Top 5 cheap dinners for a family of four
Quick answer
For cheap dinners that feed four, try Chef John's baked ziti from Food Wishes, Souped Up Recipes' chicken fried rice, Chef Moe's sausage and broccoli shells, Dinner then Dessert's sloppy joes and Budget Bytes' black beans with eggs. They lean on pantry staples like pasta, rice, canned beans, eggs and a little meat, and three of them are ready in about 20 minutes or less.
Feeding four people every night adds up fast. The good news is that some of the most loved family dinners are built on the cheapest things in the store: pasta, rice, beans, eggs and a small amount of meat that goes a long way. These five recipes do exactly that, and none of them tastes like a compromise.
We picked a mix of a big weekend bake, quick weeknight skillets and one meatless dinner, from creators who cook for real families. Every pick links to the original video or recipe, and the button under each one saves it to Recepti so it is on your phone when you shop and cook.
1 The best baked ziti
By Chef John, Food Wishes on YouTube · Written recipe
Chef John calls baked ziti an easier alternative to lasagna, and one pan makes ten servings. A little sausage and onion turn jarred marinara into a rich meat sauce, then the pasta gets layered with ricotta, cubes of mozzarella and Pecorino and baked until bubbling. It is a great Sunday project that covers dinner tonight and leftovers later.
- Time
- About 2 hours 15 minutes, mostly simmering and baking
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key ingredients
- Ziti, hot and sweet Italian sausage, onion, jarred marinara, ricotta, mozzarella, Pecorino Romano
The button copies this recipe's link and opens Recepti. Tap +, paste, and tap Import recipe.
2 Chicken fried rice
By Mandy, Souped Up Recipes on YouTube · Written recipe
Mandy's fried rice has been watched millions of times, and it shows how a little chicken can flavor a whole pan. The chicken gets a quick marinade so it stays tender, then it is tossed in a hot wok with egg, cooked rice and whatever vegetables you have. Her recipe serves one or two, so double it for a family of four.
- Time
- About 15 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key ingredients
- Cooked rice, a small amount of chicken, eggs, garlic, red onion, green beans, carrot, spring onion, light and dark soy sauce
The button copies this recipe's link and opens Recepti. Tap +, paste, and tap Import recipe.
3 Sausage, broccoli and cheesy shells
By Chef Moe (@chat_n_chops) on TikTok
This is episode 21 of Chef Moe's series on feeding a family for under five dollars, and he calls it one of his favorites. Browned sausage, broccoli and a box of shells and cheese become a saucy skillet dinner, with starchy pasta water and the cheese sauce lifting all the flavor from the pan. He says it can easily feed four.
- Time
- Weeknight quick, one pot and one skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key ingredients
- Boxed shells and cheese, ground sausage, broccoli, a splash of pasta water
The button copies this recipe's link and opens Recepti. Tap +, paste, and tap Import recipe.
4 Sloppy joes
By Sabrina Snyder, Dinner then Dessert (@dinnerthendessert) on TikTok · Written recipe
Sabrina says this recipe has won three sloppy joe competitions, and it only uses things most kitchens already have. Ground beef, onion and green pepper cook down in butter, then ketchup, mustard and brown sugar make a sweet and tangy sauce. The recipe makes six sandwiches in about 20 minutes, which is hard to beat on a busy night.
- Time
- About 20 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key ingredients
- Lean ground beef, butter, onion, green bell pepper, garlic, ketchup, yellow mustard, brown sugar
The button copies this recipe's link and opens Recepti. Tap +, paste, and tap Import recipe.
5 Black beans with eggs
Written recipeBlack beans with eggsbudgetbytes.comBudget Bytes has helped people cook cheaply for years, and this meatless dinner is a perfect example. Canned black beans simmer with garlic, jalapeño and cumin, then eggs are cooked right on top until the yolks are just how you like them. Spoon it over rice for four filling bowls in about 20 minutes, and skip the jalapeño for kids.
- Time
- About 20 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key ingredients
- Canned black beans, eggs, garlic, jalapeño, cumin, rice, optional avocado, cilantro and cotija
The button copies this recipe's link and opens Recepti. Tap +, paste, and tap Import recipe.
Keep your family's favorite dinners in one place
Cheap dinners only save money if you actually make them, and that is easier when the recipe is right there instead of lost in a feed. Recepti is a free web app that keeps them together. Paste a link from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or a food blog and it saves the ingredients and steps, with the creator's name and a View original post button.
When a recipe lives only in a video, Recepti works from what is said and shown in it. You can scale the servings up for a bigger family, switch between metric and imperial, and start as a guest in your browser with nothing to download.
Open ReceptiFree. No download. Start as a guest.
Questions
Which of these dinners is the cheapest to make?
Chef Moe's shells and Budget Bytes' black beans with eggs are built almost entirely on pantry staples, so they tend to cost the least. Fried rice is also a smart way to use up leftover rice and vegetables.
How can I stretch a small amount of meat to feed four?
Do what these recipes do: mix the meat into something filling. Sausage goes further in a pasta bake, a little chicken flavors a whole pan of fried rice, and beans can replace meat entirely a few nights a week.
Can I make these ahead?
Yes. Baked ziti and sloppy joe filling both keep well in the fridge for a few days and reheat nicely, so a weekend batch can cover a busy weeknight.
How do I resize a recipe for my family?
Paste the link into Recepti and change the servings. It saves the ingredients, steps and creator credit, so the fried rice can go from two servings to four in a tap. Our guide to scaling recipe servings explains how it works.
Every recipe here belongs to the creator named above. We link to the original post and do not copy full recipes or photos. Times and difficulty are our own estimates from each recipe.