27 Cheap, Cozy Dinners for Two That Don’t Feel Like You’re Eating “Struggle Meals”

So these are meals that you can just pull out when you have no money, waiting for payday, and need to put food on the table.

1) Cacio E Pepe

Basically, pasta with cracked pepper and parmesan. And you can choose any style noodles for this. If you have some veggies on hand, I would throw some veggies in there, like a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, or some frozen veggies, or some fresh spinach.

If you want to do a little side salad, or some canned green beans, that works too. Any canned vegetables or frozen vegetables are great to have on hand for nights like this when you don’t have a lot of money and need to put dinner on the table. It adds a little color to this meal. This meal sounds delicious.

2) Sheet Pan Sausage

Love this because you’re going to have less dishes. It’s fairly easy with the prep work and then not a lot of dishes in the end. You can use some sausage, whatever kind you like, slice them up and put them on a cookie sheet with a lot of different yummy flavors on there.

Avocado oil is a high heat oil I would use. You could use peppers and sliced onions. You could also do zucchini, or butternut squash, or eggplant, whatever you have, and put that on the cookie sheet and cook it. You could put some potatoes if you’d like, some carbs in there as well. It’s going to give you a full balanced meal and not a lot of dishes.

3) Tuna Melt Quesadillas

Kind of a spin on the tuna melt here by throwing it into a tortilla. I like the raw tortillas because they have less ingredients. You can warm up those tortillas on the stove, melt a little cheese of your choice on there, maybe some sharp cheddar, and then mix up your tuna with mayonnaise, mustard, whatever you like to put in your tuna. And then even a pickle, if you’d like, or some relish.

Put that on top of your cheesy tortilla, close it up with some other cheese, and make yourself a quesadilla. Or you could even use canned salmon if you’d like. You can top this off with some hot sauce or some fresh tomatoes, some cilantro, onions, whatever you like.

Avocado is even good. I put avocados in my tuna melts all the time. You could put some spinach in there if you’d like. I put spinach in my tuna melts. It adds some color and some veggies if you have it on hand.

4) Chickpea Curry

This is such a flavorful, anti-inflammatory, high protein, high fiber meal. And it’s super colorful with the diced tomatoes. I love how easy this is because you can have the can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans right there in your cupboard and the can of diced tomatoes.

So this could be a last minute, last resort meal that you have ready for you. Just throw a couple ingredients in. So delicious, such great flavor here too with the ginger and the curry. You could put some sort of veggies in there like some spinach to give it a little green. It’s a beautiful, delicious meal.

5) Egg Fried Rice

Definitely delicious. It feels like you went out to eat, but actually not hard or expensive at all. If you have some leftover rice from maybe the night before, maybe you had a teriyaki chicken bowl or something, no worries. You can throw that in the pan, scramble up some eggs, add some soy sauce and some sesame oil.

You can add some diced green onions if you’d like, a little ginger, garlic. Delish. If you have any protein you want to add to that, absolutely you can. I also like to add some frozen peas and carrots to this, and that adds a little bit more veggies and some color if you have it on hand.

6) Pasta with Tomato Sauce

Of course, a classic. And this one’s super delicious. It’s warm and it’s cozy, and generally we have some sort of pasta on hand, right? And whatever tomato sauce you prefer. You can just combine that to make a delicious meal. If you have any veggies or protein you want to throw inside, you totally can.

7) Black Bean Tacos

Delicious, easy meal. You can use whatever tacos or tortillas you have on hand, a can of black beans, and then add whatever you want to that. I love to add some salsa, some avocado or guacamole, fresh tomatoes, diced onions, whatever lettuce I have on hand. And voila, super easy.

8) One Pan Chicken Thighs

This is awesome and easy because you’re not going to have a lot of dishes to do afterward. You can halve some small potatoes to put on the cookie sheet along with this and cook it all together. You can even do some asparagus on the side on that same cookie sheet if you’d like. Add some garlic on top of both the potatoes and the asparagus.

You could put some parmesan cheese. You can put some avocado oil because it’s a high heat oil. And this is such a delicious, complete meal. It’s fun to switch it up too, and it never gets boring.

You can switch to sweet potatoes instead of the white potatoes. You could do brussels sprouts instead of the asparagus and keep this dinner going with different flavors on top of the chicken to really jazz it up, but keep it simple.

9) Eggs in Tomato Sauce

So this is breakfast at dinnertime, and who says you can’t eat breakfast at dinnertime? Delicious. You combine the eggs and the can of tomatoes, and you could even add other veggies if you have them on hand, such as chopped onions or bell peppers. You could do potatoes, whatever you have, and combine that together to make a delicious breakfast.

If you have a can of chickpeas, go ahead and throw that in. If you have some sort of lettuce like spinach, I love spinach because it’s dark green, and you can tear that up and throw that in as well. Top it off with some cheese if you’d like, any cheese of your preference, goat, feta, parmesan, whatever you have.

