Can you guess the secret to creating cheap, quick meals? There are just certain ingredients that make dinner time more efficient and less expensive. You can even stock your home with pantry staples on a budget!

This well-stocked pantry list will help you create frugal, healthy, and quick meals. You can keep these cheap food staples on hand to make dinner time much easier. This post may contain affiliate links. You can view my full disclosure policy here.

So many varieties to choose from and an endless amount of meal possibilities! Click here to sign up for Ibotta! Signing up on the app instead? Use code uwhaflc to receive your bonus. Dry beans are inexpensive as well, but for quick meals, nothing beats canned.

Here are some to keep on hand:. Tomatoes are so useful and versatile in everything from spaghetti to chili and beyond. Be sure your pantry includes:. RELATED: How to do a Pantry Challenge to Save Money on Groceries This Week.

Premade stock makes so many dinners faster and easier. Some varieties include:. Some of the best frugal pantry staples are for making baked goods.

Here are some ideas:. If you really want to make it easy, buy some baking mix such as Bisquick. You can make everything from pancakes to biscuits, muffins, blondies, and even as a coating for chicken.

Nothing jazzes up dinner like some flavorful sauces and condiments. You can make sauces out of:. You can use condensed soups to make a huge array of cheap pantry meals. Another one of the best budget pantry staples is tortillas. They have a much longer shelf life than a loaf of bread, but can be used for anything from tacos to individual pizzas.

A spaghetti dinner can come together super quickly with the use of a jar of pasta sauce. You can always doctor it up with more spices or fresh ingredients if you want.

Believe it or not, you can make more than just mashed potatoes with these. Egg noodles are great because they are super cheap and can be used with just sauce or with meats or in a variety of different casseroles or dishes.

Many people recommend storing pasta sauces for your pantry list. With canned tomatoes, you can use them for soups, chili, pasta sauces, other sauces, casseroles, pizza and more. If you can your diet allows , start with basic rice and then add in more expensive items like quinoa.

UP NEXT: How To Save Money On Groceries Without Clipping Coupons! I know this is going to sound like a broken record, but dried beans are also an important as frugal pantry staples for the same reasons as rice and pasta: price, long-term shelf stable, great fillers for recipes, and they make us feel full.

Many pantry lists recommend you store broth like the kind you get in a carton. Getting some fresh-tasting, healthy food pantry items is important. TIP: Always choose pantry items that have multiple purposes. For example, green beans can be eaten alone, but also used in soups and casseroles.

Remember, along with sweet treats like cookies, cupcakes, and cakes, baked goods are also bread, cornbread, tortillas, biscuits and so many more items that you can save money by making from scratch. Oats are another great pantry item because you can use them for breakfast or dinner and they have several purposes — eating alone, binding agents for dishes think: meatloaf , baking and more!

Can I be honest? This list will give you a start and you can even build full meals off of just what is listed here! You must be logged in to post a comment. STOCKED PANTRY TIPS CHEAP MEALS RECIPES FRUGAL PANTRY COOKING BLOG. Affiliate links are used on this site.

DRIED HERBS | SPICES CHICKEN STOCK | BOUILLON VINEGAR

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Discounted food pantry essentials - PASTA DRIED HERBS | SPICES CHICKEN STOCK | BOUILLON VINEGAR

is also a great way to bulk up your meals at a very low cost. Thankfully, buying items that are readily available, last a long time, and are versatile will eliminate that waste. Buying canned food items is a great option to reduce this waste.

While canned food items have a long shelf life, food safety still applies. Food manufacturers usually suggest storing canned foods for no longer than a year. However, tomato products can last for around 18 months and low-acid foods such as canned vegetables are storable for over two years.

And use your eyes as a guide, too. So, get to stocking up that pantry. Limitless affordable menu-planning opportunities await!

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Make Sure Your k Is On the Right Track. Estate Planning Health Care Insurance Long-Term Care Social Security. IRA vs. Retirement Tools for Everyone: Freelancers, Employees and Business Owners. Of course, you can also use brown rice to make fried rice or stir fry. For quicker meal prep, cook up a big batch of rice and freeze it for later, or look for pre-cooked rice that only needs a few seconds in the microwave to be plate-ready.

Beans are a great way to add protein to any meal — and they're cheap. While dried beans are a few cents cheaper, canned beans are more convenient because they're ready to use in an instant. Either is worth stocking, depending on the time you have.

Any beans — like black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, or white beans — can be used to replace meat in your meals, like in a black bean burger.

Beans are also a great addition to soups , stews , and chilis. They can be cooked with ground beef or other meats to stretch a pound to feed five or six instead of three or four.

Traditional pasta sauce isn't only for spaghetti — although that's a quick and easy weeknight meal. You can use leftover marinara sauce to make stuffed peppers , chicken Parmesan , meatloaf , pizza, and so much more. Next time you're at the store grab the multipack of sauce; it will save you extra money and provide you with multiple meals for the month.

