Cheap Dinner Ideas: How to Cook Filling Meals on a Tight Budget
Budget cooking gets easier when you build meals from a cheap filling base, an affordable protein and one strong flavor. Here is the method, with a week of example dinners.
The short answer: build dinner from three parts: a cheap filling base (rice, pasta, potatoes, oats or bread), an affordable protein (eggs, canned or dried beans, lentils, chicken thighs, or a small amount of ground meat), and one strong flavor such as garlic, onion, lemon, chili, soy sauce or a hard cheese. Then cook enough to use leftovers on purpose.
Prices vary a lot by country, store and season, so this guide focuses on choices that are usually inexpensive rather than promising a cost per serving.
The three-part formula
| Part | Usually affordable options | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Filling base | Rice, dried pasta, potatoes, oats, bread, tortillas | Cheap per serving, keeps well, makes a meal satisfying |
| Protein | Eggs, canned beans, dried lentils, chicken thighs, ground meat stretched with beans | Keeps you full; beans and lentils are often the cheapest |
| Flavor | Onions, garlic, lemon or vinegar, chili flakes, soy sauce, cumin, Parmesan | Small amounts change the whole dish |
| Vegetable | Carrots, cabbage, onions, frozen peas or spinach, canned tomatoes | Frozen and canned vegetables avoid waste |
Ways to spend less without eating worse
- Check what you have before you shop, then plan meals around it. Wasted food is money spent for nothing.
- Buy versatile ingredients that appear in several meals in the same week, such as one bag of onions, one block of cheese, or one big bag of rice.
- Use frozen and canned produce. Frozen spinach and peas and canned tomatoes cost less per serving than many fresh vegetables and don't spoil before you use them.
- Stretch meat: replace a third to half of the ground beef in a sauce or taco filling with canned beans or cooked lentils.
- Compare unit prices (price per pound or per 100 g) on shelf labels rather than package prices.
- Cook once, eat twice: make a double batch and turn the second half into a different meal.
Cook once, eat three ways: a pot of white beans
Warm two drained cans of white beans (or a batch cooked from dried) with olive oil, garlic and rosemary. On day one, spoon them over toast with grated cheese. On day two, blend some with lemon and a spoonful of water into a dip for vegetables. On day three, toss the rest with pasta, a splash of pasta water and chili flakes. Keep the beans refrigerated and use them within 3 to 4 days.
A sample week of budget dinners
- Black bean and rice skillet, with the rest of the rice saved for later in the week.
- Crispy potato and egg skillet.
- Tuscan white bean soup, with enough for lunch the next day.
- Egg fried rice, using the rice from day 1 (cooked rice should be eaten promptly; see our rice guide).
- Spaghetti aglio e olio: pasta, garlic, oil and chili.
- Black bean and cheddar quesadillas.
- Sheet-pan roasted vegetables with fried eggs, to use up whatever produce is left.
Sources
- Leftovers and Food Safety — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
Found an error? See our corrections policy.
Ingredient guides for this article
Recipes mentioned in this guide
Warm Black Bean & Rice Fiesta Skillet
A 20-minute vegetarian pantry skillet packed with spiced black beans, tender rice, salsa, and melted cheddar.
Crispy Potato & Egg Skillet
Golden skillet-fried potatoes, sweet caramelized onions, and eggs cooked to your liking in one comforting cast-iron pan.
Comforting Tuscan White Bean Soup
A velvety, aromatic Italian peasant soup made with canned cannellini beans, garlic, olive oil, and tender spinach.
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Garlic & Olive Oil)
A classic southern Italian pantry pasta: spaghetti tossed with gently cooked garlic, olive oil, chili flakes, and starchy pasta water.