Published: by Brigette on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
This recipe was inspired by free tortellini (thanks to B1G1 sales plus rebates) that I got at Publix recently. If you love lasagna or spaghetti bakes, this Baked Tortellini is an easier twist on those recipes! It came together so easily, and it’s definitely a recipe I will make on repeat next time I get free or cheap tortellini.
The green bean fries are one of my favorite sides, and they pair so well with many meals. Even people who don’t love veggies will probably enjoy them! Feel free to be creative as far as seasonings go, but I usually stick with the tried-and-true basics since my family isn’t very adventurous when it comes to new flavors, haha.
This week’s $10 Family Dinner — including the baking time — was finished in less than an hour. I topped it with some fresh rosemary, since I just happened to have some growing on my back porch. Yum!
This post is part of our $10 Dinner Ideas series, brought to you by Brigette on our team! Each week, she shares easy, delicious, and affordable family-friendly dinner ideas that cost less than $10 to make, use everyday ingredients, and are super quick meals.
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (Aldi – $2.99/16 oz) — $0.40
Total for Cheesy Tortellini Bake: $5.49 (serves 6-8)
Ingredients for Green Bean Fries:
2 1-lb bags green beans, washed, dried and ends snipped off (Aldi – $2.35/lb) — $4.70
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt, to taste
Sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
Total for Green Bean Fries: $10.45 (serves 6)
Total Cost for Dinner: $10.45 (plus cost of seasonings) (makes 8 servings)
How to Make Baked Tortellini:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet, fry the ground meat and chopped garlic until meat is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt to taste.
3. While meat is frying, heat a large pot of boiling water and cook the tortellini al dente, according to the directions on the bag.
4. Add the cooked tortellini and 1/2 of the shredded mozzarella cheese to the meat/sauce mixture and stir. Pour into a 9×13 pan and top with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
5. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until starting to brown.
6. While the pasta is baking, spread the green beans on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and Parmesan cheese.
7. Put green beans into the oven and bake with the baked tortellini for approximately 30 minutes. When the pasta has finished cooking, take it out of the oven and turn the oven temperature up to 450. Continue baking the green beans until they are tender and starting to brown, an additional 10 or so minutes, depending on how “done” you like them. You can finish them off under the broiler if you prefer them more crispy.
Recipe
Cheesy Baked Tortellini with Green Bean Fries ($10 Family Dinner Idea)
If you love lasagna or spaghetti bakes, this cheesy tortellini bake is an easier twist on those recipes! It came together so easily, and is definitely a recipe I will make on repeat next time I get free or cheap tortellini. Even people who don’t love veggies will probably enjoy these delicious green bean fries. This entire meal — including the baking time — was finished in less than an hour, making it an excellent weeknight dinner!
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Ingredients
Ingredients for Cheesy Baked Tortellini:
1-lbground meatI used ground chicken – Publix – $1/lb with coupon — $1
2lbgreen beanswashed, dried and ends snipped off (Aldi – $2.35/lb) — $4.70
DrizzleOlive oil
Saltto taste
SprinkleParmesan cheese
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet, fry the ground meat and chopped garlic until meat is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
Stir in marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt to taste.
While meat is frying, heat a large pot of boiling water and cook the tortellini al dente, according to the directions on the bag.
Add the cooked tortellini and 1/2 of the shredded mozzarella cheese to the meat/sauce mixture and stir. Pour into a 9×13 pan and top with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until starting to brown.
While the pasta is baking, spread the green beans on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and Parmesan cheese.
Put green beans into the oven and bake with the tortellini bake for approximately 30 minutes. When the pasta has finished cooking, take it out of the oven and turn the oven temperature up to 450. Continue baking the green beans until they are tender and starting to brown, an additional 10 or so minutes, depending on how “done” you like them. You can finish them off under the broiler if you prefer them more crispy.
Yes, make sure you boil dried tortellini before baking it. But, if you’re using fresh tortellini and plenty of sauce, it can cook in the sauce while baking and doesn’t need to be boiled beforehand.
What are some common mistakes when making baked tortellini?
