If you're looking for a way to use ground beef in a spicy, simple dinner that'll make the whole family happy, then you've just found your recipe for tonight!
Get the recipe for Tamale Pie. This ground beef enchilada dinner is especially a winner. A little taco seasoning, some corn tortillas, a can of enchilada sauce, cover it with cheese and boom! You've got a powerhouse meal for four or for two, with leftovers ready to go.
Get the recipe for Beef Enchiladas. Want to make your whole family feel taken care of? Treat them to a baked pasta dish.
It's easy, it's cheap, and it's super filling. Get the recipe for Classic Stuffed Shells. Who's in the mood for a minute dinner? Besides gnocchi and frozen spinach, all you need for this meal is some cream, some cheese, and a few pantry spices.
Get the recipe for Gnocchi with Creamed Spinach. Tuna salad has been the centerpiece of a number of cheap and easy snack dinners in our household. Add some crackers, some cheese, a little fresh fruit, and you've got a meal!
Get the recipe for Tuna Salad. Broken noodles simmer in a tomato broth with sausage and spinach, capped off with a big dollop of blended cheese. Get the recipe for Lasagna Soup. An easy way to save on dinner costs?
Have breakfast for dinner. This simple but delicious mix of eggs, tortillas, and sausage is a fun way to go all out while still saving some cash.
Get the recipe for Migas with Chorizo. If you're craving a tasty pasta dish that's a little more grown-up than jarred red sauce, give this dish a whirl. We're pretty sure it'll become a regular part of your dinner plans.
Get the recipe for Salmon and Creamed Spinach Fettuccini. We always seem to have the makings for tuna salad around, and elbow macaroni is not expensive. So when we're on a budget, this tuna mac makes a dinner that's fun, filling, and fast.
They can be added to rice bowls, mixed into salads, or even pressed into burgers. Technically not a nut but a type of bean, peanuts are historically a cheap staple food. There's a reason, after all, that underpaid workers talk about being "paid peanuts. Some people should skip this one because of allergies, but peanut butter is quite a nutritious foodstuff.
It's high in fats, albeit healthy ones like oleic acid, while at the same time being low in carbohydrates, making it a fine choice for anyone on a low-carb diet. Additionally, it's an excellent source of protein and vitamins B and E, with a good amount of manganese, copper, and magnesium.
Peanut butter is usually thought of as a sweet food in Western countries, where it's usually enjoyed in sandwiches, but it can also be included as an ingredient in many savory dishes. It's an essential ingredient in making Southeast Asian recipes like chicken satay , and African recipes like Ghanian groundnut soup.
For a cheap and easy way to give your home recipes an extra boost in protein and flavor, peanut butter can be a surprisingly good option. When using it in cooking, it's probably best to try and find some without too much added sugar.
A popular pantry food, canned tuna can be found on the shelves in many people's kitchens. Meats tend to be among the most expensive items on most people's grocery lists, making canned tuna an attractive option on a tight budget. Its long shelf life makes canned tuna a handy thing to keep in the cupboard for times when money is tight.
Tuna is also an oily fish, making it rich in healthy omega-3 oils. As well as being packed with protein, it's also a good source of vitamin D and selenium.
Canned tuna isn't for everyone but, while the flavor and texture may not be as good as with fresh tuna, it's certainly one of the cheapest seafood options out there.
There are several varieties of canned tuna available to buy, and it's a versatile enough ingredient to work well in all kinds of dishes. A simple tuna salad is a classic choice, and canned tuna also tastes delicious in a wholesome casserole.
As leafy greens go, spinach is a particularly good choice. It's famously rich in iron, but is also a good dietary source of magnesium, potassium, and vitamin E. Eating spinach is linked with a range of health benefits, including improved skin, hair, and bone health, and helping your body control blood sugar levels.
Spinach is also inexpensive, with retail prices of around 91 cents per pound. The cheapest option for spinach is to buy it frozen and, perhaps surprisingly, frozen spinach can actually be more nutritious than fresh leaves.
After being picked, fresh leafy vegetables tend to gradually lose their nutrients over time, but freezing locks them in, keeping frozen spinach as rich as when it was freshly harvested.
Helpfully, in many dishes, frozen spinach can work just as well as fresh leaves. It can be mixed with feta cheese and baked into a buttery Greek spinach pie, spanakopita, or can be combined with spices and diced potatoes to make a mouthwatering Indian spinach curry, saag aloo.
Tomatoes are one of those foods that are ubiquitous in world cuisines, and one of the cheapest ways to use them in your cooking is to buy them canned. Tomatoes are a good source of vitamins, B, C, and K, as well as potassium, but the main reason they're so popular is for their distinctive flavor.
One of the simplest ways to use tomato purée is in tomato soup , as a comfort food that's both wholesome and easy to prepare. Tomatoes are an essential ingredient in cuisines from all around the world though, from Italy to India, so there's no shortage of inspiration.
