Cheap Dinner Ideas

Looking for cheap dinner ideas? Eating cheap doesn't mean your food shouldn't be interesting and delicious. Try out some of these cheap dinner ideas for a good meal that won't break your budget.

1. Pasta casserole. Pasta is a great base for cheap dinner ideas, especially if you stock up when it goes on sale. Combine pasta with tomato sauce or cream sauce, meat, veggies and cheese and bake for a simple, cheap dinner that keeps well in the refrigerator.
2. Roast chicken. Whole chickens are generally cheaper than cut-up or de-boned chicken parts. For a cheap dinner idea, rub a chicken with garlic, salt, olive oil and dried herbs and roast it in the oven. Save the chicken carcass to make homemade chicken broth.
3. Vegetable soup. For a light cheap dinner idea, try homemade vegetable soup. Use broth made with turkey or chicken bones, rice and cheap frozen vegetables, such as corn and lima beans. Add cooked chicken or turkey to use up leftovers.
4. Beans and rice. Dry beans are super cheap and packed with protein. Beans and rice makes a filling, cheap dinner idea, especially since there are so many options for flavoring the beans. Try adding sausage to the beans. Just a little will add a lot of flavor, stretching your food budget further than if you ate the sausages alone.
5. Burgers. Instead of buying pre-formed burger patties or frozen cooked burgers, here's a cheap dinner idea. Buy ground beef or turkey and make your own burgers. Serve the burgers with baked potato wedges. You can buy a ten-pound bag of potatoes for just a few dollars, and it will last you through many cheap dinners.