7 Frugal Dinner Ideas for Under $1 a Serving

Make dinner without breaking the bank with these 7 frugal dinner ideas all for under $1 a serving. Make getting dinner done easier and stay within your budget with these dinner ideas.

It’s getting late in the day, your husband will be home soon, your kids are getting cranky and hungry. And you need to figure out what you’ll make for dinner.

What’s for dinner, is a question your family asks and you might even be asking yourself. And when your budget is tight this is a question that can be harder to answer.

Saving money can be a struggle. But with these simple frugal dinner ideas you can keep your food cost lower and still feed your family well. I’ve included a bonus tip that helps to keep our food cost lower too.

It’s a something you have to face every night when dinnertime rolls around. It can be hard to come up with ideas for dinner that are easy and that won’t break your grocery budget too.

It can be hard to find meal your whole family will eat and not be too expensive.

It’s nice to have a few frugal dinner ideas or a week’s worth of dinners that are low cost to fall back on when money is tight.

Or to add to the meal plan once or twice a week to keep the overall grocery budget lower.

If you are looking for a few tried and true frugal dinner ideas, these 7 frugal dinner ideas are ones I’m sure your family will enjoy. Plus they are all under $1 a serving.

At the end, I’ve also thrown in a bonus dinner idea that we use often when I’m meal planning for a quick and easy dinner that won’t break the bank.

7 Frugal Dinner Ideas all Under $1 a Serving

Most of the recipes listed below make 5-8 servings. We always end up with enough for our dinner and leftovers for a couple servings at lunch too.

This is a simple and easy creamy chicken mushroom recipe. It’s a one pot dish that is great for the summer because you cook it in the skillet. It’s equally delicious served over pasta or rice and it can be made dairy free too.

1. Chicken Mushroom Skillet $.74 a serving

This easy skillet dish starts with diced chicken that quickly cooks up with a can of mushrooms. Add in homemade cream soup and you have an easy dinner that is easy on your wallet too. We serve it over egg noodles with a salad on the side.

Hamburger Noodle Skillet Dinner, this is a simple comfort food that can be made in 20 minutes in a skillet. If you love easy to make recipes that don’t break the bank give this hamburger skillet recipe a try. At less than $1 a serving, it’s hard to beat.

2. Hamburger Macaroni Skillet $.64 a serving

This is another skillet dinner that’s quick to make and can be made ahead for the freezer too. A can of tomato sauce, a little ground beef, macaroni noodles, and seasonings is all it takes to make this inexpensive but filling frugal dinner.

Use mini lasagna noodles instead of macaroni to make it more like a skillet lasagna dish too. Serve with a salad and homemade french bread to complete the meal.

A simple and easy Salisbury steak recipe with mushroom gravy. This is an easy recipe for Salisbury steak that only takes about 30 minutes to make and costs less than $1 per serving.

3. Easy Salisbury Steak $.67 a serving

My family loves homemade Salisbury steak. It’s a yummy comfort food dinner of a deliciously tender steak patty covered in gravy with mushrooms. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans to make this dinner just $.82 a serving for the whole meal.

An easy and hearty hamburger soup that's easy to make and frugal too.

4. Hearty Hamburger Soup $.50 serving

Soup is always a good way to stretch your grocery dollar and use up vegetables that might be going bad soon hanging out in the crisper drawer.

This hearty hamburger soup comes in at just $.50 a serving. We enjoy soup often in the winter and at a price that like you can really feed your family well on very little.

Add in a batch of homemade biscuits and a serving of fruit to round out the meal.

An easy recipe for slow cooker split pea soup. It’s quick to get started in the crock pot in the morning on a busy day. Then come home to a delicious meal. It’s also weight watchers friendly when made with lean ham. Come give this recipe a try.

5. Crockpot Split Pea Soup $.85 a serving

This soup is a great soup for a busy day. Put everything into the crockpot and when you get home you’ll have a delicious and hearty soup waiting. You can use ham or sausage in this recipe. It’s not only a frugal dinner idea but also Weight Watchers friendly too.

Chicken Artichoke Casserole ~ This is a healthy chicken artichoke pasta recipe is easy enough for everyday dinner but fancy enough for a company dinner.

6. Chicken Artichoke Casserole $.80 a serving

This isn’t your average casserole recipe. It’s fancy enough for company and inexpensive enough to add to your meal plan often. Chicken, artichoke hearts, and mushrooms are mixed with a homemade sauce and baked.

Then served over a bed of egg noodles. To make it even more inexpensive you can serve it over rice instead.

The flavors are great and you can make the main casserole ahead of time and tuck it away in the freezer for a quick thaw and bake meal later.

Beef and Bean Enchiladas from the slow cooker, Frugal Family Home

7. Beef and Bean Enchiladas $.88 a serving

If your family loves enchiladas this easy to make layered bean and beef enchilada dinner are sure to please.

It’s quick to assemble and you can use canned enchilada sauce to make it even quicker to make. Just layer the ingredients into the crockpot set it and forget about it until your ready to eat dinner.

We enjoy this dinner with a salad and a serving of fruit.

Bonus Idea, Breakfast for Dinner

If those 7 frugal dinner ideas weren’t enough I’ve got one last suggestion for you. Growing up my mom often make breakfast for dinner and I do the same for my family now.

It’s a quick dinner and it inexpensive too. Eggs are usually $.10 each. Add in a link or two of sausage at just $.10 each. Then make a batch of homemade pancakes, waffles, or toast and hash browns and you have a quick and easy dinner for well under $1 a serving.

I try to add in breakfast for dinner at least 3 times a month into our meal plan. If you have a busy evening coming up consider trying breakfast for dinner and see how quick and easy it is to make.

Those are 7 frugal dinner ideas all under $1 a serving. I hope you’ve found a new frugal dinner for your family.

Add a few of these into your meal plan each week to help keep your grocery spending lower and your family happy at the same time.

Find More Frugal Meal Ideas

Breakfast for Under $1 a Serving
Lunch for Under $1 a Serving

Pin it for Later….

Saving money can be a struggle. But with these simple frugal dinner ideas you can keep your food cost lower and still feed your family well. I’ve included a bonus tip that helps to keep our food cost lower too.

8 Comments

  1. These comfort food dinners are the best kind of dinner! And I love how inexpensive they are 🙂

    This also reminds me that I need to put salisbury steak on my menu for next week!

  2. I love that you have so many healthy options for meals and that they are so affordable. Thanks Shelly!

  3. Thank you so much for sharing. We are dairy free too and have trouble finding cheap, enjoyable dinners. I am excited to try these.

  4. Dragon_Mumma says:

    Oh my gosh! Actual cheap/frugal meals that are realistic as well! Thank you! My kids were getting well and truly done with our standard menu, so I am looking forward to trying these! (Your site is so refreshing!! I am terribly over finding “cheap” recipes that ask for 700g premium steak to feed 4 people. I could only dream of having that “limited budget” LMAO!!)

    1. I’m so glad you’ve found some new recipes to try. It makes me happy that I was able to help. Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *