- 4 months ago
Looking for easy, budget-friendly dinners that don’t sacrifice flavor? In this video, Nicole shares three delicious meals you can make for under $13 each to feed a whole family—perfect for busy weeknights, rising grocery costs, or anyone who wants to save without skimping on taste. In this video, Nicole walks you through step-by-step recipes including a creamy and comforting Chicken and Pasta Casserole with vegetables, a bold, flavor-packed Jambalaya with stewed okra and potatoes, and a hearty, crowd-pleasing Taco Bake. These dishes come together quickly with simple, affordable ingredients—and they’re designed to satisfy everyone at the table. Along the way, Nicole shares smart, practical shopping tips to help you stretch your grocery budget further: start with proteins like canned tuna or chicken, add budget-friendly starches like rice, pasta, or potatoes, and round it out with veggies for fiber and nutrition. Fresh produce is great—but frozen is a smart, cost-effective swap when prices are high. Whether you’re cooking for a family or just planning ahead for the week, these dinners prove that great meals don’t have to cost a fortune.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00We're all still feeling the stress of the high grocery prices, and going through a drive-thru multiple times a week
00:04just is not feasible for me and my family.
00:06So today I'm giving you dirt cheap dinners.
00:08When my kids hit up Chick-fil-A or McDonald's or whatever, they cannot get out of there for less than like 13 bucks a person.
00:15We're not doing that.
00:16My goal today is to bring you a dinner you can feed your family for less than the price of one meal in a drive-thru.
00:21To me, it all starts with strategy and your shopping.
00:24So we're going to head to the store, and I'm going to show you how I do it.
00:27First thing I do is I start with my proteins.
00:29Inexpensive meat options are generally found in ground options, frozen, and fresh.
00:34Also found in the canned section like canned tuna, chicken, and salmon.
00:37Next I head to the items that are going to bulk up my meal.
00:40Those are the starches.
00:42Let's go.
00:43Rice, pasta, and potatoes are good options.
00:45Beans can also work here.
00:46Canned dough options such as biscuit, pizza, or crescent dough are awesome choices.
00:50And don't forget about bread products.
00:52They're used for way more than just sandwiches.
00:54Then you've got to hit up the vegetables.
00:56It's important to add veggies in for fiber and nutrition.
00:59The frozen aisle has the best options, and to me, they're the closest to fresh if fresh is too pricey.
01:04Things like onions and garlic are super cheap and should be considered pantry staples.
01:08You can definitely stretch out a meal like this and add great flavor for not a lot of money.
01:12When it comes to the canned vegetable options, I like corn and tomatoes.
01:16Otherwise, I prefer frozen over canned.
01:18We have a salad with almost every meal, and it's just a great way to add nutrition for not a lot of money.
01:23It is always cheaper to buy the whole head of lettuce versus the pre-chopped stuff.
01:27And the final component are ingredients that just tie it all together.
01:31Cream cheese or regular cheese or some of our favorite, the cream of soups.
01:36These are just a lot of ingredients combined into one.
01:39They're just savers.
01:40You need them in your pantry.
01:42I got all of this for right at like $30.
01:45However, if you have a stocked pantry and fridge, like I'm sure you do by now after watching so many of these videos,
01:53you could probably get all this for like $15.
01:55So while I'm able to nail these dinners down for your family for $10 a piece, that's like less than $3 a person,
02:02I bet you could even do it cheaper.
02:04I'm going to start with a chicken noodle casserole.
02:07This meal really is going to have a lot of protein, minimal ingredients, lots of flavor,
02:11and this is like your comfort meal of the week.
02:13And because I know you love a recipe, All Recipes has a million recipes for the ingredients that you have.
02:19So I found this recipe for chicken and pasta casserole with mixed vegetables.
02:23That's basically what I'm going to make.
02:24Although the recipe starts with like fresh chicken cut into chunks.
02:28I'm using this.
02:29I'm going to show you how we're going to make it work.
02:30I feel like everybody's probably made this before.
02:32You're going to start by cooking your pasta.
02:34Besides having budget constraints, we also have time constraints.
02:37So these recipes are also going to be for those who are short on time and money.
02:41Okay, I don't use canned chicken very much.
02:44Although if you're just simply opposed to this, you can totally get like chicken thighs are usually very cheap.
02:50And then the cream ofs.
02:51Now, I don't always love to use this because I have everything on hand to make cream of chicken at home.
02:58If you've got butter, if you've got flour, if you've got broth or milk or even water, you can do this.
03:03The goal is not to prove that I am a chef.
03:06Whenever I'm working with something canned, I always like to zhuzh it up.
03:09And you can do that with pantry staples.
03:11Things like mayonnaise, milk, cheeses that you have on hand.
03:15You know, just kind of like wakes up the canned things.
