This recipe uses baby kale to stuff the toast cups, but feel free to use spinach or arugula if kale isn't your favorite. Recipe: Bacon and Egg Toast Cups. Feel free to use any hearty veggies you have on hand in place of the beets and radishes.

Brussels sprouts, diced sweet potatoes, and carrots would all work well. Recipe: Baked Eggs With Roasted Vegetables. This creamy mac 'n' cheese is loaded with all kinds of good stuff, like white cheddar, broccoli, and seared chicken. Leave out the chicken. Broccoli isn't your favorite?

Feel free to substitute it with whatever vegetables you have on hand. Recipe: White Cheddar Mac 'n' Cheese With Chicken and Broccoli. This baby is everything you love about caprese and grilled cheese crammed into one delicious sandwich. Serve it with salad or soup, and you've got yourself a dinner that's both fancy and budget-friendly.

Recipe: Caprese Grilled Cheese. This recipe calls for a lot of basic ingredients you'll already have in the pantry. It makes six to eight servings too, so you can enjoy leftovers for lunch all week.

Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup. Dal is a timeless classic — and this version is an ideal starter if you've never made it before. You only need a handful of ingredients, and the whole thing only takes 20 minutes.

The original recipe calls for red split lentils, but if you want to get more creative, add some French lentils, too. Recipe: Dal. Black bean patties are one of the most popular alternatives to meat.

They're also pretty easy to make. Recipe: Black Bean Burgers. Recipe: Tuna Melt. Pair it with any greens you have handy! Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Glazed Chicken.

Tangy, spicy kimchi or Korean-style fermented vegetables is another way to add a ton of flavor to a dish for not a lot of money. Keep a jar stocked in the fridge, then work it into fried rice, noodle bowls, or burgers.

Recipe: Minute Kimchi Fried Rice. Recipe: Rice Bowl With Fried Egg And Avocado. Recipe: Southwest Turkey, Vegetable, and Rice Skillet. This recipe calls for only three ingredients, and you can always add a protein to the mix if you want.

Recipe: Creamy Tomato Shells. Recipe: Chicken Pesto Bowls. Recipe: Zucchini Corn Quesadillas. Recipe: One-Pan Pizza Chicken. Recipe: Super-Fresh Cucumber Tomato Salad. Recipe: One-Pot Caprese Chicken Pasta.

Recipe: Vegan Creamy Kale Pasta. Recipe: Greek Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. Recipe: One-Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac 'n' Cheese. Recipe: Spicy Chipotle Buddha Bowl With Cauliflower Rice. Recipe: Chicken and Mandarin Salad With Simple Sesame Dressing.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Coconut Curry. Recipe: Garlic Butter Capellini Pomodoro With Shrimp. Recipe: Vegetarian Sheet Pan Zucchini Parmesan. Recipe: Vegetable Enchilada Casserole. The recipe calls for both whole wheat spaghetti and zucchini noodles, but you can skip the spaghetti if you want to go fully low-carb.

Recipe: Burst Tomato and Zucchini Spaghetti With Avocado Sauce. Recipe: Amazing Slow Cooker Turkey Tacos. Recipe: P. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps. A super-straightforward weeknight dinner that you can serve with grilled chicken if you want some added protein.

Recipe: Orzo With Spinach and Roasted Red Peppers. Introducing your new favorite pasta sauce, made with nothing more than egg yolks, Parmesan cheese, and fresh lemon. Recipe: Pappardelle Al Limone.

This recipe calls for tofu, broccoli, and sweet potato, but you can always swap in whatever protein and veggies you like best. Recipe: 5-Ingredient Thai Green Curry. Orzo, sliced sausage, bell pepper, heavy cream, and a handful of spices are all there is to this Cajun-inspired skillet.

Recipe: Sausage and Creamy Cajun Orzo Skillet. Grab some chicken broth, rotisserie chicken, canned diced tomatoes, ranch dressing, and canned fiesta corn mix to make this heartwarming chicken soup with a Mexican flair. Recipe: 5-Ingredient Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Have toast for dinner, but make it fancy with this mixture of artichoke hearts, spinach white beans, and basil mashed into a creamy and savory spread. Recipe: White Bean and Artichoke Basil Toasts. Don't let the ingredient list overwhelm you.

All you really need to make these fajitas are portobello mushrooms, peppers, onion, and tortillas. Swap the avocado sauce for store-bought guacamole or diced avocado and you've got a delicious meal.

Recipe: Portobello and Poblano Fajitas. Recipe: Spicy Lentil Nachos With 3-Cheese Sauce. Black beans in chocolate muffins might sound odd, but they get super creamy and batterlike — and it absolutely works. Recipe: Flourless Black Bean Brownie Muffins.