The easiest mistake to make is boiling the tortellini too long, which results in mushy pasta. Follow package instructions to cook the tortellini al dente before assembling and baking it.
How to reheat baked tortellini?
This cheesy tortellini bake is a delicious leftover meal! Simply reheat it in the microwave for about a minute, stirring partway through. Or you can reheat it in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
Can you bake frozen tortellini?
Yes! It’s easy to bake frozen tortellini without boiling it first — just mix the frozen tortellini with the sauce and cover with foil to bake, as instructed in steps 4 & 5 of this recipe.
Can you freeze cooked tortellini?
You can freeze this tortellini bake. Here’s what you’ll do: assemble the casserole as instructed but don’t top with cheese. Allow it to cool, cover it with plastic wrap and foil, and then freeze for up to 3 months. Before serving day, thaw the casserole in the fridge overnight. To bake, top it with cheeses, remove the plastic wrap, and bake covered with foil at 350 for about 50 minutes.
Note: Once your order ships, you can go into your Amazon account and cancel your subscription if you don’t want recurring orders. If you’re wondering how Amazon Subscribe & Save works, check out our post on making the most of Amazon Subscribe & Save Deals.
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Sarah here – these Tineco floor cleaners are the best! I love mine for our vinyl plank and tile floors. It makes cleaning so much quicker and easier, and the floors feel much fresher since you’re not just pushing around dirty mop water. One of my favorite features? You don’t even have to vacuum first because it vacuums and washes at the same time!
Valid for a limited time only, while supplies last.
Published: by Gretchen on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days has officially been announced for October 6th and 7th! Want to know how to get the best deals? In this post, we share our best tips for saving money and scoring great deals on Amazon Prime Big Deal Days!
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026is back and will run from October 6-7, 2026! That means we get two whole days of deals! If this is anything like last year’s Prime Big Deal Days sale, we will see deals that are as good as or even better than Black Friday deals!
Amazon says this about Prime Big Deal Days 2026:
Starting October 6 at 12:01 a.m. PDT, Prime members can shop millions of deals on top brands, seasonal favorites, and everyday essentials—from fall entertaining and home décor to Halloween prep, beauty, and early holiday gifting. These savings build on Amazon’s everyday low prices, giving members even deeper discounts on products they’re already shopping for.
“Once fall arrives, there’s so much to get ready for—the hosting, the decorating, the holiday gifting—and Prime Big Deal Days makes it easy to check it all off while saving,” said Carmen Nestares, vice president of North America Marketing and Prime Tech.
Other retailers will likely join in, too!
Because of how popular Prime Big Deal Days is, other major retailers usually have HUGE sales that week, too. We will keep you posted as soon as we hear of any other major retailers joining this sale.
And this is just the major retailers! We’ll see ALL kinds of great sales that week from online retailers — small and big!
How to Get The Best Deals on Prime Big Deal Days
We predict that starting October 6th (or even earlier — from other online retailers), we’ll see a flurry of deals similar to what we usually see on Black Friday week.
We love that so many other companies will be competing with the deals Amazon is offering because that means more deals and more savings! Because of this, we want to help you prepare accordingly so you can save the most money.
We’ll be here all day both days!
Our team will be hard at work all day long each day scouring the deals and posting the best ones we find!
So be sure to tune in here at MoneySavingMom.com for all the BEST discounts on Prime Big Deal Days2026!We’ll be posting all of the best deals all day every day!
This way, you’ll get all of the benefits of Prime and be able to take advantage of the deals, but you won’t have to pay for a Prime subscription. At the end of the 30 days, just be sure to go into your account and cancel your subscription and you won’t be charged!
When you sign up, we’ll send you no more than 1-2 emails each day featuring the hottest and best deals hand-picked by us as soon as they become available.
This way, you won’t have to wait for the daily enewsletter to go out in the afternoon; you can jump on the hottest deals right away!
We’ll be sending out two email newsletters each day during Prime Days featuring only the BEST deals that are our top picks.
