Cooking on a Budget Recipes

Fried rice. Make fried rice one of your cheap dinner meals of choice. A good fried rice is full of veggies, and the rice itself fills the meal out nicely. Since you're cooking on a budget, you can get your protein from a few eggs, or you can half the amount of chicken in a normal dish of fried rice. It's easy to make fried rice in big quantities, too, and the leftovers make for a few tasty, inexpensive meals.

Spaghetti. Just like fried rice, spaghetti can be stuffed full of vegetables – zucchini, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, and anything else you want. If you're cooking on a budget, try using a lot of fibrous veggies like these whenever possible. Spaghetti can just as easily be vegetarian, but if you want meat with your inexpensive meals, try using less than a standard recipe calls for. You might be surprised how many cheap dinner meals you can get out of a pound of beef when you let the pasta and vegetables do the work.

Hummus. If you have a food processor, eating on a budget and still having a good lunch is easy. Store bought hummus and pita chips make for a pretty expensive lunch, but a can of chick peas is under a dollar. Again, search the internet for tips on cooking your own chips and making your own hummus. With some garlic and some balsamic vinegar, you can make a few cheap, healthy meals out of one can of chick peas.

Salads. Salads don't have to be boring. They can be healthy and inexpensive meals that you actually enjoy eating with the right ingredients. Get some good greens, like spinach, ideally fresh. The pre-bagged vegetables usually cost more than the ones you bag yourself.

Chopped carrots and cucumbers are a must for almost any salad, but think beyond the usual veggies. Eating on a budget doesn't mean your recipes have to be stale. Raisins or dried cranberries make a good addition to salads, as do nuts or boiled and chopped eggs. Be creative! Cooking on a budget is about finding a cheap way to make inexpensive meals that you enjoy.