03:18About a quarter cup of cheese.
03:19Again, all this is optional.
03:21Also, I'm going to add in some cracked pepper.
03:24And then in with the mixed vegetables.
03:26You can switch up these veggies with things that you like.
03:28Now, all I've got to do is add in the pasta and throw it into the oven.
03:32You want it to be slightly creamier before you bake it.
03:36Then it's going to end up because it's going to absorb some as it cooks.
03:39I'm also going to add in some salt and pepper.
03:45All right.
03:46And then you can just stop right here.
03:48You can sprinkle it with a little more Parmesan cheese.
03:51I'm going to add a little topping.
03:52Melt a little butter.
03:53And then in the pantry always, Italian breadcrumbs.
03:58You could do crackers or chips.
04:01And then sprinkle it on top.
04:04This is a heavy pan and a lot of food for $10.
04:08Into the oven until it's browned and bubbly.
04:12Look at this.
04:13Wow.
04:15This is the perfect comfort meal right here.
04:18Look at that.
04:19This reminds me of my childhood.
04:22I mean, it's the complete meal.
04:23You got your meat, your veggies, all in one.
04:28I mean, it's like a cross between the tuna noodle casserole meets chicken pot pie.
04:40This will please the whole family.
04:41You know, you forget that we used canned chicken anyway.
04:44This is also more than four servings.
04:47It would feed my family of five with leftovers.
04:50I mean, less than two bucks a person.
04:53That's a dirt cheap dinner.
04:54Next up, jambalaya with stewed okra and tomatoes.
04:58Because I love okra.
04:59So it's kind of like gumbo meets jambalaya.
05:01So this one is three, four, five, like six dollars for the main thing.
05:08So I was able to get a side for another two dollars.
05:13So eight dollars for this.
05:17I found this sausage for two more dollars.
05:20So I might add some of that in.
05:21I don't know.
05:22A shortcut that I love here is the seasoning blend.
05:26And it has the trinity that you find in Cajun cooking, which is, you know, bell peppers,
05:31onions, and celery.
05:32And then it also has some parsley in there too.
05:35So I had the ingredients.
05:37I knew what I could make.
05:38Also went to allrecipes.com just to see if I can link a recipe for you.
05:43It is called Easy Cajun Jambalaya.
05:46So the only thing I'm doing to keep it budget friendly is that it calls for chicken and sausage.
05:51And I'm just using the sausage.
05:53I think for four people, one pound of this sausage is good.
05:56I have five in my family.
05:59So I'm just going to add in a little more and know that I'm still keeping it dirt cheap.
06:04That's the extent of the prep.
06:06Let's head to the stove.
06:07In with a little oil or butter, whatever you have.
06:09Bacon grease would be good here.
06:10All right, I'm going to go in with the sausage.
06:13And the fat is going to render out of it and kind of carry flavor throughout the whole dish.
06:17Brown that up a little bit.
06:19And then I'll add in the veggies, a lot of ingredients, no prep needed.
06:23Convenience products have their place.
06:25Onions and peppers are actually one of the easier vegetables to freeze.
06:29They keep their integrity for about a minute.
06:32And then I'll go in with the rice.
06:33All right.
06:34So you want to toast the rice up a little bit.
06:36Make sure that each grain of rice gets like coated in that oil.
06:41That way, when you go to cook it, it kind of stays separated a little bit.
06:45And I'm also going to add in a little flavor from the pantry.
06:49Some paprika for color.
06:52A little Cajun seasoning.
06:53A little Worcestershire.
06:55And a little hot sauce.
06:57Since I have two cups of rice, I need about four cups of liquid.
07:00So I'll do this plus like a can of water.
07:02All right.
07:02Just scrape up any bits from the bottom.
07:04We've cleaned the pot.
07:06I'm going to go in with a bay leaf and then just bring this up to a boil.
07:09Reduce it to a simmer.
07:10Cover it and let it go until all that liquid is absorbed.
07:13Since our main dish for the jambalaya is really just the meat and the starch, I'm going to incorporate a veggie side.
07:19And I'm going in with like a fifth of an onion.
07:23Maybe a little garlic too.
07:26Let that soften.
07:27And then I'm going in with my okra and tomatoes.
07:28I couldn't believe that this can of tomatoes was 52 cents.
07:33So these are pantry stables that don't go bad and they can, you know, help create a meal.
07:37Your future self thanks you for things like that.
07:41And then you just let this cook down until the okra is soft.
07:44This will be the perfect accompaniment to the jambalaya.
07:47I'm also going to season this with a little salt and pepper or whatever you want to do.
07:50You can add a little Cajun seasoning in here.
07:52You could add bacon.
07:53You can do whatever you want.
07:55Smelling like New Orleans.
07:57And the perfect accompaniment.
07:59This is my favorite kind of food.