Canned meat, like chicken, salmon, and tuna, is a great alternative for fresh meats. And it's a non-perishable item that will last significantly longer than fresh meat would, even in your freezer. Canned tuna can be used to make sandwiches, salads, and casseroles.

While canned chicken can be used for soups, salads, and, of course, dips. Combine with a bit of breading, spices, and egg for fast and flavorful cakes or patties.

Stock is a common ingredient in soups, sauces, and casseroles. You can also use chicken stock to flavor your rice or other grains and sautéed vegetables. And a bit of stock can help you stretch soups and sauces if you need a bit more for a full meal.

Peanut butter is an inexpensive and versatile ingredient because it can be used in every meal of the day. From smoothies to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to peanut butter noodles , and tons of peanut butter desserts, the jar in your pantry will certainly not go to waste.

And if you have a peanut allergy, you can substitute other nut butters, like almond butter , in many recipes. So many recipes start with oil, and for typical cooking applications, a standard olive oil is all you'll need. But buying a high-quality extra-virgin olive oil is important if you plan to make no-cook dishes, salad dressings, and sauces.

Why's that? Cheap olive oils taste like bad olives. Do you stock these cheap pantry staples? You should! Because these basic staples will help you make easy homemade meals fast! Keeping your kitchen stocked with cheap, basic pantry items is key to saving money on your grocery bill because it allows you to more easily make your own meals at home.

So I put together this list of the top basic food staples that I try to keep on hand at all times. FLOUR One of the mainstays if you plan to cook or bake from scratch!

Not only do I use this in many of my baked goods, but I also frequently use to create roux to thicken soups and sauces. SUGAR White, Brown and Confectioners I make most of our desserts from scratch, so I like to keep all three kinds of sugar on hand. OATMEAL While I use oatmeal a lot for baking hello Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars!

Two of our favorites are Easy Basic Homemade Granola , Simple Chocolate Granola and Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal. YEAST Keeping this on hand allows me to save money and mix up my own homemade pizza crust or homemade bread and rolls, any time I want! BAKING POWDER BAKING SODA I love baking and since most cookies, cakes and brownies require baking powder or baking soda, I make sure to always keep them in my pantry!

A few of our favorite easy desserts are Chocolate Chip Blonde Brownies , Best Ever Chocolate Cake and Easy Apple Dumpling Dessert. COCOA POWDER I love using cocoa powder to get my chocolate fix with baked goods, Easy 3 Ingredient Healthy Fudge or even homemade hot cocoa.

It is also great for things like Super Easy Homemade Chocolate Syrup and homemade Peppermint Mocha Frappes. PEANUT BUTTER From peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to energy bites to baked goods to Healthy Peanut Butter Fruit Dip , this is one of those inexpensive versatile ingredients that is just smart to keep on hand!

Plus, if you need a quick pick-me-up, a spoonful of peanut butter with a few chocolate chips does the trick perfectly. OIL Besides the traditional uses in baking and frying, I also use oil for making my own salad dressings and vinaigrettes.

One of our favorite homemade dressings is my easy Mexican Dressing. RICE This is probably one of the most frugal pantry items and very versatile too, plus a little bit of uncooked rice ends up being quite a lot once cooked! Rice can stand alone by itself as a side dish and of course, is delicious in main dishes as well.

I love using beans to make Creamy White Chicken Chili , 5 Minute Bean Dip and these Easy Mexican Rice Bowls. Making your own Homemade Refried Beans is so easy and cheap too!

Super Easy Beef and Macaroni Skillet is one of my go-to recipes for busy days. We also love this No Boil Lasagna recipe too! DRIED HERBS SPICES Dried herbs and spices are a great way to add flavor to your recipes. And while I occasionally buy fresh herbs, using dried is much more economical and they last much longer too!

A few of the ones that I use regularly: basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, red pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg. CHICKEN STOCK BOUILLON Chicken stock is a common ingredient in soups and casseroles and is super easy to make yourself!

I also like to keep bouillon on hand since some recipes call for that instead. Also, if I happen to be out of liquid chicken stock, I can always use the bouillon to make some- although the stock made using bouillon is not nearly as tasty or as good for you as the real thing!

VINEGAR This is another ingredient that I use to make homemade salad dressings. I also use it for various other recipes and it works great as a natural cleaner too! SALSA I have quite a few Mexican-inspired dishes that call for salsa, so I like to always keep this on hand.

chips and salsa! DICED TOMATOES These are super inexpensive and way cheaper than buying fresh tomatoes. I love using them in recipes to give a bit of added flavor and color.

And I even show you how to can diced tomatoes yourself if you want to try that. PASTA SAUCE I know making your own pasta sauce is pretty easy, but since I can buy it so inexpensively, I prefer to just do that.

Pasta sauce is great for a quick meal of meatball subs, pizza, spaghetti or, lasagna to mention just a few. KETCHUP, MUSTARD, MAYO Okay, so maybe I should have listed these 3 things separately. I use many more condiments than these, but these are the three that I think every kitchen should for sure stock.