In the evening everyone is tired but hungry. If there is no plan at home, it is dumplings from the freezer and delivery. But a cheap family dinner is not hard: chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, pasta, sour cream and three or four things from the cupboard. Below are ten dinners from such a short list.

A short list for the week

The base is six products: chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, pasta and sour cream. From home add oil, eggs, flour, salt, pepper, garlic. That is not much, and everything is picked from ordinary offers. Here is the set and the places where it comes out cheaper now:

What it costs: Cheap family dinner: what to buy and where it costs less

The whole set at the best prices104.98 leiFound 6 of 6 items

Where to get the set

  • METRO6 of 6 itemsMost items
    381.59 lei
  • Kaufland5 of 6 items
    151.15 leiMissing: Pasta
  • Family Market4 of 6 items
    148.25 leiMissing: Carrots, Onions
  • Linella4 of 6 items
    201.96 leiMissing: Potatoes, Onions
The whole basket

The idea is to repeat the ingredients. Potatoes, carrots and onions go into almost every dinner, so you take more at once and they do not go to waste. Divide the chicken into portions and freeze half.

Ten dinners

  • Baked chicken with potatoes and onion. One tray, an hour in the oven, hardly any fuss.
  • Chicken noodle soup, in the spirit of Moldovan zama: broth, carrot, onion, homemade or shop noodles.
  • Pasta with chicken in a sour cream sauce. Fry the chicken, add sour cream with water and garlic, mix with the pasta.
  • Potato pancakes with sour cream: grated potato, onion, egg and a little flour.
  • Chicken stew with potatoes and carrots. All in one pot.
  • Pilaf with chicken and carrot: rice, fried onion, meat, water.
  • Mashed potatoes with cutlets from minced chicken.
  • Pasta bake with egg and cheese, if some cheese is left.
  • Vegetable stew in the ghiveci style: potatoes, carrots, onion and whatever you have.
  • Polenta with sour cream and fried onion, if you have cornmeal.

Chicken: whole or in parts

Chicken is the main product of this menu. You take it on offer, divide it into dinners and freeze some. A whole bird usually comes cheaper per kilogram but has to be cut up. More on what pays better is in the article on chicken.

Chicken offers in the catalogues now:

In the catalogues now: chicken

All offers

Boil stock for soup from the bones and skin: it is the free base of one more dinner.

Potatoes, carrots and onions

Three vegetables that hold the whole list together. They keep for weeks in a cool dark place, so you can take a sack if the price is good. Keep potatoes and onions apart, or they spoil faster.

Vegetables in the catalogues now:

In the catalogues now: vegetables

All offers

For potato pancakes and mash any potato will do, for baking it is better to use one that does not fall apart, so the pieces keep their shape.

Pasta, rice and polenta: the side and the base

Pasta, rice and cornmeal are the cheapest things that fill you up. They keep for months, so take them on offer and with a reserve. One pack of pasta is a dinner for four if you add vegetables, chicken or a sour cream sauce.

Rice on offer by shop:

In the catalogues now: rice

All offers

Do not buy several kinds of pasta "just in case": two or three kinds are enough. One good stock is more useful.

How not to repeat yourself

The most common reason a cheap dinner gets boring is monotony, not the product itself. Change the serving: chicken baked, chicken in soup, chicken as cutlets. Change the side: potatoes, rice, pasta, polenta. Change the sauce: sour cream, tomato, garlic, onion.

Herbs, garlic, lemon juice, paprika and bay leaf cost little but change a dish a lot. Make a rule: not two identical dinners in a row in a week.

The order of shopping and cooking

At the start of the week cook what spoils faster: dinners from chicken and fresh vegetables. Leave potatoes, pasta, rice, polenta and bakes from leftovers for the end of the week.

If you have time on Sunday, boil the stock and chop vegetables for two days. That saves twenty minutes on weekdays. More about planning the whole week is in the article a week's menu. See the general habits in the article how to save on groceries.

Checklist

  • Make a list of the six basic products.
  • Check oil, eggs, flour and spices at home.
  • Buy chicken on offer, divide it into portions, freeze some.
  • Take vegetables for the week and keep them cool.
  • Alternate the cooking methods and the sides.
  • Leave one evening a week for leftovers.