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15 Easy Pantry Dinner Ideas

January 21, 2021 By: Sweet Frugal Lifecomment

Check out these kid friendly easy cheap dinner ideas!

This month I have been participating in a January Pantry Challenge.  My goal has been to save some extra money by eating the food I already have at home and spending less at the store.  This is not always an easy task, but I love the challenge and pushing myself out of my comfort zone!  As I’ve been trying to cut my grocery expenses I’ve found a few pantry dinner ideas that I am so excited to share with you!

How To Stock A Frugal Pantry

I love having my pantry, freezer, and cupboards stocked with a few of our every day staples.  Having a well stocked pantry makes it much easier to throw together a few easy pantry dinner ideas, without having to go to the store.

The best way to stock up your pantry is to buy a few extra of the items you would normally be buying anyways.  For example, when I need ketchup, I’ll buy 3 bottles of ketchup, rather than just 1.  This gives me the extra food on hand, that I know I buy and use regularly.

When stocking your frugal pantry, try to focus on buying frugal friendly food items.  A few of my favorites are:

  • Flour
  • Sugar
  • Pasta
  • Oatmeal
  • Vinegar
  • Beans
  • Eggs
  • Potatoes
  • Popcorn

Related:  Cheap Foods to Buy For a Well Stocked Pantry

pantry dinner ideas - easy dinner ideas for picky eaters

Easy Pantry Dinner Ideas

Alright!  Let’s get to it!  Here are a few of my easy pantry dinner ideas.  I hope they will inspire you to use food that you already have at home to put together a few easy dinner ideas.

Most of these dinner ideas are kid friendly and easy to customize and change to your personal eating preference.

1.  Taco Soup

Taco soup is the perfect pantry dinner to throw together using ingredients you already have at home.  It’s really easy to throw together whatever you happen to have in your fridge to make this soup.

Use chicken, beef, or beans (or a combination of all three!) as the base for your soup.  Then, add in onions, tomatoes, corn, taco seasoning, and whatever else sounds good to you for a nice, warm, and hearty taco soup.

*My favorite taco soup recipe is included in my Mel’s Home Cooking recipe ebook!

2.  Pasta Bake

Looking for an incredibly easy-impossible to fail-quick to fix pantry dinner idea????  This easy pasta bake is just what you need!  You only need 4 ingredients to throw it together, and one of them is water (seriously.)!  You can find this easy Pasta Bake Recipe here!

3.  Chili With Cornbread Waffles

Have a can of chili sitting in a cupboard and some cornmeal?  Make chili with cornbread waffles!  This is my kids favorite cheap and easy dinner!

To make chili with cornbread waffles, you will first need to heat up a can of chili over the stove on medium-high heat.

While the chili is warming up, make your cornbread waffles using the recipe below.

 

Cornbread Waffles

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 cup buttermilk if you do not have buttermilk just mix 1 Tbsp vinegar into 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions
 

  • In large mixer cream together the sugar and oil.
  • Add eggs and milk and mix well.
  • In separate bowl stir together the baking soda, flour, cornmeal, and salt.
  • Add all at once to egg mixture and mix until smooth.
  • Pour batter onto waffle iron and cook until lightly golden brown.
  • Serve with chili and cheese on top.

Serve the chili on top of the cornbread waffles and sprinkle with cheese.  You will now be your kids favorite person, seriously.

4.  Spaghetti With Garlic Toast

Spaghetti is one of the easiest pantry dinners around!  Have a box of spaghetti noodles and a jar of spaghetti sauce???  All it takes is a few minutes to warm them up on the stove and, boom dinner is ready!

I like to serve spaghetti with a side of garlic toast, which is so easy to make!  Get out a few bread slices from a loaf of bread and spread butter on top and then sprinkle it with garlic salt.  Cook the bread slices on a cookie sheet, under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until brown and toasty.  That’s it!  Garlic toast is a great side for a family friendly dinner.

5.  Burrito Bowl

Burrito bowls are a perfect way to use up ingredients you have sitting in your fridge and pantry.  Layer your burrito bowl with rice on the bottom, and layering with beans, cheese, seasonings.  Top your burrito bowl with your favorite toppings.

A few topping suggestions are:  tomato’s, salsa, sour cream, tortilla chips, lettuce, corn, avocado, cilantro, ranch dressing, and anything else that sounds good to you!