10) Creamy White Bean Skillet

This is a great inexpensive meal and super fast. You can have some onions and some garlic and cook this all together. You could use some sort of lettuce, whatever you have on hand, whether it’s spinach or kale. Those are my choices.

You could swap out the chickpeas for white beans if you want. You could add some cream cheese to make this a little creamier, but the lemon and the ground pepper and the parmesan cheese are going to give it such a great flavor, and it’s going to be so colorful with all those veggies in.

11) Peanut Noodles

This is such a great meal, especially on a hot day. You can combine the soy sauce, honey, garlic, and rice vinegar all together with your pasta, and your pasta could be hot and fresh or it can be cold. You can top it off with whatever you like here.

You could do some edamame, cucumbers, peanuts, green onions, shredded carrots if you like, and that’s going to give you a lot of beautiful colors. If you want to add some protein, you could do peanuts, a fried egg, or even some chicken, like rotisserie chicken.

12) Lentil Soup

A favorite in our house. Whether you’re vegetarian or not, lentil soup is a crowd pleaser. It’s delicious. You’re going to have some carrots, onion, celery, and garlic, of course, and then you’re going to use the lentils, whatever color you like. I like green, but you can buy any color of lentils or all the colors, a bag of multicolored.

Have some tomatoes in there, of course, and some broth, and this is delicious. It does not have to be a winter meal. It can be, but it’s delicious, especially if you add some spinach in there for a little extra green color and some pepper. You could add some parmesan cheese on top. Delish.

13) Breakfast Omelet

Who says that breakfast can only be at breakfast time? You can definitely make this at dinner, at breakfast, whenever you want, and just throw whatever you have in this breakfast omelet. If you have any sort of meat, you could throw that in, maybe leftover bacon or chicken apple sausage or something from yesterday. You could add some spinach, some bell peppers.

I like to use leftover veggies from panini night, so I’ll throw those in, such as mushrooms, spinach, zucchini. And if you have lunch meat like ham or turkey, sure, throw that in. No problem. You really can’t lose with this one. Any sort of protein or veggies is going to go really great in your omelet.

14) Baked Potatoes

Oh yes, baked potatoes are so fun because you could really have a baked potato bar set up and everyone can use their own toppings, and you can switch it up with different toppings each time. You can have some sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, broccoli, butter, whatever you like.

You could even add meat on top, like if you have some ground beef or sausage. If you like it spicy, go ahead and put some hot sauce on top of that.

15) Garlic Butter Shrimp

Delish. I like to have some frozen shrimp in the freezer just in case you need to add a little protein to meals. Even the small ones are fine. You’re going to get your rice and your shrimp, or scallops if you want scallops, whatever sort of protein you like on that.

You can definitely have some olive oil, butter, and garlic. It’s going to give you such a good smell and it’s going to taste so delicious. If you like red pepper flakes for a little spice, absolutely.

And then whatever veggies you want to serve this with, you could do a side salad, some green beans, asparagus spears, brussels sprouts, whatever you like, some carrots. That makes it a complete meal with your protein, carbs, and veggies.

16) Pantry Puttanesca

So this is basically a pasta dish for when you have nothing to eat, right? You have nothing in the fridge, but you have some items in the pantry. Usually we have some sort of pasta, and it doesn’t matter which shape. As I tell my kids, they taste the same. So go ahead and use whatever pasta you have in the pantry with some garlic.

You can add some olive oil for delicious flavor, and crushed tomatoes, like a can of crushed tomatoes, is perfect. If you have any sort of olives, capers, anchovy fillets, or red pepper flakes, this is all going to add some delicious flavor, so you’re going to combine this all together.

You can do some soy sauce, fish sauce, whatever other flavors you like to add to this. I would also like to add a little bit of veggies as well. Maybe some spinach or green beans or a side salad would be delish.

17) Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

There is nothing like grilled cheese and tomato soup, especially on a cold, rainy day. It just hits the spot, and you’ve got to dip that grilled cheese right in that tomato soup. You can use canned tomato soup for this if you’d like, or if you want to get fancy, you can find one online. But the canned soup tastes delicious and I love it.

You could put a little shredded basil on top to make it extra fancy for your grilled cheese. Use whole wheat bread, whatever you have. Put a little cheese in there, whatever kind you prefer, like a sharp cheddar, and dip away. That is so delicious.

18) Sausage and White Bean Stew

This only takes less than an hour to prepare. You have some garlic and onions, and chop up some sort of lettuce too to give it a little bit of color. Love that green color in there, spinach, kale, whatever you have. You can top it off with some pepper.

This is going to be such a great meal because you’re going to get some protein, some fiber, and it’s going to warm you right up. It’s going to be a delicious meal.

19) Veggie Ramen

Absolutely, yes, this takes me back to college days when all I had was ramen. You’d be surprised that there’s a lot you can do with ramen. You can just serve it with butter and parmesan. You can soft boil some eggs and make it like a fried rice, but with the ramen noodles instead. You could hard boil an egg, slice it in half, and have it right on top.

