Has your grocery store bill increased lately? Prices continue to rise in stores across the US. According to the Consumer Price Index, spending on food at home rose 6.5% last year. The most significant increases in categories included meat, poultry, fish and eggs. This increase has had a significant impact on the average family budget for groceries and family meal planning.
It’s a shame to spend so much money on a few basic groceries at the grocery store. While you can’t control food costs in a volatile market, you can save your budget with creative meal planning and cheap dinner ideas.
Families have unique tastes and preferences for dinners that offer choice and variety. Searching for inexpensive meals on the Internet leads to many ideas, which are basically pasta with a pinch of cheese or dressing. These cheap dinner ideas come from humble ingredients where the meat is versatile and allows you to shop at current market prices.
Cheap meals in a slow cooker
A slow cooker is a time and money saver when preparing food in several ways. A slow cooker is a useful kitchen tool for busy families. It cooks while you’re at work, saves on oven costs, and can feed a large family.
Soups, stews, and chili peppers are inexpensive slow cooker dinner options that make a big difference. Many combinations of meat and vegetables work together to make a filling dinner. Some items in the slow cooker, such as chili peppers, can be used later in the week to create new dishes, such as nachos or potatoes. Using leftover food in a variety of dishes is cost effective and reduces food waste.
Taco soup is an example of a hearty and easy slow cooker dish that can feed a large family or company. It consists of beef (or chicken), tomatoes, corn, beans, and seasonings. These are regular canned food stocked in the pantry or available for purchase when you need food to feed a crowd. You can choose the meat for this dish based on the market prices at the time, making it a versatile dish that helps with your food budget and weekday lunches.
Even More Cheap Slow Cooker Dinner Ideas:
- Chicken or beef chili
- Chicken with Italian dressing or salsa (chopped to add to pasta or pair with vegetables)
- Chicken and dumplings
- Vegetable soup
- Pot roast and vegetables
- beef stew
These slow cooker dinner ideas are easy to make and use inexpensive ingredients. Many of these meals make enough to be frozen for multiple meals, which adds to your dollar as well.
Easy cheap casseroles
Casseroles, or one pan dinners, combine foods that create a separate meal. You probably have a few traditional casserole recipes from your cookbook that have already become classic family favorites. Casseroles use versatile ingredients and recipes can be adjusted to feed a small or large family.
One of the easiest pan-to-pan recipes, and a well-known comfort food that combines chicken, puff pastry, and vegetables, is chicken pie. The biggest expense is chicken, but it remains an economical meal with vegetables and a homemade or store-bought crust.
Grilled chicken is generally an affordable staple used in a variety of dishes to make casseroles and other cheap lunch dishes. A single chicken can go a long way when used in soups, salads, and pasta for added protein and flavor.
Light casseroles for dinner:
- shepherd’s pie
- taco casserole
- Casserole for breakfast
- Chicken casserole with poppy seeds
- beef stroganoff
- Ground beef casserole
Casseroles usually combine proteins, starches, vegetables, and sauces to create a tasty and satisfying meal. Another benefit of casseroles is that most freeze well and can be made ahead of time to save time and money.
Pasta Dinner Ideas
Pasta dinners offer a variety of food options that are affordable and delicious. They are often a simple favorite dish that children love too. Pasta made with extra ingredients remains an economical food choice for families or large groups.
Spaghetti is one option that can save your budget and make the whole family happy. It can be vegetarian or meat based, depending on the prices at the time of shopping. Toppings and toppings can customize your meal based on family preferences.
Easy Pasta Dinner Ideas:
- homemade pizza
- Pasta with cheese
- lasagna
- Creamy Chicken Paste
- Salad with pasta
- Baked ziti
Pasta is cheap and a few added ingredients can make it a great option for a family meal. Use what you already have in your pantry or fridge to spice up an ordinary pasta dish.
Lenten dishes
We can take some food ideas from the Great Depression and apply them to today to save our lunchtime budgets. The Great Depression was a time in our history when meat and sweets were considered a luxury rather than an everyday menu item. They just used what was available as creatively as possible. Most meals consisted of beans, potatoes, and cornbread.
Potatoes can be cooked in a variety of ways to create different dishes, and a baked potato with a few toppings can make for a cheap dinner. Leftover mashed potatoes can be re-cooked as fried potato patties to get your money and food value from a single dish.
Adding more vegetables to your meals is a natural way to eat cheap and healthy lunchtime meals. Many dishes can be served vegetarian with lentils, beans, spinach, or other vegetables that are commercially available and in season.
Other simple meals:
- beans and rice
- Quesadilla with cheese or vegetables
- Burrito with beans and cheese
- vegetable roast
- Fried vegetables and sweet potatoes
Lentils and beans contain protein, carbohydrates, and fiber, making them a great option for a balanced diet that won’t break your budget. Adding more vegetables to your meals improves the taste and makes them healthier.
Dinner Sandwich Ideas
Sometimes you’re a busy family and need a cheap dinner idea with little or no cooking for an easy weekday dinner. A sandwich can satisfy both needs with a few simple ingredients. Sandwiches for dinner are a quick and budget option.
Partially revisiting the Johnny Lawrence character in Cobra Kai, it doesn’t get much simpler or cheaper than Manwich, aka Sloppy Joe. Sloppy Joe is a meat concoction with added sauces to add a savory taste. It is eaten with hamburger buns or bread and served with chips, fries or potatoes, making it a fun meal for kids.
More Inexpensive Dinner Sandwich Ideas:
- fried cheese
- Pulled pork sandwiches
- egg sandwich
- hamburgers
- Sandwich with bacon, lettuce and tomatoes
Don’t forget the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich! This is a quick and cheap dinner idea that contains some protein.
Breakfast ideas for dinner
Breakfast makes a meal at any time of the day and provides a quick and easy dinner made with simple ingredients you probably already have in your fridge or pantry. Oatmeal, fruit, and omelets are nutritious meals that are easy to make for dinner.
The breakfast casserole combines eggs, sausage, cheese and croissants to make a versatile pan dish that can feed a family of 4. You will need to purchase these items when they are on sale to keep this dinner option available. .
Simple breakfast options for dinner:
- Oatmeal with fruit or yogurt
- Pancakes or waffles with fruit
- Omelets
- Groats
- Sauce and biscuits
Breakfast for dinner can save your budget and delight the whole family, making it a great option for a cheap weekday dinner. For those nights when you don’t have the time or energy, a bowl of cereal can come to the rescue!
Light desserts for dinner
Whether it’s been a long day, something to celebrate, or just curing a sweet tooth, sometimes you need dessert for dinner. Adding dessert to your meal shouldn’t break your budget.
Desserts can be simple, cheap and delicious. If you love apples, combine one can of apple pie filling, a box of yellow cake mix, and butter in a slow cooker and let sit for two hours. The result is a delicious dessert that tastes as good as it smells, for less than $5!
More cheap dessert ideas:
- Whipped cream pudding
- brownie
- fudge
- Rice or bread pudding
- Don’t bake cookies
This Chocolate Christmas Cluster Dessert recipe is not in the cheap category, but it’s enough to give to all your colleagues, friends, and family. The expenses are offset by using it as a gift for a large group of people.
Final Thoughts: Cheap dinner ideas can save you time and food budget without sacrificing taste or variety. Vegetables can be added to food for cost savings and additional health benefits.
This post originally appeared on Savoteur.