6.  Sloppy Joes

Another great pantry dinner idea is to make sloppy joes.  Sloppy joes can easily be made with some ground beef and a few other pantry staples.  This is a very freezer friendly meal, so I will double the recipe and then freeze half for another day.

  • Related:  19 Foods You Didn’t Know You Could Freeze

These are best served on hamburger buns, but we have used a regular loaf of bread when in a pinch.  All about pantry friendly here!

*My favorite Sloppy Joes recipe is available in the Mel’s Home Cooking ebook.

7.  Tomato Soup With Cheese Toast

We always keep a can of tomato soup stocked in our pantry for nights when I’m to tired, or busy, to make a big dinner.  It only takes a few minutes (and hardly any effort!) to heat up some tomato soup over the stove

I love to serve tomato soup with a side of cheese toast.  Make cheese toast by placing some cheese onto slices of bread and then cooking them on a cookie sheet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

8.  Tacos

Tacos is another quick and easy dinner you can throw together using pantry ingredients.  Make your tacos using any meat you happen to have at home, such as chicken, pork, or beef.

To make tacos just cook your meat over the stove.  Once cooked add 1/2 cup water and a packet of taco seasoning.

If you don’t have a packet of taco seasoning in your pantry, that’s ok!  You can make it yourself!  Check out my favorite taco seasoning recipe below!

Easy Taco Seasoning Mix

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions
 

  • In small bowl mix all ingredients together.
  • Use 2 Tbsp taco seasoning mix in replace of 1 packet of taco seasoning.
  • Store seasoning in a tupperware container or jar in your pantry.

 

Cook and stir your meat with taco seasoning and water until the water has cooked off, about 5 minutes.

Serve in tortillas with your favorite toppings.  We love cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

9.   Homemade Pizza

We love homemade pizza at our house!  Use this homemade pizza dough recipe to make the crust, and then top it with your favorite toppings, or whatever you have in your pantry.  

Get creative!  You can use barbecue sauce, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, or even Thai sauce.  For toppings try different kinds of cheeses, vegetables and meats. 

If you don’t feel like making homemade pizza dough, you can even use French bread, biscuits or tortillas to make your pizzas.  Find out how here:  Easy Pizza Alternatives.

10.  Bean Burritos

Another great pantry dinner idea is to make bean burritos!  This is a very quick and easy meal to prepare, and they are freezer friendly!  (yay, I love freezer friendly!) 

To make bean burritos just mix beans (we use black or pinto beans), cheese, rice, and taco seasoning together.  Place mixture on tortillas and gently roll up.

Heat your burrito in the microwave or oven and serve!  Easy peasy!

11.  Stir Fry

Stir fry is another dinner staple at our house!  It’s the perfect meal to make on busy days.  The three steps to a good stir fry are vegetables, protein, and sauce.

Choose whichever protein and vegetables you have in your home already.  A few protein suggestions are:  chicken, beef and shrimp.  There are so many vegetables that make a great stir fry, such as:  peppers, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, mushrooms and peas.

Sauté your protein in a large frying pan.  Add vegetables and continue to sauté until cooked.  Next, add sauce and stir together.  Cook and stir for a few more minutes until sauce has thickened.

Serve your stir fry over rice or noodles, whichever is in your pantry.

My favorite stir fry sauce is included in my Mel’s Home Cooking eCookbook, but I also really like this 3 ingredient stir fry sauce.

12.  Stroganoff

Stroganoff is another simple and pantry friendly dinner.  You can whip up some stroganoff with ground beef, sour cream, cream of chicken soup mix and some seasonings.  Serve it over noodles or eat it Idaho style, served over a baked potato!  Yum!

13.  Breakfast for Dinner

My kids love when I make breakfast for dinner.  It’s such an easy, fun dinner to make when your pantry is feeling bare.  We love to make waffles, pancakes, eggs and a smoothie for Saturday night dinners once or twice a month.

14.  Twice Baked Potatoes

I grew up on an Idaho potato farm, so potatoes are always a staple at my house.  They are so cheap, easy and filling!

Twice baked potatoes are a great way to make a filling meal out of ingredients you probably already have at home.  I love this recipe from Ree Drummond.

15.  Quesadillas

Have some tortillas and cheese???  Make quesadillas for dinner!  You can customize your quesadilla in whichever way you want!  We use salsa, beans, chicken, onions, peppers and green chilis.