You could add some sort of chicken or meat if you have some rotisserie chicken, or even some lunch meat if you’re in a pinch. Put that on top and add some garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. You could add some veggies in here like peas or corn to give it a little bit more nutrients as well.

20) Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

This is like baked potatoes, but it’s sweet potatoes, and sweet potatoes are so awesome. That beautiful orange color does a little more for us nutrition-wise and is also just so visually appealing. You can use some beans on top of this, like black beans or pinto beans for a little extra fiber and protein. You could add a fried egg on top.

If you want to put some meat on top that’s fine, or on the side, that’s fine too. You could put whatever toppings you want on your sweet potato, avocado, cilantro, lime, feta, any sort of cheese you like, some salsa. Like a regular baked potato, you could put bacon bits on top of this, or some broccoli, whatever you like. And just switch it up each time.

21) Spaghetti Carbonara

Delish. You could use any pasta you have, fettuccine, spaghetti, linguine, and combine that with some bacon or whatever sort of meat you have on hand. You can cook this right on top of the stove in a skillet with some fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Go ahead and add some bacon if you’d like, and add some veggies. I’m imagining maybe some chopped up broccoli in here. That would be delicious. Or whatever veggies you have frozen or canned, you can add that in for a little punch of color and also some fiber and nutrients.

22) Pork Chops

You can have some sliced onion. You could have some apples, because who doesn’t love to pair apples with pork chops? You could do some sort of mashed potatoes, baked potato, halved potatoes, pasta, or rice on the side, and any veggies of your choice, broccoli, asparagus. This is going to be a great and deliciously flavorful meal that both of you will enjoy.

23) Rice and Beans

Fun fact, combining rice and beans creates a whole protein. They complete each other, and that’s literally why they’re always served together. So you could do whatever kind of beans you like here, black, pinto, whatever, and whatever kind of rice you want, brown rice or white rice.

Of course, I would try to get some sort of color in there. Some avocado would be beautiful, some tomatoes, some cilantro would be beautiful in there, a little bit of cheese. You could also do any sort of veggie you want inside there, some sauteed zucchini if you’d like, to get a little bit of color in there.

24) Baked Feta Pasta

Delish. You could pull your pasta out of your food cabinet. Any pasta that you have, any shape, will be delicious, and you can use a block of feta cheese, or if you have goat cheese, that would be delicious as well. You can crumble that on top of your pasta.

Use some cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. If you like spice, you could add a little red pepper flakes on top, and you’re going to bake this all together and it’s going to be delicious. If you have some sort of spinach, you could put that in, even frozen spinach works here. You could add some pesto for a little more flavor if you’d like.

25) Chicken and Dumplings

You can make this in the oven, so delicious. You’re going to use some rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken if you have that. And you’re going to get those biscuits, the refrigerated ones that pop and scare you every single time. You take those, separate the biscuits out, and put them on top of your chicken here.

The chicken’s going to be really good because it’s going to have the garlic, thyme, and some chicken broth. You can do a splash of cream too if you like. Then the dumplings are just going to bake right on top of that until they’re puffy and delicious. If you want to add veggies to this, you totally can. Some sort of frozen mixed veggies or a side salad would be delicious and round out this meal.

26) Veggie Frittata

Again, breakfast for dinner. Yum, why not? You can use eggs and any veggies. Maybe you have leftovers from dinner the night before, so I’ll commonly have leftover asparagus and dice that up. If you have some spinach in the fridge, dice that up. If you have mushrooms or zucchini, whatever veggies you have on hand, go ahead and add that in, and some bell peppers would be good too.

Then you can combine that all together with the eggs, some olive oil, a little milk, some pepper, and some salt. Just a delicious meal, and it’s not very expensive. With the eggs as the main protein, you could add some potatoes or some cheese on top of this if you’d like as well.

27) Flatbread Pizzas

All right, so for this one you can use some sort of pizza crust, whatever you like. I like the Trader Joe’s fresh pizza crust. You can get a jar of tomato sauce or pizza sauce, some olive oil, oregano, and some shredded mozzarella cheese. If you want to put some pepperoni, or some ham and pineapple if you like Hawaiian pizza, any sort of protein on top of that.

And I love to add veggies, of course, on top of my pizza, or fruit. If you like pineapple, go ahead and bake that all together. It’s just a quick and easy meal. Maybe combine this for a movie night, and you can add whatever you want on top of this pizza. I like to add zucchini, mushrooms, artichoke hearts. Delish.

Pantry & Tools I Reach for on Tight Weeknights

The kit that quietly does the heavy lifting in most of these dinners. Affiliate links: if you buy through them, HomeViable earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.

• JINCHUFURI Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet: The iconic cast iron pan that turns up across the chicken thighs, omelet, shrimp, and pork chop recipes.
• BRKIO Original Sichuan Chili Crisp: Called out by name in the peanut noodles section. Keep a jar in the door for soy sauce, eggs, rice, and noodles.
• La San Marzano Italian Canned Peeled Tomatoes: The brand the Canned Tomatoes notes literally call out. Plenty of stock for every tomato-based dinner here.