can throw those in at the end. Bonus points for grated cheese if you have it. Parmesan or Romano, either of those will work here. It’s simple, and it tastes more expensive than it is.
2) Quesadillas with Bean Filling
You can almost always find beans on sale, and even when they’re not on sale, they’re insanely cheap. We’re talking less than a dollar per can for the store brand. So this is essentially whatever beans you have or feel inclined to buy.
You can mix them with salt and whatever taco-esque seasonings that you have, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, and then take your favorite tortilla with your favorite cheese and cook that low and slow until it’s toasted and melted. It’s really that simple, there’s not much more to it.
If you need a dip with your quesadilla like I do, you can use sour cream if you have it, or plain Greek yogurt, a smashed avocado, or simply some salsa. But this is filling and relatively healthy too.
3) Rice And Eggs
Buy yourself a $20 rice cooker from Amazon, and I promise you, you will have the fastest shortcut to quick, simple, and cheap meals. My personal favorite is jasmine rice, but whatever you have in the pantry is fine.
Cook your rice. You can either scramble your eggs, but I like to cook them with a runny yolk and drizzle some soy sauce on at the end. That runny yolk and the soy sauce come together to make a really rich, umami, flavorful sauce that is super satisfying for super cheap.
4) Personal Pizzas
If you want pizza but you don’t want the price of pizza, this is for you. You can use a pita bread, a tortilla, a flatbread, whatever you have or can find. I recommend putting that in the oven for a few minutes to toast before you add your toppings, just so it doesn’t get soggy.
Then the world’s your oyster. Add your tomato sauce, pesto, alfredo sauce, or barbecue sauce, it’s really up to you. Top with cheese, veggies for health, and any leftover protein you have. Chicken, sausage, even salami works here. Toast it under the broiler for a few minutes, and that’s dinner.
5) Lentil Soup
Keep a bag of dried lentils in the pantry just for times like this. It’ll run you less than two dollars, and there’s lots you can do with it, but my favorite thing to do is cook them down with onions, garlic, carrots, and some chopped peppers if I have them. Make sure you use a decent amount of broth.
My favorite thing to do is find a can of coconut milk that I have in the pantry and add that with some curry powder for kind of a cheater’s lentil dal. It’s super warm and comforting, and it probably tastes like you spent a long time making it and a lot of money. Finish with some plain Greek yogurt for a nice creamy finish.
6) Salad Sandwiches
This is basically your typical tuna salad sandwich, but to make it more economical, we’re swapping it out for a can of chickpeas. You’re going to make this just as you would your favorite tuna salad. Mayonnaise, celery, onion. You could go crazy, I like finely diced apple in mine.
Add in a can of chickpeas. Make sure you taste for seasoning before you salt, because canned beans normally are already salted, and add mayonnaise or whole milk plain Greek yogurt if you have it for a protein boost. Let it sit for a while so the flavors can meld, and once you spread that on your favorite bread, you won’t be able to tell the difference.
7) Bean Chili
All you need for this recipe are a couple of cans of beans, some tomato paste, some tomato puree or diced tomatoes, your favorite veggies, and some chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder, all of which you probably already have.
Once you cook that low and slow together, you probably will not miss the beef or the meat in the chili, with all the heartiness from the beans combined with the richness of the seasonings. Eat it with a piece of crusty bread and your favorite toppings. I like avocado and Greek yogurt if I have it. This is a great way to feed a crowd on a budget.
8) Cabbage And Noodles
Cabbage is great to have on hand because not only is it inexpensive, but it lasts a long time in the refrigerator. All you need to do is cook that down with thinly sliced onions and minced garlic. Let it really caramelize and develop the flavor.
The mistake you can make with cabbage is not cooking it long enough, and then it just tastes mushy and boiled and nobody likes that. Once you have some nice golden edges, cook your favorite pasta and stir it in. This really doesn’t need much other than some salt and cracked black pepper. This is comforting and really doesn’t need much to stand out.
