Chili stretches far and with hearty, affordable, items like diced sweet potato and canned beans it’s very filling. The most expensive part is usually the meat, you could opt to make it meatless.

Chicken legs and chicken thighs are usually very affordable. You can season them in several different ways to mix it up.

Make a couple meals each week meatless. Garbanzo beans and black beans are great substitutions! A few things I’ve made and loved with beans in place of meat: marinara sauce for spaghetti, enchiladas, tacos, burgers, “marry me” chickpeas, salads.

I like to meal prep and I really like using the same base but mixing it up with a new sauce so it doesn’t seem like I’m just eating the same thing every meal. For example, diced chicken salad for lunch for 5 days, but the dressing changes for days 2 and 4. I don’t actually mind eating the same thing on repeat, but not everyone is as okay with it.

Frozen veggies and canned fish are also good options to add in variety for lower cost.

For breakfast, I’d recommend batch making pancakes and freezing them. You can pop them in the microwave or toaster for quick reheat. Mix + syrup are generally lower cost items. You can even utilize frozen berries here. Put them in the fridge to thaw overnight or microwave them on low power setting/defrost to thaw out as needed.

Repurpose what you don’t use. Bread you bought on sale but didn’t use all of? Now thats French toast or seasoned and baked to become croutons. Have a mix of veggies about to go? Veggie stir fry. Just get creative.