Budget Meals
The cheapest meals worth cooking — filling dinners for students and anyone stretching a tight budget, built from pantry staples like lentils, beans, eggs, rice, and pasta. Minimal equipment, no waste, and genuinely good food for a couple of dollars.
- Budget-friendly
Bean and Rice Burritos
Bean and rice burritos — seasoned beans, rice, and cheese wrapped in a tortilla. Cheap, filling, freezer-friendly, and endlessly customizable.
⏱ 25 min - Budget-friendly
Better Baked Beans on Toast
Better baked beans on toast — canned beans quickly dressed up and piled on buttered toast with cheese. The cheapest, fastest hot meal there is.
⏱ 7 min - Budget-friendly
Budget Chickpea Curry
Budget chickpea curry — canned chickpeas simmered in a spiced tomato-coconut sauce over rice. A cheap, filling, meat-free dinner from pantry staples.
⏱ 30 min - Budget-friendly
Easy Lentil Soup
Easy lentil soup — cheap dried lentils simmered with onion, carrot, and spices into a hearty, filling pot. A few dollars feeds you for days.
⏱ 40 min - Budget-friendly
Easy Tuna Pasta
Easy tuna pasta — canned tuna, pasta, and a few pantry bits tossed into a fast, cheap, filling meal. The reliable last-few-dollars dinner.
⏱ 17 min - Budget-friendly
Peanut Butter Noodles
Peanut butter noodles — noodles tossed in a quick, savoury peanut sauce from pantry staples. A 15-minute, dirt-cheap meal that tastes like takeout.
⏱ 15 min - Budget-friendly
Spanish Potato Omelette (Tortilla)
Spanish potato omelette — potatoes and eggs cooked into a thick, golden tortilla. Cheap, filling, and just as good hot or cold, for days.
⏱ 35 min - Budget-friendly
Upgraded Instant Ramen
Upgraded instant ramen — a pack of instant noodles transformed with an egg, greens, and a few pantry add-ins. The student classic, made genuinely good.
⏱ 13 min
Cooking for one? See meals for one. Feeding a family? Our family meals. Ready to level up? Our Chef's Table recipes. Or find out what you can make with what you've got.