I am constantly on the lookout for cheap meals (See: 20 Dinners that Cost $5 or Less here and here). There are some great ideas in those posts, but now I’m looking for those “Oh crap, we don’t have a lot of money next week” meal ideas. We’ve eaten for $30 a week and $37 a week on a few occasions and it’s been tough, but using the cheapest meals possible really helps keep costs down.
Now, are these the healthiest meals? Not necessarily, but when you have no money, you make due with what you have. You can always add fresh fruits and vegetables as side items to round it out a bit. Here are 16 meals, breakfasts and dinners alike, that you can make with very little money.
Meals to Make When You Have No Money
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches– This one’s a bit obvious, but PB&J is a classic staple. Actually, our favorite right now is almond butter and honey sandwiches; pair it with a banana and oh my goodness, it’s just amazing.
- Pasta and jarred sauce– These are items I recommend you keep in your pantry at all times. You never know when you need an emergency meal, and pasta and sauce is as easy as it comes. If you have shredded mozzarella, you can even mix cooked pasta and sauce in a casserole dish, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes for a simple pasta bake!
- Bean and cheese burritos– Here’s my favorite recipe. Homemade refried beans and a little shredded cheese make an easy burrito. These freeze well, too!
- Pancakes/waffles– You don’t even need boxed pancake mix to make pancakes/waffles. It costs pennies to make up a simple batch, and it’s a very cheap dinner alternative. I’m fond of this oatmeal pancake recipe, and this whole wheat blueberry waffle recipe.
- Grilled cheese– The classic grilled cheese. You can do pretty much anything with this, but my favorite is sliced cheddar with fresh baked bread. I could probably eat about 5 in one sitting.
- Chili cheese dogs– Very simple and filling dinner. Canned chili is the easiest, although if you made chili earlier in the week, you can use leftovers to save money!
- Sloppy Joes– Ground beef/turkey with a few condiments cooked together, and it’s a simple dinner! Here’s my favorite Sloppy Joe recipe, and if you’re going meatless, here’s a Lentil Sloppy Joe recipe. This one makes a ton!
- Goulash– Who knew something so simple could be so good? Cooked macaroni, ground beef, and tomatoes! Here’s the recipe we use.
- Baked potatoes– I LOVE making baked potatoes for dinner. You can add broccoli and cheese, bacon, taco toppings, or even baked beans. I’d never heard of that last one until recently, but it sounds interesting!
- Quesadillas– Add anything to it: Rice, black beans, shredded chicken, ground beef, or even just plain cheese.
- Red beans and rice– A good way to make plain rice and beans taste better. Here’s my favorite recipe!
- Biscuits– Biscuits make a great breakfast item. Make an egg sandwich, add a simple gravy on top, or eat plain with butter and honey. Here’s my favorite biscuit recipe.
- Tuna melts– The most basic recipe calls for tuna and mayo, with a slice of cheese, but you can add hard-boiled eggs, relish, or anything to make it more filling.
- Egg and cheese burritos– Breakfast burritos are great in the mornings, and even freeze well. You can add ground sausage to stretch it more.
- Rice and beans burrito bowl– Maybe I’m weird, but I’m okay with eating just rice and black beans. The best combination, for me, is adding roasted sweet potatoes, and eating it with salsa and shredded cheese.
- Oat bars– Any kind of baked oatmeal is cheap and great for breakfast. You can add bananas, chocolate chips, blueberries… The possibilities are endless, and they’re all delicious. Here is a cheap one that contains just peanut butter.
On weeks when we were a little low on cash for food, I would use Swagbucks to help earn gift cards for stores like Sam’s Club to stock up on essentials like toilet paper. That can get expensive, especially when your grocery budget includes household items! Swagbucks really helped when we needed to pay for Allison’s baby formula. Click here to create an account and start earning FREE gift cards to stores like Sam’s Club, Wal Mart, Amazon, and Target!
Do you have any tested recipes to add to this list? Please post in the comments below!
Yum, these are making me hungry! I’m pinning this for later, when I meal prep I get tired of eating the same thing 3 or 4 days in a row. Thanks for sharing!