A fun way to serve quesadillas is to set out all of the ingredients you have to make them for a quesadilla bar.  Let everyone fill, and customize their own tortilla and cook on the griddle.

Save Money and Cook At Home

I hope these pantry meal ideas gave you some inspiration for cooking without having to go to the store.  Cooking dinner using your pantry ingredients is a great way to save extra money on groceries. 

Remember, to try to use the foods that you already have at home.  If a recipe calls for something you don’t already have, be creative and find a good substitute, do not run to the grocery store!  Because we all know if we go to the grocery store for “just one thing” we always leave with more (is that just me????).

Related Articles:

How a Pantry Challenge Will Save You Money

Best Ways To Store Produce To Keep It Fresh Longer

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Pin this article for future reference:

easy dinners to make from the pantry ingredients - easy dinner ideas for homemade cooking

easy dinner ideas when cupboard is bare - quick to fix family dinners

I hope you enjoyed these easy pantry dinner ideas!

Restock Your Pantry after a Pantry Challenge

February 1, 2019 By: Sweet Frugal Lifecomment

Pantry Challenge Tips

I recently completed a successful pantry challenge.  The goal was to cut my regular monthly grocery budget ($400) in half.  By doing this we would focus on eating the items I already had stocked in my freezer and pantry.

Fortunately, I had many friends on Instagram join me in this challenge.  I loved watching all of the progress and having a group to encourage each other and share all our frugal ideas.  Be sure to check out this article if you want to have your own pantry challenge and save money with a pantry challenge.

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What’s Next?

My most asked question about this challenge has been, “Will you spend a lot of money on groceries in February to restock the pantry?”  The answer is No.  That would defeat the whole purpose of the challenge.  Today’s article is going to explain how I will slowly restock my pantry while staying in budget!

ways to restock your pantry and stay in budget

Here are five ways I slowly restock my pantry:

1.  Budget for the Pantry

I have a weekly budget dedicated to pantry stock up.  My current budgeted amount for pantry stock up is $15 per week.  This pantry money is taken out of our $100 weekly grocery budget.  Because it has been budgeted and planned for, restocking doesn’t require any extra money or stress, just the way I like it!

Some weeks the pantry budget is spent at local sales.  Other times it’s stashed away to save for another week.  It all depends on our current needs.

2.  Buy Multiples

Next, get into the habit of buying multiple items at the grocery store.  The way I see it, if I’m going to buy one item, and I have a few extra dollars in my budget, than I might as well grab a few more.

I do 90% of my shopping using Walmart’s Free Grocery Pick (get $10 off your first order using this link).  I love this service for about 1 million reasons (really), but a huge reason is the ability to watch my grocery total as I add and subtract items to my order.  Whenever I am below my budgeted $100/week, I will add on a few more pantry staples.  As a result, this helps my pantry to grow and keeps me in budget.

3.  Buy in Bulk

Watch for opportunities to buy grocery items in bulk.  Many groceries will be priced much lower if it is bought in bulk, but not all.  Remember to always check the price per unit to make sure you are getting the best deal.

One of the ways I shop in bulk is by shopping local grocery case lot sales.  To find a case lot sale near you be sure to talk to your local grocer.  In many areas these sales might be called different names or even unadvertised.  So, don’t give up easily!

Another way I love buying in bulk is through a meat co-op.  I have recently started buying my chicken from Savory Butcher.  Their chicken is priced right and are delicious high quality.  If you need some direction of what to do with your bulk chicken read my article; What to do with your bulk chicken; including 6 Freezer Chicken Recipes.

4.  Shop Sales

One of my favorite ways to restock a pantry is by shopping the sales and deals.

My favorite app to check for deals is the Flipp app.  It is completely free to download and extremely user friendly, just the way I like it!

The app is updated weekly as the new grocery ads come available.  I browse it every week to find what the sales are and plan my menus/pantry stock up around those deals.  Many weeks I can’t find anything worth buying, but other times I find some really great deals worth buying.

  • Related:  10 Quick Ways to Lower your Grocery Bill

5.  Take Advantage of Cashback

Always, ALWAYS take advantage of the cashback apps available!  These are not huge money savers, but every.single.little.penny adds up.  For example; whenever I see my husband throwing away a receipt without scanning it for cashback I ask him, “Would you throw 25 cents in the trash???”   Of course he wouldn’t.  But essentially you are losing out on free money if you toss a receipt without first scanning it into the apps.

