Don’t resort to expensive, unhealthy take-out food for busy weeknights. Keep reading for more than 60 quick, easy, and frugal dinner ideas your family will love!
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Cheap and Easy Dinner Ideas
It’s 5 p.m. You’re tired and you have zero inspiration for dinner.
You realize you should have planned something earlier in the day, but you didn’t… and now your options feel limited and the easiest option would be to grab takeout.
If you’ve ever found yourself in this predicament, I’ve got you covered because I put together a comprehensive list of 60+ super simple meal ideas to make instead of getting takeout. This post was crowd-sourced by my Instagram followers.
You see, earlier this week, I asked my community a question one of my followers there posed: “Can you give me a list of super simple meal ideas for nights when I don’t feel like cooking and we’re sick of frozen pizza?”
With the help of my Instagram community, here are some of the ideas they shared (+ some of my own!):
Quick Reference Menu:
- Easy Cheap Dinner Ideas in the Instant Pot
- Cheap Easy Dinner Ideas with Ground Beef:
- Cheap Dinner Ideas for Family: Breakfast for Dinner
- Cheap Dinner Ideas for Family: Quesadillas
- Easy and Cheap Dinner Ideas for Sandwiches:
- Grocery Store Cheap Easy Dinner Ideas for Family
- Easy Cheap Dinner Ideas with Pasta:
- Other Cheap Easy Dinner Ideas for Family:
- Looking for more meal ideas?
Easy Cheap Dinner Ideas in the Instant Pot
The Instant Pot is a fantastic tool to have in your kitchen for last-minute meals. Here are a few super easy options (these can also be made in a crockpot if you remember to start it in the morning or mid-day!)
- Frozen chicken breasts, salsa, and taco seasoning
- Barbecue sauce poured over chicken breasts
- A bottle of Italian dressing poured over chicken breasts
- Hawaiian Barbecue Sandwiches
Cheap Easy Dinner Ideas with Ground Beef:
Tip: Keep browned ground beef in the freezer to make spaghetti, tacos, or taco salad.
- Sloppy Joe’s served on buns with fresh veggies or fruit and chips on the side.
- Cooked ground beef over Tostitos with shredded cheese baked in the oven = nachos
- 2 cups cooked rice with one pound ground beef or turkey, corn, and a can of Rotel tomatoes
- Brown ground beef, top with teriyaki (half brown sugar, half soy sauce) and serve over rice
- Tacos (We like to add canned beans to the meat.)
- Haystacks
Cheap Dinner Ideas for Family: Breakfast for Dinner
We LOVE Breakfast for Dinner and it’s a great, frugal option on busy nights!
- Omelets
- Waffles or pancakes (I like to buy boxes of pancake mix to have on hand to make batter up really quickly for last-minute meals!)
- Cereal (yes, this can totally count as dinner!)
- Homemade Egg McMuffins: Toasted English Muffins, Fried egg, cheese, and/or bacon
- Scrambled eggs or fried eggs, toast, and fruit
- Oatmeal (Or Baked Oatmeal)
- French Toast, fruit, and bacon
- Egg & Cheese Bites
- Frozen waffles (Buy pre-made or make your own.)
Cheap Dinner Ideas for Family: Quesadillas
These can be made really quickly and there are so many options for filling ideas! You can also use these same options to make burritos (just roll up in a tortilla and heat them in the microwave if you’re really short on time!)
- Precooked chicken and cheese
- Beans, precooked chicken or ground beef, and cheese
- Refried beans and cheese
- Plain cheese (can add veggies or onions/peppers, etc. )
Easy and Cheap Dinner Ideas for Sandwiches:
Simple sandwiches can also be a winner for last-minute dinners!
- Grilled cheese
- Pizza Bread: French Bread, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni
- Turkey and cheese
- Egg salad
- Tuna salad
- PB&J (variations: PB&honey on toasted bread or PB and sliced bananas)
- Open-faced ham and cheese: broil in the oven for a few minutes until melted.
- Meatball subs: Frozen meatballs with sauce on hot dog buns
- BLT sandwiches (for variety: use avocados in place of tomatoes)
Tip: You can make a big batch of PB&J sandwiches and freeze them to have for quick meals and snacks!
Grocery Store Cheap Easy Dinner Ideas for Family
One of the suggestions many people gave were easy pre-made or almost-done-for-you meals you could buy at the grocery store.
While this might feel a little bit like “cheating” and it might be more expensive than making it yourself, it would be significantly less expensive than getting takeout!
