As the cost of living surged in 2022, the number of Americans facing financial hardship has also jumped. 6 in 10 United States adults (including more than 4 in 10 high-income consumers), live paycheck to paycheck.
Interested in how people get through difficult times, Reddit user GetFreeFromFood made a post on r/EatCheapAndHealthy, asking folks on the platform, “What are your favorite ‘end of the month/broke ’til payday’ meals?”
“Groceries are scarce [and I’m] waiting on payday,” they wrote. “What are you making that’s relatively healthy with what you have left? I know what everyone has left differs, just trying to get ideas that may be helpful for more than just my family!”
And the call was answered; thrifty cooks happily shared their budget meals. Continue scrolling to check out the best-sounding ones and don’t miss the talk we had with Haley, the person behind the Cheap Recipe Blog for more ideas. You’ll find it in between the entries.
#1
Grilled cheese and tomato soup will always be a favorite of mine.
Image source: Revolutionary-Copy71
#2
My absolute cheapest meal is mujadara. Well browned onions, lentils, rice, s&p. It’s so much more than it sounds.
Image source: No_Weird2543, Bryan Alexander
#3
Google “I have these ingredients”.
You’ll get a ton of websites that will help you put something together.
I was down to potatoes and flour. And this how I learned about gnocchi! Turned into one of my fav things.
Image source: SunnySamantha, Gábor Molnár
#4
Canned tuna mixed with mayo on toast. Served with a pickle spear
Image source: blueberrykola, Bert Wagner
#5
Beans! I’ve been leaning on pintos a lot recently and have come to really appreciate them. Served with a bit of cotija cheese, a garnish of cilantro and it’s really good, but you can get much more fancy with them also.
One thing I learned the ‘hard way’ is to plan for those lean times by adding some pantry staples every time I go shopping to make sure I have enough of those important building blocks available for quick, easy, and inexpensive meals.
Image source: OutWithCamera, goblinbox
#6
I’ve found baked potatoes to be a great cheap, easy, filling, tasty meal. You can dress them up a ton of different ways with whatever you have around, but honestly some days I just throw one in the microwave with a little of whatever vegetable I have (a handful of frozen broccoli from a giant bag I got for cheap, usually) and it’s good to go.
Also, as others have said, seek out your local food bank! There is absolutely zero shame in getting help, the whole point is to keep you and yours fed without judgment. If you don’t know of one, try calling 211… in most places in the US, that’ll connect you with the United Way, and they can hook you up with a whole variety of local resources.
Image source: 8dogsinatrenchcoat
#7
Peanut noodles! Ingredients are peanut butter, soy sauce, and pasta, plus some things to jazz it up if you’ve got them.
For the sauce, mix roughly equal parts of PB, soy sauce, and water, adjusting the ratio to taste. If I have them, I add red pepper flakes, garlic powder and ground ginger, a few drops of sesame oil, and sesame seeds, but it’s also decent without. You just put it on cooked pasta and voila! I like it with steamed frozen broccoli. In an ideal world, you’d have spaghetti, fettucine, or linguine for the pasta, but any shape is fine.
Image source: mickier, Stacy Spensley
#8
My fave one is egg and chips. It’s fried eggs and English style chips but you can do fries it doesn’t matter. My English mom used to make it growing up so it’s super comforting and it’s delicious and cheap
Image source: lhayes238, su-lin
#9
White rice + black beans is my favorite cheap/healthy meal. Add some tomatoes and cilantro, and avocado if you can afford it, drizzle lemon or lime juice and you have a super filling and delicious meal for super cheap (except the avocados lol)
Image source: thehauntedhead, Francheskastein
#10
Lentil and carrot soup. So tasty and good for you, but extremely cheap.
Image source: RegularJane33
#11
other peoples comments are better but so you dont feel hungry in the “breaks” between your (real) meals: oatmeal. so filling. add some lineseeds for fibre, omega3 and a bit more chewiness
Image source: Radiant_Butt444
#12
Butter noodles
Image source: MossIsking, Engin Akyurt
#13
Pantry ‘chili’- cans of beans, diced tomatoes, corn, tomato paste and green chilis if I have ’em.
