Cheap Meals For When You Are Broke (2024)

Most of us have had at least one time in our life when we were downright broke and need the best cheap foods. It’s not just college students who suffer. There are times when we are almost too broke to eat and need some extremely cheap meals.

When it comes down to it, what are the cheapest foods to buy?

Whether it was when you were a starving student, a single mom, couldn’t work for a time, or had more month than money, there may be a time in your life when you ask yourself what to eat when you are broke. If you need meals when you have no money, you’ve come to the right place for ideas.

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CHEAP IDEAS FOR MEALS CAN HELP YOU WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH

There have been many times in my life where the only place in our budget that I could make room was our food budget. We’ve had times where it almost felt like we were too broke to eat, especially before I discovered the life changing power of blogging and making money from home.

So, I’ve learned to be creative with cheap meal ideas. Because you still want to be able to eat food when you’re broke. Not only do our bodies need it, somehow it brings us a little joy in the middle of financial troubles.

Don’t get discouraged during these times. It can really pay off (literally!) to eat a “rice & beans” diet for a short time to avoid going into debt.

The last time we had to pull out all the stops on our grocery budget was last year when my husband spent 8 weeks at school for his apprenticeship. We were determined to get through the 8 weeks without putting anything on our credit cards even though we were not pulling in a full-time income.

Thanks in part to cutting back on our groceries, we were successful.

Other great money saving posts:

COUPONS HELPED US TOO

Even though there aren’t a ton of savings when it comes to couponing here in Canada, every little bit helped and I was sure to use what coupons I could find.

SAVE BY PLANNING AND BEING PREPARED

Early on in my frugal living journey I discovered the more I was prepared, the more I saved money in the kitchen.

If I had to guess, I would say that:

YOU want to save big money and you know that the way you grocery shop and cook can be a step forward to your own personal financial freedom.
You want to do all that you can to save extra money for your family so you can pay your bills, live within your means, maybe take a trip or buy a big ticket item. Maybe you want to pay down debt.

That’s why everyone needs a good recipe book full of FRUGAL recipes. Recipes you can make with CHEAP ingredients. The Budget Bytes Cookbook is full of recipes like that.

Also, they have a website with many recipes as well.

This list below of cheap dinner ideas aren’t necessarily the healthiest but they are some of the cheapest things to eat when you’re broke. Hopefully these are not the only things you will need to eat for the long-term, but many of these meals include the cheapest food to buy on a budget.

when you are broke and you are just going through a season of hard times you do what you have to do to get through. And sometimes that means less healthy meals.

When you get back on your feet again or have a little more disposable income you will be able to add more nutrient packed meals to your diet. Still, some of these cheap meals do offer a good dose of nutrition.

From the list of food ideas below you can make one each day for lunch and one each day for dinner and you’ve got yourself a super cheap meal plan for a week or two. After you’ve made them all you can start all over again if you like. These are also excellent ideas for those with large families.

HOW TO GET FOOD WHEN YOU HAVE NO MONEY

But what if you have absolutely NO money for food? That’s when you need to look to your community for help. If you live in the US you can acquire food stamps from your local SNAP office to help you during tough times. If you live in Canada you can go to a food bank and they will give you some food to help get you through.

So, what should you make when you are broke and need to shop for the cheapest food to buy on a budget?

Rice & Beans.

Okay. You knew this would be on the list. Let’s just get it out of the way. Don’t let rice and beans scare you. This is actually one of my kids’ favorites and it’s an easy meal. We mix black beans in rice, add salsa and maybe some cheese and it tastes delicious! For added nutrition use brown rice as one of your main ingredients instead of white rice.

Frittatas.

We have chickens so there are always a lot of eggs around here. But even if you don’t have chickens eggs are pretty cheap. Frittatas are so versatile. Just add any kind of vegetables you have in your fridge. My favorite frittata is tomatoes, spinach, and onion.

Poor Man’s Supper.

This is a favorite at our house. Fry up some diced potatoes, onions, and chopped up hot dogs. Season with garlic, salt, and pepper. Then pick out the onions for your kids. Or is that just a thing at my house? Either way this is a great idea with basic ingredients that you probably have on hand.