A few of my favorite cashback apps for grocery shopping are:.

Ibotta:  This is my most used app.  Ibotta offers cashback on hundreds of items every time you scan your grocery receipt.  My favorite cashback offers are the “any brand” items.  These offers include items in the dairy, produce, and other grocery departments.

*If you sign up for Ibotta using my link you will receive  a free $10 bonus!

Checkout 51:  Checkout 51 is similar to Ibotta, in that it gives cashback on participating items when you scan your receipt.  However, they don’t have as many offers as Ibotta, but it is still always worth checking.                                                                                                                        

*If you sign up using this link you will receive $3 when you redeem your first offer.

Fetch Rewards:  Fetch Rewards is so easy!  This is by far the most user friendly app.  All you do is scan your receipt and you automatically earn points.  These points can be redeemed for gift cards to just about anywhere.  My favorites are Target and Amazon.  I really like Fetch because you can redeem your points at as low at $3.

*Use the code: FETCH2K for an automatic 2,000 points ($2) when signing up.

I will be using each of these 5 strategies as I restock my pantry AND stick to my normal budget. The most importantly thing to remember is that nobody is perfect.  We all need to keep trying day by day!

In Conclusion

As a result of the pantry challenge last month I saved $200.  I know it will take a few months to restock my pantry, but I know it’s worth it.  The pantry challenge gives me more than a couple extra hundred dollars.  More importantly, it teaches me how to cook more at home, shop smarter and budget better.  That is priceless!

Related Articles:

15 Easy Pantry Dinner Ideas

Cheap Foods to Buy For a Well Stocked Pantry

Liked what you read?  Pin it to use for your next pantry challenge!

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easy pantry challenge tips - how to stock your pantry easily

I hope this gave you some good pantry challenge tips!

Pantry Challenge Tips to Save Money on Groceries

August 1, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life7 Comments

How to save money on groceries with a pantry challenge.

I just finished a month long pantry challenge!!  It was such a great way to learn more about my spending habits and how to cook frugally.  I’m excited to share some of those pantry challenge tips with you! 

A pantry challenge is a challenge you can take yourself (or as a group) that is meant to encourage you to eat food items you already have at home (pantry, fridge, freezer, shelves, etc.), instead of spending money at the store on groceries.

For my pantry challenge I decided to cut my regular grocery budget of $400 a month in half.  This would mean I could only spend $200 for our family of five.  Honestly, this was no easy task and I was incredibly intimidated from the beginning, but I was determined to make it work.

  • Related:  How a Pantry Challenge Will Save You Money

The pantry challenge is now officially over (thank goodness) and I am proud of how the challenge went.  I would LOVE to say that I met goal….but I didn’t quite accomplish that…..I went over budget by $1.98.  My grand total spent was $201.98 on groceries for our family of five….and you know what I am so PROUD of MYSELF!!!

I wanted to share all about how I was able to make it work and what I learned during the process.

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I am a member of online affiliate programs.  I may receive compensation for purchases made through links in this post.  All opinions are my own and I only recommend things I truly use and love!

Make a Plan

One of the most important pantry challenge tips is to plan ahead.  A detailed meal plan is vital to being able to see success with a pantry challenge.  I learned quickly that if I planned every meal and snack with great detail I wasn’t as tempted to go buy something at the store.

  • Related:  Start Meal Planning For The Complete Beginner

At the beginning of each week look through your pantry and cupboard and make an inventory of the food you already have in your home.  I was always shocked at how much food I could find…when I kept thinking, “We don’t have any food at home.”  We did, we had food at home, I just needed to look harder!

I was able to eat out of the pantry exclusively about 50% of the time.  The other 50% of the meals I tried to only plan really frugal meals with only a few cheap ingredients I would need to buy.

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  • If you struggle with meal planning, try eMeals!  They take all the guess work out of meal planning!  For a small fee you will receive meal plans, shopping lists and recipes to help you eat at home more.  Try it out with this FREE 14 Day Trial.

Successful Meal Plans

I listed out a few of the meals and snacks I found to be the most helpful in keeping the grocery costs low.

