Budget Friendly Family Dinners
Are you trying to find ways to reduce your spending and looking for budget friendly family meal ideas?
These budget friendly family dinner ideas will help keep costs down, and your family will love these delicious recipes. All of these budget dinner ideas are easy to make, kid-friendly and will make it a little easier to feed your family!
Trying to stick to a budget can be hard, especially with the rising cost of living. I wish I had a magical answer to make it easier for everyone to make ends meet, but I’m right here with you all, trying to figure out what I can do to make our limited budget stretch a little further.
I’ve always been creative when it comes to stretching our food budget as far as it will go. I meal plan, I try to shop monthly, I use the cash envelope system, and I cook lots of things from scratch. Some months I feel like I am doing great with the budget, other months, not so great!
One of the things that keeps us on track is a list of budget friendly family dinner ideas.
These dinners are often vegetarian, or have less meat than recipes recommend. Often these recipes can be stretched to make more by adding extra veggies or pulses (red lentils can go in just about anything!). And most of them can be cooked from scratch, which might cost you time, but save you money.
I am far from being a fancy cook, so this list of budget friendly dinner ideas is full of simple, easy to prepare meals, that everyone will eat.
Budget Friendly Vegetarian Dinners
- Spinach Pasta Bake
This quick and easy pasta bake is sure to be a hit with the family. - Mexi Rice.
Mexi-rice is a great side dish, or add some optional extras and make it a main meal. - Zucchini Bake
If you grow zucchinis in your garden this is a great recipe to use your harvest! - Felafel Style Veggie Burgers.
These falafel style veggie burgers freeze well and are a great vegetarian option for BBQing. - Crust-less Quiche Four Ways
There are four ideas for using this easy quiche recipe, but you can add whatever you like! - Spinach and Potato Slice.
Get some tips for growing your own leafy greens to use in this delicious recipe. - Lentil-ese – Vegetarian Spaghetti Bolognese.
This lentil-based pasta sauce freezes well and you won’t even notice it doesn’t have any meat in it. - Pizza Pockets
This easy calzone or ‘pizza pocket’ recipe can be filled with whatever pizza toppings you like, they also freeze well, so make a double batch! - More Kid-friendly Vegetarian Recipes
Try one of these cheap, easy and kid-friendly vegetarian recipes.
Budget Friendly Chicken Meals
- Chicken on Sticks
This is a great kid-friendly meal that is perfect for the freezer. - Chicken Meatballs from Childhood 101
Everyone will love this delicious meatball recipe. - Chicken Burritos from Childhood 101
Kids will love choosing the fillings for their burritos. - Chicken Fried Rice
This easy fried rice recipe is a delicious way to use up leftover chicken. - Chicken Noodle Soup
You can simmer this soup on the stove for hours, or you can have the whole think ready in 30 minutes! - Leftover Chicken Recipes
Lots of ways to use up leftover roast chicken, reducing waste and good for your budget!
Budget Friendly Beef or Lamb Meals
- Freezer Friendly Meatballs
This is a freezer friendly version of old fashioned ‘porcupine’ meatballs. - Kid-made Chilli
You can also make a vegetarian version of this easy chilli recipe and it freezes really well. - Beef and Spinach Burgers
Make a big batch of these burgers and pop them in the freezer so you’ll always have some handy. - Meat and Veggie Pasties
These flaky pastry parcels are delicious for lunch or dinner. - Beef and Veggie Pot Pies
Use whatever veggies you have on hand to make these easy little pies.
Budget Friendly Pasta Dinners
- Pizza Pasta Bake
This easy pasta bake has minimal ingredients and is super easy to make. - Chicken Mushroom and Broccoli Pasta
This is a family favourite that my kids ask for again and again. - Easy Tuna Pasta from Childhood 101.
Easy to make with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. - Cheese Burger Pasta Bake from The Organised Housewife
You can easily use less meat than the recipe states, and add frozen veggies.
Budget Friendly Rice Meals
- Sausage and Rice Bake from Childhood101
This is a budget friendly dinner that doesn’t scrimp on the meat. - Tuna and Rice from Planning With Kids
You probably already have all the ingredients to make this dinner! - Quick and Easy Fried Rice
This recipe is great for using up leftovers. - Mexi Bake from Planning With Kids
My kids LOVE this dinner, and you can easily make it vegetarian. - Tuna Bake
This retro recipe (it has crushed chips in the top of it!) is easy to make in large quantities.
What are your best budget friendly family dinners?
Share some links or meal ideas in the comments so we can give them a try!
Love finding new family friendly dinner ideas – we get so stuck in a rut sometimes, eating the same meals week after week! Some new to us ones on this list which is fab :) And thank you for including some of our faves too.
Thanks for sharing, do you do a meal plan for each month? I’ve been redoing my budget. And the way I have found to save is on my grocery bill. I meal plan each month after checking the contents of my pantry fridge and freezer and tailor my meals around what I have. So then I only need to buy what is required. We keep our meals simple and healthy. I don’t buy biscuits or cakes or prepackaged foods. I make from scratch if we want those things. But as we’re trying to lose weight we don’t have them very often.
My food budget is done to $300 a month. This is for 3 adults. I have been following Wendy from An Abundant Life blog, she’s also a member of the Cheapstakes Club and she feeds a family of four per month on $300 a month.
It might be something you’d like to look at one day.
I have a big brood too. I was amazed at how much more kids eat when they are big people size. I enjoyed the new ideas. I’m inspired to take another wack at a lower food budget. Thanks!
I try to prepare enough for leftovers. Then make sure it’s all eaten. Throwing away food can add up.