On a super tight budget and need to eat cheaply? Here are some simple meals to make when your budget needs help!
Although things are fine now, there were quite a few times when my family needed some really cheap dinner ideas.
We've gone through 4 job losses, two of which my husband John was the sole money earner. And with a young daughter, that can prove to be tough!
Each time though, we've gotten through it. I had to be super creative with food to keep a $30/week grocery budget for a family of 3, but we ate well and survived. In fact, all the recipes we made can be found in my e-book, Emergency Meals.
The following 30 meals are some cheap family meals. Those "Oh crap, I don't have a lot of money next week" meals. They're not fancy, but they get the job done. And when you're on a super tight budget, you're just looking for the cheapest meal ideas!
Whether you're looking for the cheapest meal to make, or what to make with very little money, hopefully these budget-friendly recipes will give you some inspiration.
Are these healthy meals?
Some of the cheapest meals below may not be nutritionally balanced. That is, they have bare-bones ingredients and may not include any fruits or vegetables.
When you have no extra money, you do what you can with what you have; and when you can add extra veggies to your meal, do it so you can add some extra nutrition. But I believe these easy recipes are perfectly fine to serve to your family, whether or not you are in a rough financial spot!
Here are 30 cheap meals, breakfasts and dinners alike, that you can make with very little money.
Cheapest Meal Ideas
1.) Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
This one's a bit obvious, but PB&J is a classic staple and a REALLY simple meal. It's kid-friendly, requires cheap ingredients, and is just plain good. I like to eat mine with a banana and string cheese or yogurt.
Whole wheat bread can go well with this because it has extra protein and fiber- which keeps you full longer!
Someone once told me that PB&J is not actually a real meal; but it's in my belly, so it must be!
2.) 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. When you head to the grocery store next time, think about buying one of each just in case.
If you have shredded mozzarella cheese, 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!
3.) Bean and cheese burritos
Here's my favorite recipe for bean and cheese burritos. Homemade refried beans and a little shredded cheddar cheese make an easy burrito. These freeze well, too!
If you don't like refried beans, black beans or lentils work well too. You can also add sour cream or salsa.
4.) 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 Freezer Whole Wheat Waffles recipe. This is comfort food my whole family enjoys!
5.) Grilled cheese sandwiches
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.
To add to this simple tasty meal, buy a can of tomato soup if you're able.
6.) 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 as a great way to save money!
7.) Sloppy Joes
Ground beef/ ground 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 slow cooker Lentil Sloppy Joe recipe. This one makes a ton!
8.) Goulash
Who knew something so simple could be so good? Cooked macaroni, ground beef, and tomatoes! Here's the recipe we use for a low cost meal.
9.) 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!
10.) Quesadillas
This is one of my favorite meals because they're so customizable. Add anything to it: Rice, black beans, shredded chicken breasts, ground beef, or even just plain cheese.
Bonus tip: Bone-in chicken breasts and chicken thighs are usually cheaper than boneless. Cook them and remove the bones yourself!
11.) Red beans and rice
This is an easy meal and can make plain rice and beans taste better. Here's my favorite recipe!
12.) 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.
13.) 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 other simple ingredients to make it more filling.
14.) Egg and cheese burritos
Breakfast burritos are great in the mornings, and even freeze well. You can add ground sausage to stretch it more.
15.) Rice and beans burrito bowl
Maybe I'm weird, but I'm okay with eating just rice and black beans. It's one of those easy weeknight meals using pantry staples.
The best combination, for me, is adding roasted sweet potatoes, and eating it with salsa and shredded cheese.
16.) 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.
Try this peanut butter baked oatmeal for a cheap and delicious meal!
17. Yogurt Parfait
While Greek yogurt has more protein, it is more expensive. Feel free to use plain regular yogurt and any cheap fruits- apples or berries, depending on the season, and this makes an excellent breakfast idea!
Granola is delicious in yogurt as well! You can be frugal about it and make your own, like this Honey Vanilla Granola.
