Quick Dinner Ideas On A Budget

With grocery prices at an all-time high, we've pulled together 70+ of our favorite Cheap Dinner Ideas that both your family and your wallet will love. This list of cheap meals for dinner covers everything from soups, pasta, pizza, chicken, and even breakfast for dinner.

This massive list of Cheap and Easy Dinner Ideas proves that keeping a strict budget doesn't mean sacrificing flavor. We've pulled together 70+ of our favorite cheap weeknight meals that include old family favorites like Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie, Sunday Pot Roast, Burgers, and Tuscan Soup alongside new recipes to try like Walking Tacos, and Homemade Calzones.

Cheap

Even if you have cut down on eating out, you can still eat well without spending all day in the kitchen. Plus, there is always something you can make with leftover chicken, leftover ham, or leftover ground beef. Oftentimes, the quickest and easiest recipes are also the cheapest!

Asian Dinner Recipes On A Budget

To keep things as easy and cheap as possible, make only enough for that meal unless you know your family will eat leftovers. There are a few meals that taste **possibly** even better the next day, but most meals taste best the day they are made.

These are perfect for making with rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken. Use a buttermilk ranch dressing as a dip or mix half ranch, and buffalo sauce for a delicious buffalo dip. Serve with some roasted potatoes or air fryer sweet potatoes to make it a meal.

These enchiladas are great to make on busy weekdays. It's a quick cheap dinner ideas you can make double and freeze the other half for another for later. I like to use shredded chicken or rotisserie chicken. Serve with a simple side salad and some green beans to make it a full meal.

Cheap Dinner Ideas For Busy Families On A Budget

This is another great meal to make with rotisserie chicken. I like to buy a couple and take the meat off the bone one time. Toss the chicken into freezer baggies and freeze them for another meal, another one of those cheap ideas for dinner.

You're going to love this simple chicken marinade for tacos. It has just the right amount of spice and flavor. Add some fresh homemade salsa, corn salsa, or guacamole too. Also available is a beef taco recipe if you have ground beef on hand.

These Taquitos are another great leftover chicken recipe. These are oven baked and ready in about 20 minutes. It's an inexpensive dinner idea.

Dinners! Cheap Dinner Ideas And Recipes

Green Chicken Enchiladas may seem extravagant but they are actually pretty simple. They're saucy, chewy, and cheesy. Again, I love to use rotisserie chicken for these. Make an extra batch and freeze half for another night. Serve with a simple salad or roasted broccoli.

Use leftover chicken for these, or make a double batch of chicken you use for chicken thighs. Add some leftover sauteed veggies or leftover fajita veggies for a cheap recipe that is also simple and everyone's favorite!

Here's our 3rd variation of taquitos. Yes, they really are that simple and easy to make. If you love some crunch and also love saucy chicken, you're going to love these.

Quick And Easy Dinner Ideas

This pasta bake is what you would get if you married creamy pesto alfredo sauce with chicken pasta. It's a dinnertime flavor explosion. If you love pesto and alfredo, this recipe is for you!

Chicken Salad Sandwiches are perfect for bridal showers, baby showers, other get-togethers, or a cheap and easy lunchtime any day of the week. They're also perfect for meal prep. These budget-friendly sandwiches are crunchy, tart, creamy, and perfect served on a croissant roll, dinner roll, on a crunch cracker, or wrapped in a lettuce leaf.

This is a dump and go slow cooker chicken breast recipe. We love to serve this with homemade biscuits, on Rice pilaf, or with a side salad. It's an easy dinner option for a busy weeknight.

Cheap Family Dinners (quick & Easy Meals!)

This Chicken and Veggies Bake is so easy to make, easy to customize, and it comes together quickly too. I love making this if I have veggies from the garden that need to be used or I'm cleaning out the fridge and I have little bits of a lot of veggies.

This Crockpot Salsa Chicken is a super easy dump-and-go recipe. The best part is how versatile it is. Serve it on rice, a baked potato, in a tortilla shell, or with a side of roasted potatoes or steamed broccoli. You can also use the leftovers for a quesadilla, taco, or burrito bowl.

