Frugal dinner ideas

Frugal dinner ideas.

Is dinner the largest and most expensive meal of the day at your house? If so, you’re not alone. This seems to be the case for most people.

Dinner doesn’t have to be expensive. It also shouldn’t be the largest meal of your day. You should only eat small amounts of food at a time so your stomach doesn’t stretch out like it does when you eat a huge meal.

Here are some of the best frugal dinner ideas:

Breakfast for dinner

Breakfast for dinner is not only an inexpensive meal idea, but it is also one that is easy to prepare. Eggs, bacon and hashbrowns is what I love the most, but you can also try breakfast sausages, pancakes, yogurt, oatmeal and fruit.

Soup & sandwich

This is another meal that is (usually) very easy easy and quick to prepare, as well as being inexpensive. Stock up on bread when you see a good deal and stick it in your freezer. Stock up on soup as well (or make your own and freeze it). You can also make this frugal meal for lunches.

Picnic dinner

When we start to run low on food (usually the day or two before we do our grocery shopping), and I don’t have enough to make a full meal, I will just pull all of our odds and ends out of the fridge & pantry and have a picnic for dinner. Cheese slices, apple sauce, some raisins, a few crackers, a cup of yogurt, the last bit of deli meat. This is a great way to use up the remaining bits of food you have and not letting them go to waste.

Pasta

Yet another inexpensive and easy dinner idea. Some noodles, cheese and pasta sauce is all you need. You can also make your own pasta sauce (which is way better than any jarred stuff I’ve ever tried, if I do say so myself). Sprinkle on some cheese and you’re done.

Stuffed Peppers

Boil and stuff your peppers with mexican rice, veggies and cheese, and you are in for a very tasty, frugal meal! If you get a large enough pepper, these can be very filling. They also make great leftovers.

Tacos

Tortilla shells are not very expensive (you could also make your own tortilla shells) and neither is lettuce or ground beef. Sprinkle a bit of cheese on top and there’s dinner! As for the seasoning, make your own or pick up a package at the grocery store. Pre-packaged taco seasoning is often only $1-$2.

Fried rice

We make fried rice quite a bit because it’s so easy, cheap and filling. You should also consider making enough to have it for lunch the next day. Rice, scrambled eggs, bacon bits and peas is what we put in our fried rice, but experiment and add anything that you enjoy.

Please share your frugal dinner ideas in the comments.