Breakfasts

Fluffy Eggs

Pancakes

Eggs and Toast

Oatmeal

Breakfast Potato Casserole

Slow Cooker Oatmeal

Lunch

Muffin Tin Lunch

Sandwiches

Salad from Garden

Leftovers

Dinner

Freezer Burritos

Layered Zuchinni

Spaghetti

Taco Soup

Balsamic Chicken

Pasta Bake

Taco Tortilla Soup

Grilled Chicken

Korean Beef

Baked Island Chicken

Snacks

Pretzels

Homemade Cookies

Energy Bites

Popcorn

Canned Fruit

Bananas

Homemade Pudding

Homemade Bread

 

 

Grocery Shopping

When it comes to a pantry challenge, grocery shopping can get stressful.

But, fortunately Walmart Grocery Pickup makes it all so much easier (hello, shopping in my PJs and groceries loaded in the car FOR ME!  Sign me up!).

With my $200 monthly grocery budget, I was only allowed $50 a week.  One of my favorite things about Walmart Grocery Pickup is the ability to watch my cart total while I’m shopping.  (I know I COULD use a calculator at the store, but I’m just not great at it….) Being able to see how much I’m spending WHILE I’m shopping was crucial for me during this challenge.

If my cart ever went over the $50 amount I knew I needed to go back through the cart and delete a few items.  This was MUCH harder to do than I had anticipated!  My family all had to sacrifice a few items we were use to having regularly in order to make the month work (I totally had to give up my daily Premier Protein Shake!  ;( ).

  • BONUS:  Get $10 off your first Walmart Grocery Pickup Order of $30 or more with this link!

How to Get Family Support During a Pantry Challenge

It’s really helpful to have your family support during a pantry challenge.  I mean, they are going to be eating the food too!  But, sometimes this is easier said than done.

I would LOVE to tell you that my family was totally on board and excited about my little July Pantry Challenge Experiment……but, they actually hated the whole thing.  They couldn’t believe the lack of food I was bringing home from each grocery pickup trip.

My daughters enjoy baking in the kitchen, so I tried to get them excited about helping me make a lot of our homemade snacks.  They enjoyed this….for a while.

As the month went on my family became more and more tired of our pantry challenge.  The biggest problem was the snacks. 

Unfortunately, my family is use to having snacks available in the pantry, and snacks just couldn’t fit in my budget this month. 

Something that worked well for us was making a list of snacks that we had available.  This sign was hung on the fridge for everyone to see.

So, whenever anyone complained about there being “No snacks”, I pointed them to the list.

I think they had gotten so use to those convenience snacks (not awesome parenting, I know) that they had forgotten about all the other great options we had.

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Even though my family didn’t necessarily ENJOY the pantry challenge, I am really glad they were able to go through it with me.  It was such a good life lesson for my kids to learn about stretching dollars and how much food really costs.

What I learned

My biggest takeaway from the July Pantry Challenge is that I CAN live on less than I usually do. Yes, it took A LOT more effort, (preparing a lot more food from scratch and a lot of time planning), but I CAN do it!  We survived.

Moving forward I have a new sense of motivation to stay in budget, shop my pantry, and really spend with a purpose.  I’ve always told myself the lie that I HAVE to spend money on this food because we NEED it……but, we don’t!  We were just fine having less food around.  I am excited to take this new knowledge and adjust my grocery shopping from here on out.

  • Related:  Restock Your Pantry after a Pantry Challenge

What’s Next

My pantry challenge is over!  Does this mean I get to spend a lot of money next month restocking my shelves?????  Absolutely NOT!

I will be going back to my regular grocery budget of $400 a month.  Of course, I will slowly try to restock my pantry, but I will always stay within that $400 budget.

I honestly was terrified for this challenge, I really didn’t know if I would be able to meet my goal, $400 a month is usually a little bit of a challenge.  But I did it, and I’m so glad I was willing to try!  If you are wanting to find a way to save a little extra cash, try having your own personal Pantry Challenge.  Be sure to come back and let me know if you did it and how it went!!

Related Articles:

25 Items You Must Have In A Frugal Pantry

10 Quick Ways to Save Money on Groceries

Pin for The Next Pantry Challenge:

what is a pantry challenge - how to do a pantry challenge

tips for a pantry challenge - save money on food

I hope these pantry challenge tips helps you to save more money.

Hello! I’m Melanie!

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