9) Breakfast Pancakes
One of my kids’ favorite things to ask for is breakfast for dinner, and they don’t know that I’m saving money doing it. Make them from scratch if you have the ingredients on hand, or use pancake mix.
If you are using pancake mix, I like to swap out milk for the water in the recipe and add a couple tablespoons of melted butter if I have it for richness, and then go to town with the toppings. My kids are partial to chocolate chips, but I’ve been known to do a peanut butter and jelly pancake. It’s really up to you.
10) Baked Potato
I love baked potatoes because you can really cater them to every person that you’re serving. All you have to do is bake your potatoes. I like to wrap mine individually in foil with a bit of olive oil at 400 degrees for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, depending on how big they are.
After that, lay out your toppings and let people add to them as they wish. Shredded cheese, sour cream, and bacon are always classic. If you want to be a little bit healthier, you can do some steamed broccoli or sauteed spinach. You could even do a Tex-Mex style potato with some canned black beans and corn and a little bit of salsa.
It’s really up to you and what you have, but a bag of potatoes won’t run you more than $5 and you can feed a host of people with it.
11) Spanish Rice And Eggs
This is a little twist on that rice and eggs dish that we were talking about earlier. You’re going to cook your rice, but this time you can add in some tomato paste, that would be my preference. Or if you’re really low on groceries, a splash of tomato sauce will do just the same thing.
I like to add some chicken bouillon as well to season the rice and give it a little bit of extra flavor. And then you can do that same over easy egg with the runny yolk, it really gives the rice great flavor.
If I made this, I would probably top it with some avocado if I had it on hand. An avocado maybe costs $1.50, but it brings a lot of flavor and richness to an otherwise light dish that needs substance.
12) Pasta With Tuna
This is kind of an ode to that childhood tuna noodle casserole, but a little bit elevated and quick and cheap. Mix your favorite pasta, elbows, penne, whatever you have, with some canned tuna. Bonus points if it’s one packed in olive oil.
If you have frozen peas, those are great here. If not, throw in some spinach or steamed broccoli. I would toss this with some butter, lemon zest, and black pepper, and call it a day. It’s not fancy, but it’s quick, it’s cheap, it’s comforting, and it has a really good amount of protein that’ll fill your belly.
13) Ramen Noodles
Ramen noodles are everybody’s college dorm room favorite simply because they’re cheap. Well, they’re still cheap today, but with a few extra ingredients you can really take it up a notch and elevate it to something that qualifies as dinner.
I like to add a soft boiled egg and some sautéed mushrooms if you have them. Whatever frozen vegetables you have lying around make a really great hearty addition. If you have leftover chicken in the refrigerator from last night’s dinner, you could even top it with that. I also really love a sprinkle of sesame seeds on my ramen, but that’s just me.
14) Tostadas
This is a great dish for when you’re very low on ingredients and you really want something a little bit different. If you have tortillas, you can make this. Bake them in the oven until they’re crispy. Once they’re done, spread your refried beans on top, add a little bit of cheese, and melt it under the broiler.
It’s something akin to Mexican takeout, but you probably didn’t have to spend anything to make it. After that, you can put whatever you want on it. Shredded lettuce, pickled jalapenos, whatever you have in the refrigerator works. I like a squeeze of lime on top to give it a little bit of freshness, but this is a great dish when you don’t want to give much effort.
15) Split Pea Soup
I think of my grandmother when I think of split pea soup, so not many of us think to make it, but on a cold night, it’s warm, comforting, cheap, and insanely filling. Split peas are a great thing to keep on hand. They don’t go bad, they’re shelf stable, and on a night when you don’t know what to make and you’re on a budget, you can pull it out.
I recommend adding some crispy bacon or diced up ham that you have in the fridge. It will give it loads of flavor and take it from vegetable soup to main dish. Season it as you like. If you have bay leaf, that is really delicious in here.