You can find us on two different Instagram accounts on Prime Days:
:: Crystal’s personal Instagram: Be sure to head over there and hit the follow button. She loves personally sharing the deals she’s most excited about on IG Stories. (Plus, you’ll see a lot of behind-the-scenes content including day-to-day life, grocery shopping hauls, and a lot of other fun stuff that doesn’t get shared anywhere else!)
:: Money Saving Mom Deals Instagram: You’ll also want to go follow our Instagram account that is solely dedicated to posting the top deals each day! If you follow us there, you’ll see deals pop up not only on IG Stories but also in your feed throughout the day.
On Prime Days, we’ll be hopping onto IG stories on both accounts multiple times throughout the day telling you about the best deals that we’re most excited about! So be sure to follow both accounts HERE and HERE so you don’t miss anything!
We’ll be posting all the deals all day long on our Facebook Page, and it’s one of the easiest ways to make sure you don’t miss any HOT deals! Just bookmark this page and refresh it throughout both days to keep up to date with the latest and greatest deals.
Plus, you might see some live videos and FB Stories throughout the day from different team members talking about some of our favorite deals!
5. Make a List & Budget
If you haven’t done so already, be sure to make a list of the items you are most interested in buying, as well as the budget you have to spend. This way, you don’t just jump on a good deal because it’s “such a good deal”, when it’s not something you need or can afford.
How to Earn Free Gift Cards For Prime Days
Want to stretch your dollars even further? Now is the time to cash out your free Amazon gift cards or spend some time over the next couple weeks earning some extra Amazon gift cards.
Here are just a few ways to earn some extra cash to spend on Prime Day:
Sign up for Swagbucks — It’s also easy to earn enough swagbucks to trade in for a $5 gift card! You have plenty of time before Prime Day, even without referrals. I just spent an hour or two this week doing a few activities and already have enough for a $10 gift card! Go here to get started with Swagbucks.
Sign up for Fetch Rewards — It’s so simple to earn points for scanning your receipts with Fetch Rewards. (Gretchen here! I signed for Fetch years ago and I’ve now earned hundreds of dollars in gift cards. It’s super easy. Also, your first couple scans will be worth enough to quickly get you over the 5000 points mark to trade in for an Amazon $5 gift card!)
Published: by Sarah on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Don’t miss these great deals at the Kohl’s Customer Appreciation Event!
Kohl’s is having their Customer Appreciation Event with Rewards members saving an extra 20% off when you use promo code REWARDS20 at checkout (it’s free to join)! Not a Rewards member? Use promo code SAVING15 to save an extra 15% at checkout!
Choose free in-store pickup to avoid shipping costs. Or shipping is free on orders over $49. Even better, you earn $10 in Kohl’s cash for every $50 you spend.
Valid through September 20, 2026, while supplies last.
Note: Once your order ships, you can go into your Amazon account and cancel your subscription if you don’t want recurring orders. If you’re wondering how Amazon Subscribe & Save works, check out our post on making the most of Amazon Subscribe & Save Deals.
Regularly $8.99 a month, this is a great value and the perfect opportunity to try it out and see if you like it before committing! Valid through October 7, 2026.
What is included in the Audible 4-Month Trial?
Audible gives you access to unlimited streaming of thousands of audiobooks, access to exclusive sales, exclusive discounts off premium titles you want to buy, plus one credit for a FREE premium title each month.
That means you’ll get four Audiobook titleswith this deal, plus unlimited access to the streaming library of podcasts. (Premium new-release Audible books can cost as much as $30 so this is an amazing deal!)
Note: After your four months is up, you’ll start being charged at the regular rate of $8.99 per month for Audible. If you no longer wish to continue after the first month, just be sure to cancel auto-renewal in your account before then.
After the 4-Month Audible trial, what will it cost?
After your trial period, you’ll be charged at the regular rate of $8.99 per month for Audible.
If you no longer wish to continue after the third month, just be sure to cancel auto-renewal in your account before then.
Audible Deal FAQs
Is Audible free with Prime?
No. An Audible Plus or Audible Premium Plus membership is separate from a Prime membership.