Saute onions in cumin & chili powder, then add beans, then rest of it. Simmer for a bit, but usually tastes better next day.
Image source: selkiebeast, American Heritage Chocolate
#14
Mustgo soup, all the leftovers you have in the fridge and some broth of your choice or just some Mater sauce
Image source: CapinCrunch420, Navada Ra
#15
Potatoes are cheap. French fries are tasty!
Image source: The_last_trick, Jay Gajjar
#16
Maximize your beans, lentils, carrots, potatoes, and eggs as meat substitutes. Curry with any of those can help stretch it. Or bbq sauce.
Image source: Early_Reply, Cats Coming
#17
Savory pancakes – – you can put anything in ‘em and/or anything on ‘em
Image source: AnythingButChicken
#18
Baked beans on toast
Image source: livingruncliff, Nik
#19
pinto beans and cornbread was my great grandmother’s go to during the depression. It is one of my top comfort foods. Make a pot of dried beans and experiment.
Image source: assistanttothefatdog, jeffreyw
#20
Ramen + PB + sriracha basically feels like poor man’s pad Thai. Even better if you have an egg to put in
Image source: zombienugget, laura limsenkhe
#21
Rice bowls. Throw together whatever left over meat and vegetables you have left in the freezer, add sauce, and go. There’s so many different ways to make it it never gets old. If you’re not in the mood for rice, add beans and salsa instead and make burritos.
Image source: coffcat, reyvenshots
#22
Rice, eggs, whatever beans or veg is left over, top with hot sauce
Image source: gaimanite, Lum3n
#23
Frittata using whatever odds and ends I have. Or a regular quiche if I have a box of pie crust in the fridge. If I have frozen hash browns, then a hash brown crust quiche! :)
Image source: Jenr619, Subagus Indra
#24
Pasta salad, sometimes I just add a can of green beans and a can of corn, both drained, fresh herbs, if I have it (basil, cilantro, mint, whatever’s in the fridge) and some Italian dressing, garbanzo beans, if I have it. The best part, the longer it sits, the better it gets, so it’s good as a leftover, and it’s filling
Image source: GingerSchnapps3, Eaters Collective
#25
I always have flour and baking items on hand. If I needed to I could make a variety of breads. Pancakes are popular, but I also like dumpling stew. For dumpling stew I flavor some water with pepper and chicken bouillon, then make drop dumplings with flour, salt, pepper, and any other spices I want. After I spoon the dumplings in to the boiling water, I add a dash of milk to cream up the soup, but you can keep it thin if you need to. Basically, if you added chicken, it would be chicken and dumplings.
Image source: RenKyoSails, Theme Photos
#26
Soups from the leftovers. One main stock can be split for different spices and proteins. It can serve as is or further watered down as the basic broth for a variety of (yes I’m saying it) ramen.
Image source: Dad-Baud, Cook Eat
#27
Tortillas, cheese, eggs
Image source: Patternsonpatterns
#28
Chili is my thing. I keep a ton of different canned (and dry) beans on hand at all times. Almost always have a random can of tomatoes. Just made it two days ago and had no idea I had everything. If I have enough different beans I don’t even add meat. I play with different seasonings.
Image source: brightdeadlights
#29
I always stock up on Lentils when I can. I can usually also get carrots and celery for pretty cheap , and I have no problem living off of that combination together for a week or two. They cook up well in my rice cooker and make for a pretty filling meal.
I’ve also developed a slow cooker chicken soup recipe that makes around 7 servings and comes out to around $1.50/serving. I’ll make a big batch of that at the beginning of the week and take it to work for lunch each day.
Image source: alshazara2
#30
Ramen with an egg and frozen veggies
Pasta, jarred pasta sauce, frozen veggies and shredded cheese
Image source: TelephoneTag2123, Nagesh Badu
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