Cooking on a Budget: 18 Dinners Under $5

A tight week does not have to mean toast for dinner three nights running. Some of the best food in the world was built by people cooking cheap on purpose: dal, fried rice, bean stew, a proper omelette. The trick is not finding rare ingredients. It is buying a handful of cheap staples and knowing four or five things to do with them.

Here is how to think about it. Cheap cooking leans on three groups: a filling base (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread), a cheap protein (eggs, beans, lentils, tinned fish), and a flavour kick (onion, garlic, spice, a splash of acid). Pick one from each column and you have a meal. None of the dinners below need a long shop. Most are built from things that keep for weeks.

Build a $15 Pantry First

Before any recipe, stock a small base. Buy these once and most dinners this week cost pennies on top. This is the single highest-value shop you can do.

1. Grab a big bag of rice and a bag of dried lentils or red split lentils. They cook in 20 minutes and cost almost nothing per portion.
2. Add a dozen eggs, a tin or two of beans, and a bag of onions. These three carry half the meals below.
3. Pick up cooking oil, salt, and three spices you will actually use: cumin, chilli, and either curry powder or smoked paprika.
4. Add one cheap fresh thing that lasts, like a bag of carrots or a head of cabbage, for crunch and bulk.
5. Keep a tin of chopped tomatoes and a bulb of garlic on hand. They turn a pile of staples into an actual sauce.

1. Egg and Rice Dinners (Under $1.50)

Eggs are the cheapest good protein you can buy, and rice stretches them into a full plate. This pair alone can carry three or four different dinners a week without feeling the same.

1. Cook a mug of rice. Day-old rice from the fridge is even better here because it fries up loose instead of mushy.
2. Get a pan properly hot with a glug of oil, then fry a chopped onion and a clove of garlic until soft and golden.
3. Push it aside, scramble an egg or two in the gap, then fold the rice through so every grain gets coated.
4. Hit it with a splash of soy sauce or just salt, and any sad vegetable from the drawer, chopped small.
5. Finish with a fried egg on top if you want it to feel like more, with the yolk left runny as a sauce.

2. One-Pot Lentil and Bean Dinners (Under $2)

Lentils are the cheapest filling protein going, and they need no soaking. A pot of dal or a quick bean stew feeds two for the price of a coffee and tastes like you tried much harder than you did.

1. Soften a chopped onion and garlic in oil, then stir in a heaped spoon of spice like cumin and curry powder until it smells fragrant.
2. Add a cup of rinsed red lentils and about three cups of water or stock. For a bean version, use a drained tin of beans and less water.
3. Simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils collapse into a soft, thick pot.
4. Season hard with salt, then wake it up with a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar right at the end.
5. Serve over rice or scoop up with bread. A spoon of yoghurt on top, if you have it, makes it feel rich.

3. Potato Dinners That Fill You Up (Under $2.50)

Potatoes are cheap, filling, and far more flexible than people give them credit for. One bag is a week of different dinners if you change how you cook them.

1. For a fast jacket, prick a potato all over and microwave it for 6 to 8 minutes, then crisp the skin in a hot oven or pan for 10 if you have time.
2. Split it open and load it: a tin of beans warmed with a little chilli, grated cheese, or a fried egg make a full meal.
3. For crispy roasties, cut potatoes into chunks, parboil 8 minutes, then roast in hot oil until golden and craggy.
4. For a fry-up, dice and pan-fry cold cooked potato with onion until crusty, then top with an egg.
5. Mash leftovers with a splash of milk and fry the patties next day, which costs nothing extra and feels like a new dinner.

10 More Cheap Dinners

• Pasta with garlic, oil, chilli, and a handful of breadcrumbs toasted in the pan for crunch.
• Cabbage fried hard with onion and a fried egg, simple and surprisingly good.
• Tinned tomato and bean soup, simmered with garlic and finished with whatever bread you have.
• Carrot and lentil soup, blended smooth, cheap to make a big batch of.
• Egg fried noodles with cheap instant noodles, an egg, and any vegetable.
• Baked beans on toast, upgraded with a fried onion and a shake of chilli.
• Spiced chickpeas crisped in the pan, served over rice with yoghurt.
• Potato and onion frittata, sliceable and good hot or cold for lunch.
• Cheese and onion quesadilla in a dry pan with a cheap wrap.
• Tuna and white bean salad with onion and a splash of vinegar, no cooking at all.