Potato Soup.

Potato soup can be as simple or as fancy as your budget and tastes allow. All you need for the bases is potatoes, broth, and onions. Depending on how much money you have you can add bacon, cream, and cheese. Bake a nice, homemade loaf of bread to go with it.

Pasta.

Pasta is super cheap. And delicious. We add hamburger meat to our sauce for a more hearty meal with some protein, but there have been times we have had to forego the meat. The kids never seemed to mind. It was still yummy. 🙂

Loaded Baked Potatoes.

Make up a baked potato bar so that everyone can put on their own toppings. You can use whatever you have on hand. Broccoli and cheese. Chili. Sour cream and cheese. The options are endless. Use sweet potatoes for more nutritional value if the budget allows.

Fried Spaghetti.

If you have leftover spaghetti, fry it up with some garlic, olive oil, and salt. Some people like to put a bit of sauce in too, but I prefer it without. This is actually one of those meals that is a guilty pleasure for me. I don’t care how much money I have, I will always make room for fried spaghetti in my life.

Squash Soup.

Squash, broth, and onions will make the most comforting soup. We eat this in the Fall, but it would be delicious any time of the year. I’ve seen different recipes include things such as apples, bacon, parsnips, and carrots in squash soup. Pair this with some homemade bread.

Sandwiches.

Egg salad, peanut butter, meat, tuna, salmon, cream cheese and cucumber, etc. The sky is the limit here. My mom used to make us soup and sandwiches when were kids and she would cut up all the sandwiches and put them on a plate in the middle of the table.

I don’t know why, but they just tasted better this way. Whatever is on sale that week at your local grocery store, add it to your grocery list to make it the weekly sandwich option.

Eggs & Toast.

This is a meal that is perfect any time of the day, not just for breakfast. And if you are lucky enough to have your own chickens and make your own bread, it’s a pretty cheap meal.

Pancakes.

Pancakes for lunch or dinner? Why not? My kids LOVE when I make pancakes, no matter what time of day. When we eat pancakes for dinner it feels like a big treat. The bonus? Pancakes are insanely cheap to make.

Oatmeal.

Again, oatmeal once in awhile for dinner never did anyone any harm. Actually, oatmeal is extremely healthy, and it’s fast to make. Oats are definitely one of those cheap foods to buy when you are broke. You can add a ton of toppings to spruce it up like fruit, or cinnamon, or raisins – or eat it plain. Either way, it’s so frugal.

Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup.

We love to buy a whole chicken and then stretch them to make a few meals out of them. If you have some leftover chicken it’s a great time to make chicken noodle soup.

All you really need is some chicken, some egg noodles, maybe some carrots and onions (though, you could do without those too) and some broth – which you can make yourself from the chicken bones. You could also try making this with ramen noodles if that’s all you have.

So there are 13 cheap meals to get you going the next time you are feeling like you may be too broke to eat and the only place to cut is your grocery bill. Funny enough, when we are on our tightest budget our kids talk about how delicious the food is.

No one in this house ever seems to complain when we are on a rice & beans type of budget because they have full bellies and they actually enjoy the most frugal meals we can make.

The list above also qualifies as some cheap student meals. So if you are a poor college or university student, try a few of the meals above. I also have a super cheap family meal plan for those of you who have a whole crew to feed. A cheap family meal plan is just what you need to beat inflation.

COOKBOOKS WITH CHEAP MEALS

If you are looking for a little more help for what kinds of meals to make when you are broke don’t forget to check out the Budget Bytes cookbook. It’s one of those recipe books you’ll pull out again and again, especially when payday feels like a long way away! It uses cheaper foods that you can buy to make cheap family meals.

I also love this 5 dollar meal plan option. All you do is pay 5 dollars a month, and each week they send you a weekly meal plan. I know there have been times I have wasted too much time and money on dinner because I didn’t have time to meal plan and prepare.

This 5 dollar meal plan does it for you, along with recipes and shopping lists. Oh, and they also have a 14 day free trial so you can test it out.

I hope these cheap meals help you stay within what may be a tight budget right now and will help fill your belly when you are broke.