Have you ever had one of those weeks or months where there just isn’t enough money? Controlling your food spending is one of my favorite ways to save money. It is easy and saves me hundreds of dollars a month. Lots of people (including my past self) spend hundreds to thousands of dollars a month on food. Now that I’ve started meal planning, I spend a few hundred a month for two people for every meal we eat each day.
Even if you are a consistent meal planner, some recipes cost quite a bit more than others. So here is a great list of easy weeknight dinners that are simple and cheap.
Each recipe has an estimated cost per serving – just realize that the ingredients you choose to use will change the price of the meal.
Related post: Learn my easy meal planning method
If you need to save a little extra, try some of these recipes to reduce your weekly meal budget. They are still delicious, but they’re easy and super cheap!
Quesadillas
Simple and very cheap! They taste good and are easy to take for lunch leftovers to work. The ingredients you’ll definitely need are tortillas and cheese. We like to use the grill to get a nice crispy tortilla and melted cheese. The rest are optional:
- Tortillas
- Cheese
- Meat of Choice (you can use chicken, beef, carnitas, etc)
- Onions
- Salsa
- Cheese Dip
- Peppers
Estimated Cost per Serving = $1.63+ The price depends on what additional ingredients you use, but the base price of a quesadilla is $1.63 per serving (a 10″ Quesadilla)
Spaghetti
You can look at this recipe if you need one, but I just tend to brown ground beef and onions with italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Then add your favorite sauce to the meat and serve over pasta.
Estimated cost per serving = $1-$2. The cost per serving depends on the base price of your ingredients like tomato sauce, ground meat and pasta.
Tacos
Another dinner that you probably don’t need a recipe for. Choose your protein (chicken, beef or pork) and cook with some taco seasoning. Then decide if you want hard or soft shelled tortillas. You can add any of the following to your tacos to spruce them up:
- Cheese
- Lettuce
- Salsa
- Onions
- Peppers
Lasagna
This is an easy lasagna recipe, but you can always find wide variations on lasagna recipes (and variations in cost). You’ll need at least the following ingredients:
- Lasagna Noodles
- Tomato Sauce
- Ground beef/ground sausage/italian sausage etc
- Ricotta Cheese
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Parsley
- Onion
- An egg
Estimated cost per serving: $1.94
Chicken Teriyaki Bowls
This is my favorite teriyaki recipe. Teriyaki is easy to whip up on a weeknight and cheap. Include whatever vegetables you like. I use broccoli, carrots and edamame. You can grill the chicken or saute it in a pan. Cook some rice and saute the meat and vegetables together.
Estimated cost per serving: $2.10
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
This is one of my favorite winter meals because it feels like comfort food, it’s hot, it’s easy to make, and it’s cheap! You can eat it in warm weather too but it may make you warmer on the inside than you planned. Choose whichever cheese you’d like and pick a type of bread (I like cheddar/gruyere on sourdough bread). If you don’t know how to make grilled cheese – you can check out this recipe, but I don’t follow one.
Estimated cost per serving: $2.80. Again, the cost depends on the ingredients you choose (the cost of tomato soup, the cost of your cheese and the cost of bread).
Calzones
A Calzone is basically a grown-up pizza pocket. Pizza dough is very inexpensive if you make it yourself (check out this recipe). The pizza dough is then wrapped around the pizza fixings of your choice. Here are some options for your fillings:
- Cheese
- Pepperoni
- Sausage/Chorizo
- Peppers
- Basil
- Onions
- Pizza Sauce (for dipping, not inside the stromboli)
Estimated Cost per Serving: $1.26
Hamburgers
Hamburgers are quick and easy to make. Here’s a recipe if you need one. You’ll need the following ingredients to make hamburgers:
- Ground beef (or whatever ground meat you want to use)
- Buns
- Lettuce
- Tomato
- Pickles
- Ketchup/Mayo/Mustard/BBQ sauce
- Cheese
It’s easy to grill the burger patties and then assemble your burgers.
Estimated Cost per Serving (per burger) = $2.06
Which of these recipes will you make this week? You can even make all of them! You’ll save lots of cash if you plan your meals and include some of these simple and cheap recipes into your week.
Leave a Reply