These use some air fried Chicken Tenders or oven baked chicken tenders, splash some franks red hot sauce on it, add a few blue cheese crumbles, tomtaoes, lettuce and a ranch drizzle for a super easy wrap recipe.

Cheap Quick Easy Dinner Recipes

Again with the prepared chicken tenders or chicken patty, crisp that baby up and add our southwest ranch dressing, black beans, corn, shredded cheese, and lettuce for an easy dinner idea. And if you love wraps, be sure to also try our Chicken Bacon Wrap too.

This easy Teriyaki Chicken Marinade is perfect to use as a freezer meal if you can get some chicken thighs on sale at the market. Just dump the ingredients in a freezer bag and save for later. Grilling is the best way to use this chicken marinade but baking will work too. We like to serve this with rice and a side of sliced fresh pineapple. The flavor combo is incredible.

Cheap

This oven-baked chicken drumstick recipe is super easy and everyone loves it. It can easily be used as an appetizer, or served with mashed red potatoes, smashed potatoes, or a side of creamy orzo.

Meals For Large Groups {easy & Inexpensive Ideas!}

This Crockpot Cheese Chicken and Rice can be made with instant rice or leftover rice. It's cheesy, delicious, and a whole meal in one pot. The ingredients are inexpensive and it makes enough for leftovers the next day. You can make a drizzle of homemade ranch with a dollop of pesto or some southwest ranch to give it a little more sauce if you want. Serve it with some mini veggie cups to make it a full meal.

One of our favorite cozy dinner ideas is this Chicken Noodle Soup. It can be made with leftover chicken and packaged homestyle noodles. 3o minutes for a hearty chicken noodle soup? Yes, please!

This quick and easy Buffalo Chicken Pasta is a family favorite that can be ready in about 30 minutes flat. The creamy, cheesy buffalo sauce coats every piece of juicy chicken and pasta for a home cooked meal that everyone loves.

Cheap Dinner Ideas For Families — Affordable Dinner Recipes

This Thai Basil Chicken Stir Fry is loaded with flavor. It's just as good as your favorite Thai restaurant takeout and is even quicker than getting takeout, not to mention less expensive. Serve it with some plain white rice, coconut rice, or broccoli.

This Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy is an easy dump and go recipe that is a favorite of a couple of my kids. They ask for it on a regular basis. It's perfect to pair with some white or brown rice, or even some zoodles. Add a side salad and you're good to go. It's an easy go-to family favorite dinner recipe.

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This Chicken Tikka Masala recipe is easy to make at home and tastes as flavorful and delicious as your favorite Indian restaurant. The creamy tomato sauce is full of earthy spices and juicy marinated chicken and tastes great served over basmati rice with a side of Naan bread.

Budget Dinner Recipes

These Slow Cooker Tangy Chicken Sliders are an easy dinner solution and party food favorite. They’ve got tender, juicy pulled chicken topped with our spicy sesame slaw, all served on your favorite slider buns.

This hearty Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken is a satisfying meal full of flavor and texture. It’s topped with a creamy Southwest dressing that coats every last bite.

This Southwest Chicken Kabobs Marinade is the perfect addition to your grilling night! It's packed with flavor, has just a little spice, and a little sweetness too. It's amazing on steak or chicken. It's fancy enough for a dinner party and casual enough for a night in with the family.

Cheap Family Meals: Budget Recipes Under £1 Per Head

This Sweet and Sour Meatballs recipe is an easy slow cooker meal that works equally well as an appetizer or as a main course. They’re made with either frozen or fresh meatballs, and covered in a delicious sweet and sour sauce along with pineapples, onions, and peppers.

Sloppy Joes make for a quick and cheap ground beef recipe. You can even use half venison and half beef if you've got some in your freezer. One of the things that makes this the best is because it's an easy recipe to always have the ingredients on hand. You can serve it in a dinner roll, on a hamburger bun, or even in a tortilla shell with some sauteed veggies.