You can also use coconut curry as a marinade for your meats. Here, the chicken marinates for two hours in a mixture of coconut milk, soy sauce, curry powder, turmeric, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and fish sauce.

Recipe: Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce. Recipe: Sun-Dried Tomato, Kale, and White Bean Skillet. Recipe: Grilled Cheese and Cream of Tomato Soup. Recipe: Baked Eggs in Marinara Sauce. And fair warning that you'll want to put the latter on just about everything.

Recipe: Mujadarra. Recipe: Simple Black Bean Soup. Recipe: Big-Batch Minestrone. This article contains content previously curated by Hannah Loewentheil, Jesse Szewczyk, Marie Telling, Melissa Jameson, and Ailbhe Malone.

It was compiled by Lavanya Narayanan. Easy recipes and cooking hacks right to your inbox. Opens in a new window Opens an external site in a new window Opens an external site. Share via facebook Share via pinterest Share via email Share via sms. Vegan 3-Bean Chili.

Feel free to use store-bought pizza dough to make this recipe a cinch to throw together. Taco Pizza. White Cheddar Mac 'n' Cheese With Chicken and Broccoli. Grilled cheese meets tuna salad. Sweet and Spicy Glazed Chicken. Chips and salsa, queso dip, and barbecue ribs are favorite menu items.

Dairy Queen isn't just for soft serve and Blizzards, especially in rural areas where there's a DQ in practically every town. Found mostly in the western United States, Del Taco is another reliable bet for cheap, fast Mexican eats.

Almost everyone has celebrated a special event at Red Lobster, a seafood chain that's as good for families as it is for date night.

Which one of these two names you'll see on the sign depends on which part of the country you're in, but whether it's known as Hardee's or Carl's Jr.

BJ's gets its Brewhouse moniker from the microbreweries at some locations, but every location of this casual sit-down chain has a menu of pizza and homestyle favorites. Found mainly in the Southwest, El Pollo Loco is the place to indulge in Mexican favorites based around savory grilled chicken, including grilled chicken breasts.

Dating all the way back to , Bob Evans serves up hearty comfort food in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic in a country living-themed atmosphere. Cooking up sliders since , White Castle is often credited as the first fast-food burger chain. Now it can be found in 13 states, mostly in the Midwest.

Named after the football huddle, Huddle House is a hour family restaurant that was founded in the s and is concentrated in the Southeast. Spaghetti, lasagna, and garlic breadsticks are crowd-pleasers, so it's no surprise this Italian restaurant chain is a hit with families.

Best known for its outlandish slogans, commercials, and having "all the meat," Arby's satisfies its customers with roast beef, curly fries, and fresh deli sandwiches. Biscuit and fried chicken lovers adore this Southern fast-food chain that serves breakfast all day.

You can add a swipe of creamy pimento cheese to any biscuit — and you should. Looking for a healthier breakfast option? Check out these healthy fast-food breakfast items.

With about locations, mostly in the Southern states, Zaxby's has carved a niche out of the fried chicken market, selling only tenders sometimes in sandwiches and wings.

Cheapism may earn a commission if you buy through a link on our site. Leer en Español. All Gift Ideas Gifts by Interest Gifts by Price Gifts for All Gifts for Her Gifts for Him Gifts for Kids.

Sign up for our newsletter. Score the Best Value Meal Deals at These Chains. January 05, by Lacey Muszynski. updated by Lacey Muszynski. fact checked by Erin Kuschner. Cheapism is editorially independent. We may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Prices and availability are subject to change and may vary by location.

Christian C. Kathy S. Focus on Burger King Large Fries on Serving Paper, a Whopper Jr. on the Right Side by yum9me CC BY-NC-ND.

Henry C. Closeup of Domino's Medium Pizza with Pepperoni, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Green Bell Peppers by Nadir Hashmi CC BY-NC-ND. Among the big pizza chains, Domino's has some of the best long-running deals. Trending on Cheapism.

Free Burgers, Free Pizza, and More Bonkers Fast-Food Deals Near You. These Are the 7 Cheapest Fast-Food Joints To Try Right Now. Cindy C.

EveryPlate meal kits are easy to prepare and I loved everything I made in multiple rounds of testing. You won't find a lot of foofy, upscale cuisine or complicated recipes, but you will get a lot of satisfying comfort food, such as hoisin meatloaf with mashed potatoes, cheeseburgers, umami pork chops and sweet potato quesadillas.