Whether you're spreading it onto a pizza base or making a rich pot of murgh makhani butter chicken , you'll need some of this versatile ingredient. Of course, tomatoes are originally from Mesoamerica, so they're used in all kinds of Mexican dishes.
An easy and satisfying one is to combine it with rice to make arroz rojo. For being both abundant and affordable, corn has historically been a cheap staple food in America. It still comfortably fits this role, with cornmeal available for just under 70 cents per pound.
A starchy foodstuff, cornmeal also contains some protein and fiber, as well as being a good source of potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Traditionally used in working-class foods in the US, cornmeal is essential in a few classic recipes from the Southern states, like hot water cornbread or grits.
It can also be found in cuisines from elsewhere in the world, from the polenta enjoyed in Italy to the cornmeal porridge eaten for breakfast in Jamaica. While many people may overlook cornmeal, it is a nice and cheap addition to add to your grocery list and it has a good shelf life.
A little can go a long way in your cooking! Not everyone eats meat, but for those who do, cuts that are still on the bone are typically the cheapest option, and bone-in chicken is one of the most affordable. As well as being a good source of protein, like other meats, chicken is also rich in potassium, phosphorus, and B vitamins.
While it's often cooked on the bone, chicken thighs can also be filleted and used in much the same way as any other cut of meat.
To be truly frugal, it's best not to throw those bones away either. Chicken bones can be boiled to make a wholesome chicken stock , which can be used to add some umami depth and nutrition to other dishes like soups or noodle bowls.
While it takes some time to get a rich-tasting broth, this effectively makes chicken on the bone a two-for-one option to add to your grocery list. While traditional egg salad can be mayo-heavy and chalky, Japanese-style egg salad and the sandwiches that result from the recipe are light, silky, and full of flavor.
The best part is that the leftovers keep exceptionally well so well, in fact, that I swear this dish tastes best on day two or three. Other favorites: A comforting bowl of pastina when you want a comforting and cheap meal on the fly, or a piping hot skillet of eggs in purgatory made with your favorite jarred marinara to be served alongside a loaf of warm, crusty bread.
Sure, canned beans aren't exactly the most delicious food you could grab at the grocery store, but their wallet-friendly pricepoint and inherent versatility make them worthy of claiming a shelf or two in your pantry.
Crack open the can, rinse and drain them, and you've got an ingredient that plays well with others in every single capacity, whether you're using them as a topping or turning them into the main event. On the other hand, dried beans require planning, prep, and some babysitting, while canned beans only require a can opener — and maybe a dollar or so per can.
Though these tacos taste like they're deep-fried, I can assure you they're not; instead of frying the tacos, the store-bought corn tortillas are lightly coated in oil and then baked at a high temperature, which gives them an irresistible shattering texture.
They're exquisite on their own, but even better with a fresh batch of guacamole or your favorite jarred salsa and sour cream for dipping; or, for the best sauce ever, mix sour cream and a spoonful of mayo with a generous drizzle of adobo sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo.
Other favorites: An actually-tasty batch of black bean burgers that'll make you wonder why you don't eat black bean burgers more often, or these sweet potato and black bean enchiladas that are surprisingly meaty for a dish that's completely vegetarian.
Bone-in chicken can be scary, but I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be. One of the best cost-saving strategies I've implemented in my kitchen is to ensure that I always have a large pack of chicken thighs in my freezer.
I use chicken thighs as the base for homemade soups or even homemade stocks and roast them to use the meat in salads, and hardly a summer weekend goes by when I don't whip up a massive batch of BBQ chicken thighs on the grill. IMO, the only way to cook bone-in chicken thighs is to slightly overcook them, as counter-intuitive as that sounds.
Though they're technically safe to consume at ºF or higher, I cook them until they reach at least ª, if not º or even higher.
Chicken thighs' higher fat content means that the meat will stay moist and juicy regardless, but the higher internal temperature ensures that the meat becomes tender and falls right off the bone.
Still, if bone-in chicken scares you, buy boneless skinless chicken thighs. While they're more expensive than bone-in, they're still much cheaper than chicken breast, and more flavorful, too.
While the recipe itself calls for whole chicken legs , I use bone-in, skin-on thighs for ease and find that the results come out even better. The more uniform shape of the chicken ensures that as much fat as possible is rendered out while it cooks, and since that fat joins the luscious sauce for the kale rice — which you should absolutely be prepared to make a double batch of, BTW — it's a very worthwhile swap.
Other favorites: My favorite herb-forward chicken noodle soup that's also loaded with veggies, or these air fryer chicken thighs that taste restaurant-quality every single time. I have nothing against sandwich bread, but if we're talking longevity and price point, tortillas win every single time.
I keep mine in the refrigerator so they stay fresh for as long as possible, usually at least two weeks, and they're a satisfying base for a variety of meals and snacks from air fryer tortilla chips to quesadillas.
In my most dire rent-week experiences, I've even been known to slather warm tortillas with butter and salt and munch on them as-is
Chicken Legumes Apples
Shagore 