I try to always keep a few quick meals like this in the freezer to have on days when we need something for dinner and the day got away from me or I’m just uninspired to cook anything!
- Costco Frozen Orange Chicken with frozen veggies and instant rice
- Stouffer’s lasagna
- Kroger brand frozen fried rice
- Frozen burger patties and fries
- Costco Just Bare Chicken Nuggets
- Readymade Fajitas from Costco
- Hawaiian Rolls and Chicken Nuggets = easy sliders
- Potstickers and fried rice from Trader Joe’s
- Frozen stir-fry vegetables topped with shrimp
- Chicken tenders, frozen tater tots, and frozen veggies
- Bagged salad with rotisserie chicken shredded over it (Or, serve the chicken with salad on the side!)
- Sam’s chicken salad on crackers or toast
- Costco frozen lasagna or mini pot pies
- Aldi frozen skillet meals
- Canned soup
- Frozen popcorn chicken, instant mashed potatoes, and microwaved veggies
- Boxed Mac & Cheese (add cooked meat or veggies to beef it up!)
- Hot dogs or frozen corn dogs with fruit
- Frozen burritos: Put them in a baking dish and pour enchilada sauce over and sprinkle with cheese and bake
Tip: If you love Trader Joe’s, be sure to follow Trader Joe’s 5 Items or Less on Instagram for lots of quick and easy meal inspiration!
Easy Cheap Dinner Ideas with Pasta:
- Spaghetti
- Tortellini
- Any kind of noodles with Alfredo sauce and broccoli
- Beefaroni: Mac & Cheese, tomato soup, and ground beef
- Frozen ravioli with pasta sauce from a jar poured over it
- Spaghetti Pie
Other Cheap Easy Dinner Ideas for Family:
- Corn Dog Muffins
- Snack-y dinners: Think charcuterie-board-type dinners using what you have on hand!
- Build Your Own Salad Bar
- Leftover Night
- Fend For Yourself Night (we do this once a week — everyone can make whatever they want for dinner: some have cereal, some have pancakes or a frozen pizza, some heat up leftovers, etc.)
- Baked potatoes made in the microwave with steamed broccoli and pre-shredded cheese on top (or, you could do a Baked Potato Bar — just bake some potatoes in the microwave and set out whatever toppings you have on hand!)
Looking for more meal ideas?
Try these!
- 20 Quick & Easy Make Ahead Meals
- 50+ Cheap, Easy Dinner Ideas
- 15 Pantry Recipes to Make When Your Cupboards are Bare
Joanne Peterson says
Thank you for this list! I felt like I was in a slump. Your list started jumpstarting my brain! I have to modify because my husband has several food intolerances, and allergies. Muffin tin anything like meatloaf mix, eggs, slider size burgers with roasted veggies, or coleslaw, sheet pan dinners like chicken breast, thighs, or legs, sausages, or thicker fish, with roasted veggies of choice with suggestions such as: chopped sweet potatoes, chopped rutabaga, chopped parsnip, wedged cabbage, cauliflower, salad size turnips chopped, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi slices, potatoes, beets, brussels sprouts, chopped peppers, mushrooms, carrots. Roasted and stuffed sweet potatoes are delicious too. Eggroll in a bowl – simplest is ground meat of choice, or can be meatless, and coleslaw mix, with good additions such as snap peas, or snow peas, sliced celery, bean sprouts, part of a pkg of matchstick carrots and serve over cauliflower rice or rice, steamed millet is also very good. Our pizza bread is toast any sturdy bread, spread with pizza sauce, or a can of tomato puree with herbs added and simmered on the stove for 10 minutes to blend the flavors, grated cheese of choice, or none, (my husband has to be cow dairy free) chopped breakfast sausage, or pepperoni, sliced veggies of choice and bake. (My husband has to be gluten free hence why the bread of choice). Can also use a cauliflower crust. Aunt Fanny’s Bean Soup is chicken broth, canned white beans, or cranberry beans, or garbanzo beans, or pinto beans, or a mix of beans, carrots, celery, onions and garlic pulsed in the food processor until diced, and pasta of choice, or no pasta is still good too, with bacon of choice, or sausage of choice sauteed first in the pot, then your veggies sauteed in the drippings or oil and simmered with the broth together till veggies are done, and pasta can be added or cooked separately and then a scoop added in the bottom of the bowl when serving. Italian egg drop soup is chicken broth, a bag of spinach, (can also use kale, swiss chard, beet greens, turnips greens, any sort of cooking green) diced onion and garlic and cheese of choice grated and beaten eggs. Serve extra cooked veggies, or salad and bread or crackers if desired. This is unusual but we like it, is toasted bread, spread with whole cranberry sauce using about a two teaspoons per slice and a slice of cheese and then broiled under the broiler until the cheese is melted. Quick frittata cleaning the bits of leftovers out of the refrigerator. Stirfry using a large skillet sliced sweet potatoes, chopped onions, chopped bell peppers, with seasoning of choice and we like garam masala, and salt and pepper, and serve with scrambled eggs or fried eggs, or chicken. Simple stew is fried ground meat, onions, garlic, large green pepper, chunks of zucchini, 2 cups of corn, can of beans, large can of diced tomatoes, simmer until tender and the flavors are blended with salt and pepper to taste, and any herbs. Good with tortilla chips.