08:01If you know me, you already know that.
08:03My stewed okra and tomatoes right on the side.
08:07I'm going to add a little hot sauce to everything.
08:18This does not taste like a budget meal.
08:21At all.
08:22This is also our cheapest one of the day.
08:24This meal is less than $10.
08:25We're talking $8 or $9 and easily feeds six people.
08:29$1.25, $1.50 per person.
08:32That's a dirt cheap dinner.
08:33Now it's time for my taco bake.
08:35Now this one might be our most expensive one of the day.
08:38But it still comes in under the cost of my daughter's order from Chick-fil-A.
08:43Right around $13 for this one.
08:45And it's also because I bought everything needed for it.
08:48I am going to add in a little bit of chopped onion.
08:52If you wanted to factor that in.
08:53You're looking at like 30 cents or something.
08:56I want to make this mixture a little bit saucy.
08:58So you can do that a couple different ways.
09:00To keep it within budget.
09:02I got a can of like chili tomatoes.
09:03Or you could do something like Rotel or whatever the store brand is.
09:07This is like 60 cents.
09:09Or you could do salsa.
09:11If you want to like serve it with salsa at the end.
09:13You can get like a bigger jar of salsa.
09:14And put like half in this mixture.
09:16And then half on the side.
09:18So this came in at still under $2.
09:20But it's your choice here.
09:21I'm also adding refried beans.
09:23When you mix this in with just a pound of meat.
09:25It really stretches the meat.
09:27It still keeps it like bulky and hearty and filling.
09:30I'm going to start with my onion.
09:32Let those start for a minute.
09:33And then in goes your ground meat.
09:35Again I'm using ground turkey.
09:37You could also do chicken.
09:38You could do beef.
09:39But your turkey is going to be like one of your cheapest options.
09:42Ground turkey doesn't get as dark as ground beef.
09:45But we're going to fix that by adding in all the flavor.
09:48And then instead of all the water.
09:49I'm going in with the tomatoes.
09:51And to bulk it up.
09:53The refried beans.
09:54It makes the whole mixture like really creamy.
09:57And then if you need to add a little water or salsa at this point.
10:01Do it.
10:01You want it to be saucy yet thick.
10:04So now what we're going to make is like a taco lasagna.
10:08I'm going to like pretty heavily butter the bottom of my dish.
10:12So because I've got a square dish.
10:13I want to try to make like straight sides on my tortillas.
10:16So I'm going to cut them in half.
10:18And kind of layer them in.
10:20And then in goes our taco mixture.
10:22Each layer is going to be your meat and bean mixture.
10:26And then a little sprinkle of cheese.
10:27So you can use as many tortillas depending on the size of your casserole dish.
10:32You'll be able to get like four to five layers.
10:34All right.
10:35That's it.
10:36Into the oven.
10:37375.
10:39Till it's all browned and bubbly.
10:41You know the drill.
10:41When it comes to serving this, you want to top it however you like to top your tacos.
10:46For my family, we love like lots of lettuce.
10:49So that's kind of my veggie here also.
10:52I bought that, you know, whole head for $2.
10:54Won't even use it all.
10:56And then whatever you have in your fridge.
10:57Sometimes I'll just do a little like hot sauce.
11:00Maybe a little sour cream.
11:01Whatever you're feeling.
11:04Like most casseroles, you should probably wait a little bit before you serve it.
11:08But who's got that kind of time?
11:11You can kind of see the layers of tortilla with all the cheesy, meaty goodness.
11:16This is a great meal to do in advance.
11:19You can even like bake it off and then freeze it like this.
11:21And then just cut it and serve it.
11:23And I'm going to put my toppings right on top like I would my tacos.
11:26This is a very hearty serving.
11:28And there's five to six servings in here.
11:31Comes out to like less than $3 a person.
11:34Even though it's our most expensive dinner, it's still a dirt cheap dinner.
11:37Perfect bite.
11:38You're like, I eat this kind of stuff all the time.
11:48How could this be any different?
11:50But the way it just like cooks together.
11:52Those beans make it so like creamy.
11:55There's a ton of flavor in this.
11:57A little kick of spice.
11:58It's like the ultimate burrito bake meets enchiladas.
12:01It's filling, it's hearty, it's so full of flavor.
12:03This is like the most satisfying dirt cheap dinner I've ever had.
12:09Even with grocery prices the way they are, I hope I've still proven that you can eat on a budget dirt cheap dinners for the win.
12:16Remember the key to serving up delicious meals on a budget is kind of sticking to that formula.
12:22You've got your protein, your starches, your veggies, and the ingredient that ties it all together.
12:27If you can remember that when you shop, I guarantee you can feed your family delicious dirt cheap dinners without having to get in your car and go to a drive-thru.
12:35We did it.
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