Looking for pantry recipes to make when your cupboards are bare and money is tight? Here are some of our family’s favorite dinner ideas. Best of all, most of these are super quick and easy ideas, too!
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Pantry Recipes to Make When Your Cupboards Are Bare
1. Grilled Cheese
You can use any kind of cheese and any kind of bread!
2. Eggs and Toast
This is an easy meal that even younger kids can make!
3. Loaded Baked Potatoes
Get creative with whatever you might have on hand that would work as a topping: taco meat, chili, beans, ham, bacon, cheese, broccoli, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc. You could even do chopped chicken, salsa, and cheese.
4. Any Pasta With Pasta Sauce
If you have any canned tomatoes or ground beef or onions, you can add it to the sauce. Then, serve it sprinkled with any kind of cheese you might have on hand.
Want to get a little fancier? Try these Mini Lasagnas!
5. Sandwiches
The options are pretty ended here: Peanut Butter/Jelly (or PB & honey — we love to toast the bread for a little extra something!) Egg Salad, Meat/Cheese, etc.
Tip: Did you know you can freeze PB&J sandwiches?
6. Build Your Own Taco Salad
Use whatever taco-like ingredients you have on hand: Ground beef or turkey with homemade taco seasoning, beans, lettuce, chips, tomatoes, cheese, etc.
7. Crockpot Sausage and Peppers
This is a staple at our house. If I have kielbasa in the freezer and I’ve gotten peppers on markdowns, I’ll chop up both and add some onions or potatoes or sweet potatoes (if I have them) and cook this with a little water and seasonings in the crockpot for 4-6 hours on low. You can you serve over rice or pasta (if you didn’t include potatoes).
8. Meat/Potatoes/Frozen Veggies Hash
This was a standby recipe at our family’s house growing up. If we needed a quick dinner, we’d brown some ground beef with onions, and then add some chopped potatoes and fry those until tender. Then we’d add corn or peas. I think this recipe originally came from the More With Less Cookbook.
9. Refried Beans and Cheese
We like to spoon refried beans into a baking dish and top with cheese and then heat these up in the microwave (or you can bake in the oven) until heated through and then serve with chips and salsa or spread onto tortillas to make bean and cheese burritos.
10. Breakfast For Dinner
Breakfast foods are always a quick and easy pantry meal idea, depending on what you have on hand. Pancakes, Waffles, or French Toast served with eggs and/or bacon (if you have any) and fruit. You could also do a big pan of Baked Oatmeal and top it with any fruit you have and serve it with yogurt or milk.
You can find some of our favorite breakfast recipes here, here, and here.
Tip: Have extra eggs on hand and some meat and cheese? Make these yummy Egg & Cheese Bites or this World’s Easiest Breakfast Casserole.
Pantry Meal Ideas From My Followers:
11. Quesadillas
Betsy said, “We have what I call refrigerator quesadillas. Tortillas, cheese and anything else leftover– chicken, ham, zucchini, corn, etc. Stick it in between tortillas and cheese and you’re pretty much set!
12. Have a Chopped Competition
One of my followers, Amanda, said that they love to play Chopped when they are trying to use up what they have on hand. (If you’re unfamiliar with it, Chopped is a TV show where contestants are given random ingredients and they have to make a recipe with those ingredients.) What a fun idea!
13. Tortilla Soup
Charity said: “I almost always have bullion, diced tomatoes, canned black beans, an onion or garlic and some veggies (typically celery, carrots and corn) and a handful of rice and crushed tortilla chips around. We’ll top it with shredded cheese.”
{Some of our other favorite simple soups to make are Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Tortellini Soup, Crockpot Taco Soup, Best Ever Black Bean Soup, Cheesy Hamburger Potato Soup, and Hamburger Vegetable Soup!}
14. Cheater Chili
Tanya said: “I always have the ingredients for ‘Cheater Chili’ in my pantry and boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix. A can of chili beans, a can of white beans, a can of kidney beans (or whatever kind you want really) and a jar of Pace Picante sauce. Heat until hot. I add ground beef when I have it or have time, but it’s great without it too.