18. Ham and Beans
Do you have a ham bone in the freezer? Use that along with a bag of dried pinto beans to make a delicious and frugal Ham and Beans! It makes a ton, and you can serve it with homemade cornbread.
19. Soup
The great thing about soup is that you can add pretty much anything to it. Leftover chicken, beans, pasta, any kind of vegetable... Soup can serve a ton for a low price, and is amazing with homemade bread!
20. Breakfast Fried Rice
Looking for creative ways to use up rice? Breakfast fried rice is super easy and a great way to use any other leftover foods!
My favorite 5-Ingredient Breakfast Fried Rice uses sausage links. But if you're on a tight budget, you can use a couple extra eggs instead to keep the protein high.
21. Black Bean Soup
Canned beans are really cheap, but you can also buy a bag of dried beans and cook them in your Instant Pot to save a few cents.
This 5-Ingredient Black Bean Soup uses a lot of pantry staples. Keep these on hand at all times for an easy meal!
22. Black Bean Burgers
Going vegetarian a couple times a week helps you save a ton of money. And a creative way to use beans is to make Black Bean Burgers!
Add some cheese and salsa on top and you've got yourself a filling dinner. This is actually one of my favorite budget meals!
23. Vegetable Frittata
I consider a frittata to be basically an egg casserole. Mix eggs with some of your favorite add-ins, and you've got a super filling breakfast.
My Vegetable Frittata recipe uses broccoli and zucchini, but feel free to substitute whatever you have. And frozen veggies work just as well!
24. Knorr dishes
Those packets of Knorr pasta and rice sides are really good! You can use them as a side dish, but I like to mix them with other ingredients to make a full dinner.
This Tuna Broccoli Cheddar Rice is so easy and uses ingredients that easily fit into your food budget.
25. Slow Cooker Ranch Chicken
When you can find chicken on sale, stock up and freeze it for recipes like this!
This Slow Cooker Ranch Chicken has only 4 ingredients and is SO easy. I like to serve mine over rice and roasted vegetables.
26. Breakfast Potatoes
Potatoes are a really cheap option and very filling. One bag can be made into a couple meals!
This Breakfast Potatoes recipe uses frozen bell peppers and onions to add a little extra nutrition and flavor. You may be able to save money by buying fresh and dicing them yourself!
27. One Pot Broccoli Pasta
Another delicious vegetarian recipe, this One-Pot Broccoli Pasta is full of nutrients and has a nice tang of Parmesan cheese. This comes together in 30 minutes and has very little cleanup!
28. Salsa Chicken Casserole
This Salsa Chicken Casserole is a delicious one-pan meal. Everything, including the rice, cooks in the casserole dish. That leaves you more time to clean the kitchen or prep something else!
29. Blueberry Oatmeal Cups
Having breakfast ready to heat and eat is super important for me. And these Blueberry Oatmeal Cups can be made ahead of time to save you energy!
Note: Frozen fruit is just as nutritious as fresh, and can be cheaper in the months when they're not in-season.
30. 4-Ingredient Crockpot Ravioli
Frozen ravioli is typically pretty cheap. And if you need to omit the ground turkey, that's fine! This 4-Ingredient Crockpot Ravioli is full of flavor and easily feeds a crowd.
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Making meal plans every week is really one of the best ways to save money and get the best deals on groceries. Follow my beginner's guide to get started today!
Other frugal meal ideas to help you out:
Jaime is a Nutrition Coach through the ISSA and professional writer. She has 4 years experience coaching and 9 years experience in writing. She enjoys cooking easy meals, running, and learning more about food.
Jaime specializes in helping women with ADHD learn to meal plan and cook healthier meals without getting overwhelmed.
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!