I tested EveryPlate and was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the meals. Having tested all of the leading prepared meal delivery service options, Fresh N Lean ran away from the competition, ticking more boxes than any other. The food is healthy, thoughtfully prepared, tastes fantastic, looks appetizing and is fairly affordable, depending on the plan you select.

Fresh N Lean has five meal plans to help keep folks on track with their specific nutrition goals, including low-carb, vegan, paleo and protein-plus options. The food I tried was all made exceptionally well, made from simple, whole ingredients. This is the perfect service for families with picky eaters trying to eat well on a budget.

Much like EveryPlate, Dinnerly has a lot of comfort foods such as ravioli with spinach and parmesan sauce, carne asada tacos and chicken pad thai. Dinnerly has an enormous menu of recipes -- typically more than 60 to choose from in a given week. The bottom line: This plant-based meal delivery service had some of the best, healthy prepared meals of any service we tried.

I sampled about nine of Mosaic Food's plant-based prepared meal offerings and the vegetarian prepared meal delivery service had an astoundingly high hit rate. Mosaic uses bold and interesting global flavors and employs creative use of meat substitutes such as tofu, jackfruit, cauliflower and vegan sausages to create tasty and satisfying vegetarian meals -- even for this omnivore.

There are some vegan meals, but many of them use dairy products, so vegans must choose their Mosaic meals more carefully.

The bottom line: Blue Apron is a classic example of a quality meal delivery service. One of the original providers of this service, it also stands out for eco-friendliness.

Blue Apron is one of the original meal kit services and it's also one of the best. In fact, Blue Apron topped our list of best meal delivery services for with a wide range of excellent recipes, all for an affordable price. It's true, you can order bistro steaks and roasted trout dinners with Blue Apron's standard plan, where many services charge extra for those premium proteins.

In addition to solid meal kits, Blue Apron is the most eco-friendly service of the major players, according to a recent study. The heartier meals are great too, like the cauliflower rice and pesto harvest bowl with cashews and spinach. You won't need more than a saucepan, toaster or blender to prepare most of the meals, and most can be made in as little as 5 minutes.

When I tried Daily Harvest , I loved the interesting smoothie combos such as a chocolate blueberry smoothie with greens, banana and almond butter. The bottom line : It doesn't get much easier than HelloFresh.

This service has tons of cheap meal kit options, more than 50 per week, and allows you to add proteins or extra servings to keep the whole crew fed and happy.

HelloFresh has as many as 25 dinner meal kits per week, so it is nearly impossible not to find something you'll like. HelloFresh also has five or six plant-based recipes a week, making it the best cheap meal kit service for vegetarians.

Over the past few years, we've tested nearly every meal kit delivery and prepared meal delivery service we could get our oven mitts on, and that includes the best budget meal delivery services.

Many of the menu options for the meal delivery services we've listed include nutritious plant-based food or high-protein recipes with lots of veggies and lean meats. To test each cheap meal delivery service, I tried at least four and sometimes as many as 10 meals from any given service.

I always choose a range of meals from the various menu and meal plan offerings. For instance, if a meal subscription service offers vegan or vegetarian meals I was sure to try at least one. I also mixed up the cuisine types to include pasta, meat dishes, bowls and other various styles offered by the brand.

To test the best cheap meal kits, there was another set of standards and protocols to adhere to. Here's more on how we test meal kits at CNET. The first big decision you'll make is whether you want meal kits, which require some prep and cooking, or a prepared meal service that sends fully cooked meals ready to heat and eat.

Prepared meals require almost no time and energy, other than what it takes to actually eat the food, but typically run a few dollars more per serving.

If you're keen on eating low-calorie, low-carb, plant-based or pescatarian food, certain meal kits and meal delivery services are better than others.

Our list of the healthiest meal delivery services for is a good place to find the most nutritious options. With almost every service, the more meals or servings are in your order per delivery, the cheaper it becomes per meal.

Ideally, you'll want to determine exactly how much food makes sense for your household. That means it's less of an issue if you order too many meals on your first go-around. Services like Daily Harvest and Splendid Spoon have meals for similar prices but are focused more on grain bowls and smoothies and might be better for breakfast or lunch versus dinner.

When it comes to meal kits, your options are many, and most services provide weekly recipes that are low on calories but still filling. HelloFresh has the most recipes per week of any meal kit service, so that might be your best bet for finding consistent meals that keep your diet goals on track.

But all services list the calorie content for each recipe, along with carbs, protein, sugar and sodium. Depending on your weight loss goals, a healthy prepared meal delivery or meal kit service can help.