15. Barbecue Cups
Amanda said: “We make Barbecue Cups — ground beef with bbq sauce, place on top of raw biscuit in a muffin tin add cheese to top, bake in oven.”
More Inspiration:
You might also find some of these links helpful when trying to come up with pantry recipes or eat what you already have on hand…
- Easy Meals for 20+ People
- Cheap Meals for Large Groups
- Recipes for a Crowd of People
- 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Freeze
- 10 Days of Simple Salads
- 55 Ways to Use Up Ripe Bananas
- Over 25 Frugal & Healthy Snack Ideas for Kids
- How to Eat Well on a $40 Weekly Grocery Budget
What are YOUR favorite pantry recipes to make when money is tight?
P.S. For more ideas, check out this post on my Facebook Page.
Want to cut your grocery budget? Go here and sign up (it’s free!) I’ll send you my 10 Easy Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill By $50.
Winter says
Chicken noodle soup- canned chicken, a can of carrots, broth, noodles, spices. Quick and easy! Or canned chicken, noodles, cream of chicken soup, a canned or frozen vegetable, spices- easy chicken and noodles. Nachos are a staple around here, too, and it’s not unusual for us to have homemade popcorn as a meal, either.
Jordan says
Those are some great ideas! -Jordan, MSM Team
Leslie says
Great ideas! Here’s mine: Chicken and Rice with Gravy. Pound 2 chicken breasts until about 1/4” then slice in half = 4 servings. Place in dish, cover with cream of whatever soup, cover with lid, and bake 30-40 minutes. Cook rice and whatever veggies you have. You can also dip chicken in egg, then flour or panco crumbs, and make fried chicken with mashed potatoes.
Jordan says
Those are fantastic ideas! -Jordan, MSM Team
Crystal Paine says
Thanks so much for sharing!
Joy in Alabama says
My cheap meal every week is rice and beans in some form. Mexican-spiced pinto beans, rice and tortillas or pinto beans with rosemary, a piece of bacon for flavor, onion, garlic, etc and rice or cornbread, lentil soup, black bean soup or chili, or some other kind of bean soup.
Crystal Paine says
Yum! Thank you for sharing!
Sarah says
Tuna casserole
Mac and cheese (powdered milk and powdered cheese)
I keep a lot of dried legumes and rice around (e.g. 50 lbs): homemade chili, black bean soup, beans and rice, split pea soup, bean burritos and yellow rice, beans on toast, curried lentil soup, Mexican lasagna and Spanish rice
Jordan says
Those all sound like delicious ideas! Thanks for sharing! -Jordan, MSM Team
Charlotte says
Spanish Rice– it’s really easy to make. It’s really just white rice, tomato sauce, and veggies if you think about it. I may pair it with fruit and a side of black beans.
Crystal Paine says
Yummy! Thanks for sharing!
Guest says
I now keep tomato bouillon in the pantry which is most often used in Mexican rice. It keeps a long time and you can use as little or as much as you need.
Jaime says
I always have chicken in my freezer and rice in the pantry, so I usually make some sort of Mexican dish- quesadillas or burrito bowls are pretty common in our house! I consider those “free” meals because I typically don’t need to buy anything to make them. =)
Crystal Paine says
Great ideas!
Vee says
My go to meal, that is cheap and filling is – refried beans in the crockpot/instapot.
With rice, or to top tortilla chips, or wrap them in a tortilla, and bake them topped with cheese.
Jordan says
That’s a great idea! Thank you for sharing! -Jordan, MSM Team
Crystal Paine says
Yum! Thank you for sharing!
Brittany says
My 9 year old daughter read this post without me knowing it and requested to do “Chopped” tonight for dinner. I had one stipulation: they had to eat whatever they created (to keep them from going too crazy with ingredients and then still needing me to make something for dinner after haha). She and my 5 year old had so much fun! Thanks for the idea!
Jordan says
You’re so welcome! We’re so happy they had fun! -Jordan, MSM Team
Crystal Paine says
I love that! So fun! Thank you for sharing!