Do credits expire on Audible?
Yes, credits expire one year after they were purchased.
Can 2 users use the same Audible account?
If you utilize the Amazon Household feature, you can share your Amazon/Audible content and your payment methods with another Amazon account, while still maintaining your own account’s security and privacy. Members of a household include up to two adults with their own Amazon accounts.
Sign up below to get your free summer reading pack that includes 30 books to read this summer, tips for how to read more, reading trackers/checklists, and more!
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
If you’ve been wanting to try Kindle Unlimited, don’t miss this Kindle Unlimited Trial Deal! This membership offers access to millions of digital books, audiobooks, comics, and magazines. Some of my favorite books are available through a Kindle Unlimited subscription!
When you sign up for this deal, you’ll get access to over 700,000 ebooks and thousands of audiobooks — all for free! Sign up quickly, because it’s for a limited time only and could expire at any time. It’s a great opportunity to score some fantastic reads on a budget.
Here are some of my favorite books that are included right now:
God’s Smuggler — I read this book multiple times as a teen and it’s a fascinating and inspiring story.
Click on the Kindle Unlimited tab in your Amazon bar to search for available titles (you can search individually or sort by genre).
You’ll be able to add up to 10 titles to your Kindle Unlimited account at a time.
Once you’ve finished reading a title, just return it and borrow another.
You can read or listen to the titles on any device with the free Kindle app.
Be sure to cancel your subscription before the three-month period is up, otherwise, you’ll be charged $11.99 per month after the trial ends.
Kindle Unlimited vs Prime Reading
Wondering the difference between the two if you’re already a Prime member?
Prime Reading is a great benefit of an Amazon Prime membership with access to thousands of titles, but the books you are able to access with Prime Reading is a very small subset of ALL the books within Kindle Unlimited.
A Kindle Unlimited membership offers access to more than 4 million digital books, audiobooks, comics, and magazines and can be utilized with or without an Amazon Prime membership.
Is Kindle Unlimited Free with Prime?
Unfortunately, no. While Prime Reading is free with an Amazon Prime membership, a Kindle Unlimited membership will cost an additional fee each month, on top of your yearly Amazon Prime membership (although an Amazon Prime membership is not required for Kindle Unlimited).
Is the Kindle Unlimited Membership Worth It?
That depends on how many digital and audio books and magazines you can consume on a monthly basis.
If you regularly buy 1 or 2 digital books or audio books each month, the cost of a Kindle Unlimited membership is likely worth the monthly fee. Give the free trial a go and see what you think!
How Many Books Can You Borrow on Kindle Unlimited?
You can read as many books as you want each month (it’s truly “unlimited”!) but you can only have up to 20 books, audiobooks, or comics on your device at one time.
You may also read an unlimited number of magazines each month (and the magazines do NOT count towards your 20-at-a-time book limit!)
I’d love to know what other titles you find that you can read for FREE with this Kindle Unlimited Trial!
Sign up below to get your free summer reading pack that includes 30 books to read this summer, tips for how to read more, reading trackers/checklists, and more!
Published: by Sarah on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Wow! Score HOT deals on clothing and home goods at Kohl’s!
Kohl’s is having a huge clearance salewith savings up to 70% off right now! Plus, Rewards members save an extra 20% off when you use promo code REWARDS20 at checkout (it’s free to join)! Not a Rewards member? Use promo code SAVING15 to save an extra 15% at checkout!
This down alternative mattress topper has great ratings and is regularly $99.95. Choose from Twin, Twin XL, Full, Queen, King, and California King at this price.
Published: by Gretchen on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Are you looking for ways to make some extra cash on the side? Sign up with Survey Junkie to take surveys and earn points that can be redeemed towards cash or gift cards!
Once you reach 500 points, you can cash in for $5 in the form of PayPal funds, direct bank transfer, or a gift card of your choice!
This survey company seems to get really good reviews! A lot of the reviews talk about the low minimum payout threshold of $5 and how quick and easy it is to get to your first payout.
Have any of you ever tried Survey Junkie? I’d love to hear about your experience!