Fresh N Lean, Pete's Real Food and Daily Harvest all have low-calorie meals to choose from. Some of the services listed here are healthy prepared meal delivery services , sending fully cooked meals -- often frozen or partially frozen -- and ready to eat when you receive them.

Others include health-focused meal kits with premeasured ingredients all boxed up and ready for easy weeknight cooking. There's a stark difference between meal kits and meal delivery, but both make dinnertime easier and can translate into healthier eating choices for you in Plus, we sussed out the best healthy meal services for those on special diets like keto or paleo or for those who wish to eat organic prepared meals and meal kits.

Wellness Nutrition. Written by David Watsky. Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission.

Reviews ethics statement. Want a little more? It's filling and satisfying—and the water view from Castle Island doesn't cost a cent extra. This Fenway mainstay gets packed before Red Sox games with fans who crave a quick and cheap pre-game bite.

The interior is small and cheerful, while the food is filling and flavorful. Tacos de la Casa menu and get the Rajas con Queso. Flavorful meats are cradled in thick, warm pita, salads are overflowing with feta and chicken, tzatziki is prepared fresh in-house and spinach pies are full and flaky.

For your best bet, the traditional chicken souvlaki pita is everything you want for a filling meal, served with red onion, tomato, tzatziki and a generous side of fries.

The ubiquitous Chicken and Rice Guys dot the local food landscape with trucks, pop-ups and brick-and-mortar spots. Inexpensive and flavorful, their halal street fare is great for a quick and satisfying lunch or takeaway dinner. Saloniki offers fresh, farm-to-table Greek fare for a very reasonable price.

Souvlaki sandwiches feature tender grilled meats and local produce. Rice plates and pitas include lemon-oregano grilled chicken, roasted pomegranate-glazed eggplant and spicy lamb kefte.

For an even more frugal selection, we suggest the vegetarian zucchini fritters pita, featuring zucchini-feta fritters, greens, tomato, onion, herbs, fries, garlic yogurt and secret sauce.

But its thinly sliced roast beef, piled high on a buttered and griddled bun, is the winner here. About us. Contact us. No thanks Awesome, you're subscribed! Déjà vu! We already have this email. Try another? Edited by JQ Louise Written by Tanya Edwards Wednesday December 27 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email WhatsApp.

Discover the best of the city, first. Enter email address Déjà vu! Best cheap eats in Boston 1. Restaurants Chinese Downtown price 1 of 4.

Read more. Restaurants Mexican Somerville. Found mostly in the western United States, Del Taco is another reliable bet for cheap, fast Mexican eats. Almost everyone has celebrated a special event at Red Lobster, a seafood chain that's as good for families as it is for date night.

Which one of these two names you'll see on the sign depends on which part of the country you're in, but whether it's known as Hardee's or Carl's Jr. BJ's gets its Brewhouse moniker from the microbreweries at some locations, but every location of this casual sit-down chain has a menu of pizza and homestyle favorites.

Found mainly in the Southwest, El Pollo Loco is the place to indulge in Mexican favorites based around savory grilled chicken, including grilled chicken breasts.

Dating all the way back to , Bob Evans serves up hearty comfort food in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic in a country living-themed atmosphere. Cooking up sliders since , White Castle is often credited as the first fast-food burger chain.

Now it can be found in 13 states, mostly in the Midwest. Named after the football huddle, Huddle House is a hour family restaurant that was founded in the s and is concentrated in the Southeast. Spaghetti, lasagna, and garlic breadsticks are crowd-pleasers, so it's no surprise this Italian restaurant chain is a hit with families.

Best known for its outlandish slogans, commercials, and having "all the meat," Arby's satisfies its customers with roast beef, curly fries, and fresh deli sandwiches. Biscuit and fried chicken lovers adore this Southern fast-food chain that serves breakfast all day.

You can add a swipe of creamy pimento cheese to any biscuit — and you should. Looking for a healthier breakfast option? Check out these healthy fast-food breakfast items. With about locations, mostly in the Southern states, Zaxby's has carved a niche out of the fried chicken market, selling only tenders sometimes in sandwiches and wings.

Cheapism may earn a commission if you buy through a link on our site. Leer en Español. All Gift Ideas Gifts by Interest Gifts by Price Gifts for All Gifts for Her Gifts for Him Gifts for Kids. Sign up for our newsletter.

Score the Best Value Meal Deals at These Chains. January 05, by Lacey Muszynski. updated by Lacey Muszynski. fact checked by Erin Kuschner. Cheapism is editorially independent. We may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Prices and availability are subject to change and may vary by location.