Leslie recently posted…What Would You Do…
When the kids were small, Indian fry bread was a big hit on those days!
I’ve never heard of it! I’ll have to look it up, thanks for the suggestion. =)
Oh yeah, baked beans, baked potato and a knob of butter is gorgeous! Some people add grated cheddar cheese to it as well. Noms!
That sounds amazing! I still need to try this. =)
My kids still remember crockpot pinto beans with tomato sauce and smoke flavoring served with saltines and also spaghetti noodles with buttered broccoli and parmesan cheese as favorite dinners. They never knew I made up those meals when we had nothing else to eat.
That’s amazing! Kids are so resilient. =) You did a great job providing even when you didn’t have much.
Hi Jaime,
I am a grandmother raising 5 grandchildren. Thank you for your recipes for dinner and . breakfast, I have one that my kids like, it’s english muffin pizzas.
One package english muffins split. Spread with pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce. top with cheese and pepperoni or with anything else you might like on a pizza. Place in toaster oven or oven until cheese is melted.
Rose
Pizza is a huge hit in our household, too! The English muffins are a great idea, thanks for sharing, Rose. =)
Taco Mac, chili mac,tuna mac, the list is endless. Box of mac ncheese and taco meat or other and can add other ingredients as availAble such as corn stewed tomatoes. My son and his best friend had cook off on Taco mac. He won. His frugal mom taught himwell
That’s amazing! We’ve made something just about like yours: a box of mac and cheese, some taco meat, a can of diced tomatoes, and shredded cheese on top. I think it’s called Cheesy Beef Skillet!
One one of our favorite breakfast or lunch (sometimes a lazy dinner) is a hard boiled egg sandwich on favorite bread.
That sounds great! I love hard-boiled eggs, and that would make a good breakfast here. =)
I always said as long as you have flour you’ll never go hungry. I make everything with flour. Tortillas, donuts, hot water bread, dumplings, all easy & cost penny’s 🙂
Great advice! The only thing I’ve never made is dumplings, but they look super easy. =)
As kids my mom made up elbow noodles, onion, canned diced tomatoes and bacon. Fry the bacon then saute onion in grease. Add tomatoes and the bacon to onion and heat all together. Pour over boiled elbows. I still love it to this day and so do my kids.
That sounds delicious, Kelly! And cheap, too!
I make Cincinnati Recipe Chili once a month – a pot costs maybe $5. I use ground beef that I often have in the freezer, one can of tomato paste, and a packet of Cincinnati Recipe Chili Mix (https://www.kroger.com/search?query=cincinnati%20recipe%20chili%20mix). Put over spaghetti noodles with cheese on top or make into coneys. So good!
That’s such a frugal and easy way to make Cincinnati chili! Thanks for sharing; I’ll be trying that this Fall! =)
homemade biscuits with homemade white gravy and if you have bacon use the bacon and bacon grease to make the gravy.
Noodles + butter+ ketchup is a childhood fav of mine
Noodles+ soy sauce+ pb cheap asian style noodle dish
Noodles+ parmasan cheese and parsley and butter
Tomato slice on bread is amazing and cheap when tomatoes are in season
Those are all great ideas! My husband is a huge pasta fan and has probably done a few of those on occasion. =)
My family loves ground beef with carrots and/or peas. Sometimes we eat this over rice. Sometimes just plain. Add a little seasoning and this is really good.
Nice! That’s a good frugal meal. =) I seem to remember making a casserole a couple years ago that had just ground beef, rice, and a can of tomato soup. I could probably add some extra veggies to it too!
Try Ground meat, browned with onions & peppers, garlic salt. add a can of veg. soup serve over mashed potatoes.
That sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing. =)
Chipped beef gravy w/hard boiled eggs on whatever you choose. Bowl of wide egg noodles w/ bacon, garlic, green onion, and soy sauce. English muffin pizza’s can’t go wrong.
We love English muffin pizzas here! We’ve also done bagel pizzas. Just a few minutes in the oven and you’ve got a simple but delicious dinner!