Let it cook down. You can blend it if you like it smooth, but I like to leave a little bit of texture to my pea soup. Eating it with some crackers or bread kind of rounds it out and gives you that cozy winter dinner vibe.
16) Grilled Cheese And Soup
I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like grilled cheese, but it’s not often the first thing we reach to make. When the budget’s tight and you want something filling, grilled cheese is a great go-to. Most of us always have bread on hand. This is a great opportunity to use up odds and ends of cheese that you have in your deli drawer, but if you have American, that’s absolutely delicious here.
As far as tomato soup goes, if you have canned soup, great. If not, mix your favorite tomato sauce, or blend a jar of crushed tomatoes with some garlic powder, salt and pepper, and a splash of cream or milk, and warm it on the stove till it thickens up a little bit.
If you don’t have butter, you can also use mayonnaise on your bread to make your grilled cheese. That’s something I do, and it almost gives it an even better flavor than butter does. That mayonnaise kind of toasts and crisps up the outside of the bread really nicely and takes it to another level.
17) Beans On Toast
A lot of people don’t think of beans on toast as something that you could whip up for dinner, but many of us order bruschetta in a restaurant, and this is just a heartier version of that, more filling, and honestly it tastes great with the add-ins. I like to use a can of cannellini beans or any other white bean that you have.
I like to saute some minced garlic and a bit of red onion or shallot or yellow onion, whatever you have here works. You just want to get a bit of flavor into those beans. Throw in some dried or fresh herbs. Again, the goal here is whatever you have. Smash some of the beans to get a smooth puree, but I like to leave some texture, and then make sure you toast your bread really well. You want it to have a nice crisp exterior so those beans don’t make it soggy.
And that’s literally it. If you have some fresh herbs for the top, wonderful, but when we’re on a budget, we got to use what we have. So lemon zest works too, or even some grated cheese for a little bit of a salty punch.
18) Vegetable Fried Rice
This is a great opportunity to use up that leftover rice that you have sitting in the refrigerator, but if you want to make fresh rice for it, that’s fine too. Just stick it in the freezer in a thin layer for a few minutes to dry out, and then whatever you have is what goes into the rice.
If you have frozen peas and carrots, or I like frozen corn or edamame, you want to cook that down. Add in your rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and scramble in a couple of eggs. If you have leftover chicken, you can dice that up and throw it in, and if you have leftover steak, you can dice that up and throw it in too.
This is one of my favorite clean out the fridge meals. I like to top this with some sesame seeds and a little bit of sriracha sauce. It hits all the food groups and it’s super filling and hearty.
19) Polenta Bowls
Polenta is basically an Italian cornmeal, and I really love this to change it up, especially when I’m on a budget, because you really can use whatever toppings you may normally put in a pasta dish on polenta and it suits it really well.
You’re going to cook that polenta according to package directions, and then you can top it with marinara, mozzarella, and fresh basil. You can add some sauteed veggies, or some leftover protein. I’ve even done this with a sweeter vibe with some berries, maple syrup, and cinnamon. There are just so many options.
When I want something especially cozy, I like to cook it in a little bit of milk instead of just water. That really gives it some extra substance.
20) Peanut Noodles
This is one of my favorite things to make. It has a lot of opportunity for you to add in what you like. If you have carrots, you could grate some in there. If you have a lonely bell pepper in the fridge, as sometimes I do, you can slice that up thinly and throw it in. Or if you don’t have any veggies at all, the peanut sauce is delicious enough to hold its own just fine.
You really just need peanut butter, sesame oil, and soy sauce. I like to do a little bit of honey or maple syrup and some lime juice for a little bit of acidity. Mix that in. When you cook your pasta or your noodles, whatever you have, udon noodles or even spaghetti works here, take a little bit of that starchy pasta water to thin out the peanut sauce before you mix it into the pasta.
