Meals To Make When You Have No Money

100 Cheap Meals for When You're Broke

When you hear about cheap meals, you might think they're boring and tasteless. But that's far from the truth.

Cheap meals can be really good! And they're perfect for when you just don't have much in the food budget.

I'm always looking for meals that help me stretch my dollars further. That's why I put together this roundup of 100 cheap meals for when you're broke.

This roundup isn't about eating only plain mashed potatoes or filling yourself with cabbage for weeks on end. I tried to pick a variety of recipes that would taste good and appeal to different palates.

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Tips to make cheap meals

You can often adjust meals to make them better suited to your budget, so don't pass on a meal below just because it seems too expensive to put together at first glance.

There are many ways to work around a meal to make it more economical.

Use what you have on hand instead of buying new ingredients. I've substituted different pastas, rices, and meats for each other because I already had them at home.
Substitute ingredients with a cheaper alternative. Sometimes I'll use dried herbs instead of fresh ones. I'll use spinach in recipes that call for arugula. I use store brands instead of well-known name brand items.
Leave out ingredients that don't add much to the recipe. I don't care to eat bell peppers, so I leave them out of recipes that ask for them. I also leave off parsley, cilantro, green onion, and sesame seeds in they're not essential to a recipe.
Buy items whole and cut, dice, or shred them yourself. I buy carrots and onions whole and then dice them by hand or in a food processor. You can shred cheese purchased cheaper in block form.
Buy what's on sale. I've used different white fish than a recipe calls for because one kind was on sale.
Cook larger batches to make multiple meals. Buy larger or bulk sizes of ingredients to make a larger batch of the meal. You don't have to cook as often either.
Freeze extra servings to make them last longer. Don't let leftovers go to waste. Put anything you don't eat in time in the freezer. Then unfreeze it and eat it when you want an easy reheatable meal.