Jordan says
Wow!! Those are some great ideas!! -Jordan, MSM Team
Heather says
Thank you for the great ideas on this list! A quick and easy idea for busy days is a baked potato with canned chili over it and grated cheese. So good and so quick!
Jordan says
That’s a staple in our house. Especially when it gets cooler! -Jordan, MSM Team
Rachel R. says
I love this list! Thank you—will be using some of these great ideas.
Jordan says
You’re so welcome! -Jordan, MSM Team
Teresa says
Thanks for these ‘fast food’ ideas. I am a teacher and sometimes I just need quick after a busy day. This list is perfect! I did take an afternoon this summer and make a calendar of weeknight meals (Entree and two sides) to help me plan grocery trips and meal prep. So that’s a blessing. Although…Sometimes a girl just needs quick and easy! So thanks for these ideas!
Jordan says
You’re so welcome! Having an easy menu plan already made makes it easy to shop and make meals at home! -Jordan, MSM Team
Pamela says
I like to keep the frozen breaded chicken patties in my freezer. Quick chicken sandwich with many different flavor options, buffalo wing sauce/ranch, mayo/mustard, pasta sauce/mozzarella, bbq/ranch, add BLT. Also quick chicken Parmesan in the oven. Cut up to put into a wrap. I also like that I can keep it soft if cooked in the microwave, quick fry in oil on the stove, or air fry for crispy.
Jordan says
What a great idea! Thanks for the tips! -Jordan, MSM Team
Tasha says
Pesto Chicken or Chicken Parmesan: Pour jarred pesto or spaghetti sauce over precooked chicken tenders and bake in the oven. When they are just about done, top with cheese and bake or broil until the cheese melts. Serve over pasta if desired with a side of cooked frozen vegetables and garlic bread.
Crystal Paine says
Yummy! Thank you for that great idea!
Jennifer says
So many great ideas! I always keep some easy meals on hand to save time and money on busy nights. Our favorite easy dinner is sausage, black eyed peas and spinach. I sauté the sausage then add 2 cans of black eyed peas and some frozen spinach. We love to have it with cornbread. It is a meal that I can have on the table in less than 30 mins and everyone loves it.
Crystal Paine says
Oh! Thanks for sharing that idea!
Jen says
I’d love to see some additional versions of this type of list for families who have special dietary needs. My husband has type 2 diabetes (but he’s not overweight), and most of the dishes listed above are things he can’t eat because of the carbs (rice, potatoes, bread, pasta). I know you couldn’t possibly cover all the needs, but things like low-carb or gluten free are pretty common these days. Just a suggestion. 🙂
Crystal Paine says
I’d love for you to share ideas in the comments! That said, many of them could definitely be adapted to be low carb or no-carb with simple subs (there are so many great options out there now when it comes to pasta/bread/tortillas, etc. that are low carb or no carb!) I just went through the list and only found a few items (like Baked Oatmeal) that there probably aren’t substitutes for and at least 20 items listed are no carb/gluten-free so that should give you lots of ideas to choose from (that’s why I made the list so long… so that there was plenty to choose from even if you had allergies/restrictions/picky eaters!)
Allison says
Hamburger helper made with sausage instead of ground beef is one of our favorites
Crystal Paine says
Thanks for that great idea!
Jennifer says
This is one of my go-tos: https://dizzybusyandhungry.com/easy-turkey-broccoli-pasta-dinner/
I usually use frozen broccoli instead of fresh because it’s easier to have on hand. Everyone in the family loves it, and it’s really fast and easy.
Crystal Paine says
Thank you for sharing!
Katy in Africa says
Ramène Noodles with eggs is our go to quick meal.
Crystal Paine says
Thank you for sharing!