Looking for cheap healthy dinners for the family? It can feel overwhelming to plan a meal every night of the week, let alone healthy quick dinners that are easy to make and won’t totally ruin your grocery budget. These 20 ideas are sure to help! (Check out these 60 other meal ideas for more inspiration!)
20 Cheap Healthy Dinners for the Family
Do you feel like you’re in a dinner time rut, or maybe you’re resorting to fast food or frozen pizzas a little more often than before?
Are you struggling to come up with easy healthy dinners that don’t break the budget? If so, we have a great list of ideas you can add to your upcoming menu plan! (Psst, check out this FREE list of 60 more ideas, too!)
1. Sheetpan Dinner
This sheetpan recipe is one of my favorite healthy quick dinners. It’s so versatile, comforting, filling, and easy. Plus, I often find the ingredients on great sales or markdowns (which is why we make it so often!) so it’s very frugal, too.
2. Baked Chicken
This baked chicken is so tender and juicy. It’s perfect for any time of the year!
3. Classic Grilled Chicken
If you like juicy, well-seasoned chicken, this recipe is for you. It is simple enough to appeal to children, while being classy enough to serve to company. Plus, it uses bone-in chicken so it’s extra frugal!
4. Easy Marinated Chicken
This cheap healthy dinner recipe can’t be beat in simplicity! It requires just a few minutes of hands-on time to prepare this delicious chicken. And since salad dressing is often on sale for less than $1 per bottle, you probably have some of it in your stockpile most of the time.
5. Freezer-Friendly Italian Lemon Chicken
This chicken is super quick and easy to make, tastes delicious, and is free from almost all common allergens (even yeast)!
6. Healthier Fettuccine Alfredo
Frugal AND healthy Fettuccine Alfredo — totally the way to go, and your family will love it!
7. Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole is one of our family’s longtime favorite healthy quick dinners! It’s delicious, filling, frugal, and freezer-friendly! It’s the perfect make-ahead meal for busy weeknights.
8. Taco Soup
Taco soup is a great way to feed a crowd for cheap. Plus, it’s delicious and freezer-friendly!
9. Chicken and Barley Soup
This hearty soup is an easy, versatile, budget-friendly meal that will satisfy your entire family!
10. Black Bean Soup
This soup is packed with protein and fiber and is so easy to make. It’s also extremely frugal and tastes amazing! Definitely a must-try recipe for cold winter months!
11. White Bean Chicken Chili
This White Chicken Chili Recipe is so easy to make and super tasty! It’s a long-time favorite in our family and one I can remember enjoying for as far back as I can remember.
12. Three Bean Chili Chowder
This soup has been a family favorite for years. It’s simple, easy, frugal, and foolproof.
13. Salads
Cheap healthy dinners don’t have to be complicated. Salads are SO easy to whip up and the possibilities are endless! Check out several of my favorite ways to throw a last-minute, simple salad together on the cheap!
14. Grilled Hobo Packets
These are so easy to whip up and everyone can customize their own meal! Plus, if you use lots of potatoes and carrots, you can really stretch your budget.
15. Haystacks
This recipe is so flexible and forgiving; we adapt it based upon what we have on hand and what we get on sale. It’s been one of our favorite healthy quick dinners for many years!
16. Green Rice Casserole
This is the perfect gluten-free side dish for burritos or any other Mexican meal. Or, you can do as I do, and just eat it as a stand-alone frugal meal. Because it’s just that good!
17. Rice and Beans
We use a lot of beans around here; they’re inexpensive, they’re filling, and they’re nutritious. Pair them with rice (we prefer brown rice) and you have a complete protein.
18. “Leftovers” Quiche
This quiche recipe is thick and hearty, and can be served for breakfast, brunch, or dinner using whatever leftovers you have in the house. SO simple!
19. Roasted Brussels Sprouts
I thought I didn’t like Brussels sprouts… until I tried roasting them. These are so amazing and delicious, you must give them a try!
20. Healthier Fried Rice
This recipe is very flexible — just use what you have on hand and adapt it to your family’s taste preferences. And you can totally use leftover rice from another meal!
What are YOUR favorite healthy family dinners on a budget? Let us know in the comments below!
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