Nov. 13, 2025—It's cozy cooking season! As the days get shorter and the temps get cooler, try these strategies for making delicious—and affordable—meals.
Game planning
- Find recipes and plan weekly meals. Choose in-season produce and on-sale foods. If your grocery budget is tight and you rely on a food assistance program, a meal plan can help you choose items that supplement what you get each week.
- Not a meal planner? Try assigning a different type of meal to each day of the week to keep your grocery bill more consistent. Think Sunday Stew/Soup, Pasta Monday, Taco Tuesday (great for using up weekend leftovers) and so on.
- Buy in bulk. Choose nonperishable products like dried beans, rice, grains, and canned fish or meat. Freeze fresh meat in meal-ready portions.
Simple meals rock
Try three-ingredient dinners. Include a protein, vegetables and whole grains. Consider things like grilled lemon-thyme chicken or marinated baked fish with a side of veggies and rice or pasta.
Fill up on soups, stews and chilis. There's plenty of room to make a recipe your own, but you might start with these basics:
- Pick a protein. Stew meat and rotisserie chicken are great choices for protein. Or you can go meat-free.
- Add lots of veggies along with canned or cooked dry lentils, kidney beans, or pinto beans. Stretch it even further with noodles or rice.
- Add herbs and spices for flavor.
- Finally, throw leftover bones into water along with onion skins, carrot tops and celery ends to make a flavorful homemade stock for your next meal.
Construct a casserole. To feed the whole family, North Dakota State University's Extension program suggests combining these six types of ingredients in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or pan:
- A cooked starch, such as rice, pasta or potatoes.
- A protein. That could be beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, tuna, salmon or cooked beans.
- One or more fresh, frozen or canned vegetables.
- A sauce. You could use a can of creamy soup (such as cream of mushroom or cream of celery) or a can of diced tomatoes and its juice.
- One or more flavorings—onions, garlic, olives, salsa or dried herbs, for example.
- One or more toppings. Try adding grated dairy or nondairy cheese or buttered breadcrumbs in the last 10 minutes of baking.
Lovely leftovers. Cooking a bit extra—and planning how to use it—can help you save time and avoid waste. For example:
- Shred extra cooked chicken, then add it to green salads, hot or cold sandwiches, fajitas, soups, stews, and more.
- Spoon leftover chili over a microwaved "baked" potato and add other toppings like cheese, green onions and sour cream.
Want help with healthy shopping on a budget? Try our interactive infographic.
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