50 Cheap & Frugal Meal Ideas

Cheap Meal Ideas

Are you stuck on what to make for dinner? Well you have come to the right place. Keeping costs low and providing your family nutritious healthy meals are important. Below you will find 50 frugal meal ideas to help you feed your family and save money.

Frugal Meal Ideas

When it comes to keeping the grocery budget intact, food costs low frugal meal ideas are what you need. Simple, easy to follow recipes and meal ideas that get dinner on the table and under budget. Meals your family likes, meals you can repurpose and serve again. Meals that get you through when money is tight.

Frugal Meal Examples

Below you will find a list of 50+ cheap and frugal meals but to help give you an idea of what a frugal meal is.

In any given monthly meal plan in our house you will find pasta dinners, homemade pizza, fried rice and breakfast for dinner. I love breakfast foods – they are both cheap and fast to make.

Pasta meals are versatile, cheap and easy to make on a busy weeknight. Homemade pizza is fun to make and it uses up leftover meats, cut vegetables and it’s a cheap meal. Fried rice is super easy to make and again uses up and repurposes your leftovers.

Frugal Meals

You could make beans and rice or breakfast for dinner and you are still providing a nutritious meal for cheap. My favorite frugal meal would have to be either eggs on toast or soup. You can’t go wrong with a bowl of soup.

Broke Meal Plan

What to cook when you are broke? Or your income is running low? For starters don’t stress it. Take charge and check the cupboards. What do you have? What can you make? Dinners don’t have to be perfect to be pleasing.

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Frugal Dinner Ideas

Simple frugal dinner ideas could include spaghetti and salad, baked potatoes with toppings, stir fry and rice, tacos or breakfast for dinner. Dinner doesn’t have to be complicated or take forever to cook to be delicious and satisfying.

Frugal Dinner Recipes

If you are looking for frugal recipes to help you get dinner on the table and under budget especially during a busy week here are some amazing sandwich recipe ideas, salad meals and some great slow cooker frugal recipes.

Frugal Lunch Ideas

Cheap and simple lunch ideas for at home or on the go. Sandwiches and soup are a great frugal lunch. Homemade mac and cheese. Or a simple salad or yogurt and fruit. Samosas are a great cheap lunch so are nachos or tacos. Leftovers from dinner make great cheap lunches on the go.

Meal Related Posts:

Frugal Meal

Soup is an amazing frugal meal. You can make soup out of just about anything. Cream of vegetable soup, beef and barley soup, egg drop soup. Your options are endless.

Frugal Family Meals

In our house dinner time is the meal we all enjoy together. It’s our frugal family meal. It may be pasta, or soup and sandwiches, breakfast for dinner, burgers, roasted chicken with sides, baked potatoes with BBQ or tacos.

A frugal family meal is a low cost meal your family enjoys and eats together. It could be comfort food frugal meals, healthy frugal meals or yummy frugal crockpot meals. Frugal homemakers know that a frugal family meal ticks the box if it satisfies, is cheap to make and is easy to prepare.

Healthy Frugal Meals

Soup is cheap to make, filling and nutritious. Bone broth is a great meal anytime as well, and even cheaper to make – you are using leftover bones and vegetables. Bone broth is great for your body and can be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack.

Cheap Family Meals

Simple cheap meals like pastas, rice bowls, soups, casseroles and breakfasts for dinner can help get you through from paycheck to paycheck.

50 Great Frugal Meals:

Baked ziti
Homemade pizza
Quiche and salad
Beans on toast
Hamburger soup
Tacos
Stew
Beans and rice
Rotisserie chicken
Vegetarian curry
Cabbage stew
Egg drop soup
Spaghetti
Cereal
Fajitas
Finger food appetizers
Quinoa and beans
Tortilla soup
Sausage and beans
Meatballs
Egg salad
Cabbage rolls
Chicken and rice bowls
Ramen and vegetable bowls
Bunwiches and soup
Chili and cornbread
Homemade soup or bone broth
Chicken pot pie
Goulash
Sloppy joes
Salad
Stir fry and rice
Shepherd’s pie
Tuna casserole
Breakfast for dinner
Meatloaf
Spanish rice
Lasagna
Nachos
Burrita bowls
Pancakes or waffles
Baked potatoes
Sandwiches
Omelettes
Freezer meals
Pesto pasta
Quesadillas
Chicken fried steak
Stroganoff
Orzo pasta salad

Frugal Meal Prep

If you are looking for more recipe ideas to help with your frugal meal prep here are over 3 months of free frugal recipes that are perfect for the frugal busy cook.

Frugal Recipes:

Frugal Meal Planning

If your pocket book is running low or you are simply planning frugal meals to save money. Improvise, use what you have on hand. Some of the best meals are thrown together with what you have in the cupboards and fridge.

Meal planning can help you save a ton of money. Learn how to meal plan and stretch your grocery budget with MyFreezEasy. Simple easy money saving meals.

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