In my breakfast burritos that we freeze I add baked oven potatoes. Peel if you want, dice and chop into little pieces. I add oil any kind you have, spices whatever you have, then bake them in the oven at 400. That works for me my oven runs hot about 30 minutes. I also make a lot so I can have them all week. Then you can add all your other things and you won't have to add as much meat. The texture of potatoes does change a little but it wasn't that noticeable even for my picky eaters. We also take the same oven potatoes and have a clean out the fridge day. You can add anything you have as toppers. If anyone loves Disney Hades Nachos is what we started making at home. It's from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Blue corn tortilla chips , cheese sauce homemade or canned and buffalo chicken on top. Feel free to buffalo any kind of protein your family likes. I put mine in plastic baskets with paper but a plate works well also so does any tortilla chips. I am also going to try Animal Fries at home from In and Out ?. French fries, grilled onions, cheese sauce and thousand island dressing on top.
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. =)
Try Mexican style sopa for a tasty change, lightly brown any type of pasta in hot oil, then add a can of tomato sauce with enough water to completely cover pasta over with about 2 cups extra liquid, salt to taste cook until pasta is tender. It will be a soup consistancy, you can perk it up by adding veggies, chicken, potatoes, bullion cubes, ect.
That sounds really good! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you
Yummy frybread and leftover turkey or ham during holidays
I love leftovers during the holidays! I purposely plan no meals the rest of the holiday week because of leftovers. 😛
I’m not sure who has this web site but I’m very glad I found it. My boyfriend left me after I gad to get on permanently dialysis. Not going to help me. My daughter and granddaughter live me they help take care of me. So I have maybe 40.00 left for the month for medicine food and gas. I love the recipes that you put on here affordable and good that all three of us would like. So I thank you and if any one has any more I hope I find your posts. Thank you ?
Hi Kyndell, I'm glad you found me! I have other posts that are similar to this, like 20 Dinners That Cost 5 Dollars or Less. I hope you can find a few things here that will help you during this rough time!
Hello. Can you please tell me how to make that fried bread. Thank you
Kyndell
Fry Bread can be maid with canned biscuit dough flattened out and fried in oil till golden brown. They can be maid much cheaper making the dough at home. There are many recipes online for how to make it.
That sounds good, thanks for the idea!
Hi. We make fried bread during the holiday season. I use a basic recipe handed down from my grandma and mom. You can also use this recipe for loaves (let rise twice and bake at 350). I use my bread maker to knead the dough and let rise but gma and mom did it by hand. If using the machine, add all the wet ingredients first, then sugar, flour and yeast. For fried bread, take out the dough after the first rise and knead. Then squeeze off little balls. Heat a pan full of oil (I use cast iron). With buttered hands, I stretch the balls out into little flat circles (perfection not necessary) and fry until golden, turning once. The little pockets afterwards are great for capturing the topping (butter, jam/jelly, honey, powdered sugar, etc.). My favorite way to have these is buttered with a bowl of homemade pinto beans.
This is half of the original recipe and makes plenty:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp melted butter
1 cup luke warm water
1 pkg dry yeast
1 egg mixed
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
Thank you for sharing this!! This sounds really good!
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. =)
Bagels are good too! I teach Culinary Arts at a high school, we had dozens of bagels left over from an event so the students made bagel pizzas! You would have thought I taught them to make the best meal ever!!!
We love bagel pizzas! =)
You can do pizza on a tortilla too!
Oh yes, great idea!
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! =)
Tomato soup with black beans. Very good and filling
Ooh, that sounds really good!
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!
Add some shredded cabbage and diced onion and you have a lazy cabbage roll casserole.
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!
We make English muffin pizzas too. And when we have leftover burger or hot dog buns we do pizza on those too.
That's awesome! I've even attempted it on just regular sandwich bread. Pizza goes well on anything, in my opinion. =)
That sounds very good and healthy. Tuna has protein My friend told me to make sloppy joes fat a box of jiffy cornbread mix put the sloppyjoes in a baking dish with cornbread mix on top and bake My granddaughter wants to try that to ?
Tuna pot pie was a favorite of ours that our mom made..
1 can of tuna drained
1 can of mixed veggies
1 can of cream of mushroom
Mix and put in an already baked pie shell and add cheese on top..
Cover with aluminum foil (spray with non stick spray..
Bake for 35-40 mins in 350 degree oven..
That sounds super easy! =) Thanks for sharing!