And that’s literally it, that’s dinner. If you have green onion and sesame seeds for the top, that’s delicious, but even if not, you will be more than happy with this. I’ve made this thousands of times and it never disappoints.
21) Chicken And Rice
This is another scenario where a rice cooker would come in super handy. If you want to boost the nutrition for your family, make some brown rice. It’s often really similar in price to white rice, but it has a little bit of a fiber boost for not much more.
I can often get chicken quarters or chicken thighs or even drumsticks on sale for a really good price, and I can often feed my family with leftovers for the next day. As far as cooking goes, roast them on a higher heat, 400 degrees let’s say, with olive oil and whatever seasonings your family likes. I like salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and onion, and a pinch of brown sugar really helps that skin get crispy and caramelized.
As the chicken cooks, some of the fat cooks down and it almost makes its own sauce in the pan, and you can drizzle a little bit of that over the rice. This is a crowd pleaser for all ages.
22) Vegetable Frittata
Keep a dozen eggs on hand for a night like this, where you’re low on protein, you don’t have a lot of time, and you don’t want to spend a lot of money. Heat some olive oil in a pan, just don’t put your heat too high, you don’t want to make your vegetables bitter or burn your eggs.
You can use anything here. If you have some bacon or sausage or ham, you can saute that and it will add a lot of protein and flavor to the dish. And if you don’t, just use any vegetables that you have, mushrooms, peppers, onions, spinach, the possibilities are really endless here. Whisk your eggs together and add them into that pan. I like to add some grated cheese if I have it.
Then I like to cook it in the oven on 350 just until the eggs are set. They should still be a little jiggly. You don’t want to overcook the eggs because then they take on a rubbery quality. But just like that, dinner’s served. This feels like a complete meal, and again, it definitely brings the breakfast vibes. Serve with toast if you have it, buttered toast with jam will really finish out the breakfast theme. My family loves this.
23) Sausage And Cabbage
Get yourself some Italian sausage that’s on sale, or turkey sausage if your family likes it. Whatever you can get on a budget will work here. You can cook your sausage down and then chop up a whole mess of cabbage and thinly sliced onion, and cook those veggies in the fat from the sausage. It will give loads of flavor to that dish and make it that much more satisfying and hearty.
Crushed red pepper flakes are a great finish for this. And if you have them lying around, you can even dice up some potatoes and cook those down with the veggies until they’re fork tender to make this a full complete meal that is super budget friendly.
24) Pasta And Beans
Pasta on its own is great, but sometimes it just needs a little something more to make it filling. When you’re on a tight budget, going out and buying protein isn’t always an option. So if you have a can of white beans, you can cook some garlic and onion down with those beans and smash them up by hand, leaving a little bit of texture if you like it, but you don’t have to.
Save some of the pasta water from your favorite pasta. You could use a penne here, fettuccine, whatever you have will work. You’re going to add that pasta water to your beans and garlic to really thin out that sauce so it doesn’t go gluey on you. And you’re going to toss all that together, the bean sauce, the pasta water, and the pasta.
I really love parmesan in this. If you have it, it will make it feel like a more complete dish, and it will bring the savoriness and the saltiness. If you have lemon zest and cracked black pepper, this will give you something akin to a cacio e pepe with some more fiber and protein from the beans. This is something that would be super comforting. Just make sure you lower the heat before you add your pasta to your sauce so that you don’t char those beans on the bottom, because that will give your finished dish a bitter flavor.
25) Burrito Bowl
This is a great family-friendly dish to make without anyone realizing you’re on a budget. If you can find chicken on sale, I would cook that with your favorite taco seasoning, or use whatever meat you can get at a good price.
After that, set out everyone’s favorite toppings and really go to town. Make a pot of rice, brown rice, or even quinoa if you have it for some extra protein if you can’t find anything in your budget as far as meat goes. And then you can do fresh lime, salsa, sour cream, cheese, black beans. There really is no end to the different possibilities, but one thing’s for sure, everyone will be full and happy.
