How to Cook Inexpensive Family Dinners For $10 A Week

If you want to drop your food bill, it doesn’t start at the store, inexpensive family dinners begin at home. The way you approach cooking can have a huge impact on how much you spend each month on groceries. By planning ahead, making smart use of ingredients, and portioning out meals, you can cut your food costs significantly without sacrificing quality or taste. It’s not just about what you buy, but how you use it.

When it comes to saving money in the kitchen, small changes in your cooking habits can save you thousands of dollars every year. From prepping ingredients in advance to controlling portion sizes, the strategies you use at home are key to making your grocery budget stretch further. These are just a few of the strategies I use to feed my family of four for about $200 a month.

Let’s dive into some practical tips that will help you save big by being smarter with what you already have (and, no! You won’t have to serve Ramen every night to do it!).

To see me demonstrate how to make all the recipes which are part of this menu plan, watch the video.

Begin with ingredients you got on sale.

I save money on groceries by sticking to ingredients I find on sale, markdown, or in bulk. It’s a simple way to keep costs low without sacrificing variety. When I see a great deal, I stock up, so I always have plenty of affordable options on hand.

Buying in bulk also cuts down on the cost per item, and planning meals around what’s discounted helps me avoid overspending or wasting food. It’s an easy way to stretch my budget and make sure my pantry is full without breaking the bank.

When you cook regularly with ingredients you scored at rock-bottom prices, your monthly grocery bill goes down because you’re not paying full price, taking advantage of sales, and avoiding those pricey last-minute grocery runs.

For this week’s main dish menu plan, I started with three Kroger red bags of produce that I purchased for a total of $3.00.

If you’re unfamiliar with these red bags, you’ll find them in a special section at Kroger – each red bag is $.99. If you don’t live near a Kroger, don’t worry. The tips I give in this post will work with any ingredients you are able to find on sale near your home.

Plan recipes that you can serve different ways.

Some dishes lend themselves to creating leftovers which can be reinvented and served another night. Done right, this means less cooking, less cost, and a family who isn’t bored of “eating the same thing over and over again.”

Here’s an example.

Rather than serving the $.99 bag of peaches that I bought as a single snack or dessert for my family, I added those peaches to other ingredients and made a delicious peach salsa. This salsa is incredibly flavorful, super easy, and fast to make.

Plus, I know I can add it to other dishes and it will create a pop of flavor and color without using a LOT of it. I reinvented that one batch peach salsa by serving in four distinct main dishes throughout the week.  

Create a Menu Plan

For inexpensive family dinners, always start your weekly menu by planning your main dishes first. These tend to be the most expensive meals, plus they usually take the most time and effort to prepare. Once you’ve got those planned, it’s much easier to build the rest of the weekly menu around them.

I like to focus on meals that use low-cost, simple ingredients that don’t take forever to prep—because, let’s be real, no one wants to spend their entire evening in the kitchen.

As I find recipes, I make a list of any extra ingredients I’ll need to pull from the pantry or freezer to make this week’s main dishes. I try to use what I already have on hand as much as possible since I keep my pantry and freezer stocked with items I bought in bulk, on sale, or at markdown prices.

This not only keeps costs down but also helps me avoid unnecessary trips to the store, saving time and money. It’s all about working with what you’ve got and stretching your budget while still making tasty, satisfying meals.

Some of the ingredients were free to me. For instance, the banana peppers, tomatoes, and red peppers came from my brother’s garden. While the pecans were a gift from my sister who had come to visit from Alabama.

Once you find recipes for your inexpensive family dinners, create a menu plan to ensure your finished recipes will feed your family for an entire week. I write my weekly recipes on a topical menu plan.

Prep Your Ingredients

Prep all your ingredients, but remember that different recipes might require them to be prepped in various ways. For example, you might need to grate half of a zucchini for one recipe and slice the other half for another.

Doing all the chopping, dicing, and grating ahead of time makes cooking faster and less stressful during the week. Plus, having prepped ingredients in the fridge means you’re more likely to stick to your meal plan instead of opting for takeout when you’re tired.

Here Are the Recipes I Made This Week with a Little over $10 of Ingredients.

• Zucchini Fritters topped with Fresh Peach Salsa
• Rice and Lentil Bowl with Fresh Peach Salsa
• Lentil Tacos with Caramelized Onions, Peppers, and Fresh Peach Salsa
• Fresh Peach Salsa (which was used as part of the other four recipes)
• Yellow Peppers Stuffed with Rice, Lentils and Pecans, served on a bed of Fresh Peach Salsa

I made the fresh peach salsa first. Then, I decided how I could use that salsa in every other recipe that I made.

Here are some more ways to stretch the main dishes to feed your family for more than a single meal.

Serve Only the Amount You Want Your Family to Eat in One Sitting

Try serving just the portion size you want your family to eat at each meal. For example, if you’ve made a big batch of salsa, divide it into smaller portions. Serve only a quarter of it and save the rest for later. The same goes for casseroles, stir-fries, or any meal that you make in bulk—portion it out so that you can spread it across multiple meals.

Having raised four sons, I know firsthand how quickly hungry teens can clear out an entire meal! Many times, I planned on serving leftovers for lunch the next day, only to find that the platter and bowls had been emptied in no time. That’s why I recommend serving only the amount you want eaten in one sitting.

If you portion things out, there’s a much better chance of having leftovers to stretch into another meal, rather than everything disappearing in one go. It helps with portion control, prevents overeating, and ensures you’re making the most of your groceries, saving you time and money in the process.

Freeze some items for later use.

Freezing is one of the easiest ways to make your ingredients or meals last longer. If you have extra food, like soups, sauces, or even chopped veggies, pop them in the freezer for another day.

This is especially helpful for items you’ve prepped in bulk. I often freeze pre-portioned meals or ingredients for quick dinners on busy nights, cutting down on food waste and making sure nothing goes bad before I have a chance to use it.

Your Turn!

How do you cook to keep food costs down and serve inexpensive family dinners? Tell us in the comments.