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Lower your grocery budget with these easy meatless meals! They’re cheap, simple to make, healthy and mostly family friendly too. Perfect for Meatless Mondays!
You know that I’m always looking for ways to lower our grocery bill.Well, it’s no secret that the cost of meat can easily be one of your biggest grocery expenses!
Soon after we got married and started budgeting, I figured this out and realized that I was going to need to get creative and find ways to use less meat if we were going to make our budget work.
One of the things that I started doing was to serve at least one meatless dinner a week.
We’re both meat lovers and my mom didn’t make many meatless dishes growing up, so this change felt like a pretty big deal at the time! But I’ve learned to love it.
Eating at least one meatless meal a week not only helps save us money, but it’s also helped us branch out and try some foods that we wouldn’t have otherwise.
And in a small way, it gives us an opportunity to help our family remember the billions of people around the world that aren’t as privileged as we are.
I think my biggest struggle with doing budget-friendly meatless meals is that I tend to get stuck in a rut and make the same few over and over, just because it’s easier than finding new recipes.
So over the last several months I’ve been trying to be proactive and find some more easy meatless meal ideas to add to our frugal menus.
And that’s how this post came about! It started as a resource for myself. But then I figured that you are frugally minded too and would probably find it helpful as well!
Here’s to helping our budgets with delicious easy meals!
30 Easy Meatless Meals
1.The Best Black Bean Burger via Tastes Better from Scratch
Your entire family will love these simple, tasty burgers! And you’ll enjoy the fact that they cost you just a fraction of what regular beef burgers would.
2. Crustless Spinach Quiche via Butter with a Side of Bread
You pretty much can’t go wrong with breakfast for dinner! And this quick and easy, protein-packed quiche is a great option.
If you’re a breakfast food fan, you might also enjoy theseQuick Breakfast Tacosand thisEasy Broccoli Quiche.
3. The Best Baked Potatoes via Gimme Some Oven
Not all baked potatoes are created equal! This recipe will help you make a baked potato thatis perfectlycrispy and flavorful on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside.
Top it with butter and sour cream or take it up a notch and try making this from scratchBroccoli Cheese Sauce.
4. Easy Mexican Bean Soup via Thrifty Frugal Mom
This hearty, flavorful soup takes just chili takes just minutes to throw together and makes enough that you’ll have leftovers to freeze or to enjoy throughout the week.
5. Easy French Onion Soup via The Comfort of Cooking
French Onion Soup is one of my favorites! So super simple but absolutely delicious. And to keep the cost down, I typically sub mozzarella cheese for the Gruyere.
6. Cream of Tomato Soup via Real Mom Kitchen
This recipe is almost identical to my Grandmother’s old-fashioned tomato soup recipe that we love. (Her’s doesn’t have the baking soda and calls for a bit of minced onion or onion powder for extra flavor.)
I usually pair it with grilled cheese sandwiches or a salad for an easy meal that the whole family loves!
7. Margherita Pizza via Life in the Lofthouse
Yum! This recipe proves that pizza doesn’t have to be topped with meat to be amazing! This5 Ingredient Pesto Pizza and thisGarden Veggie Pizza are also delicious options.
8. Cinnamon Pancakes with Cinnamon Roll Glaze via Inspired Taste
You all, these pancakes are absolutely amazing! My kids beg me to make them because they like them better than regular pancakes anymore!
If you want to try traditional pancakes though, give theseEasy Fluffy Pancakes from Scratcha try.
9. White Pizza Grilled Cheese via Thrifty Frugal Mom
Seriously the best grilled cheese recipe ever! Loaded with three different kinds of cheese, garlic and herbs, it’s the perfect comfort food and a favorite at our table.
More Meatless Meals on a Budget
10. Country Potato Soup via Thrifty Frugal Mom
This simple, creamy potato soup is super easy to make and is one of my go-to meatless meals!
11. Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup via Thrifty Frugal Mom
This comfort food recipe couldn’t be easier! Just cook everything together in the crockpot for an easy one-pot meal. Makes a great freezer meal too!
12. Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili Mac via Kristine’s Kitchen
This comfort food recipe couldn’t be easier! Just cook everything together in the crockpot for an easy one-pot meal. Makes a great freezer meal too!
13. Shakshuka via The Healthy Maven
This Middle Eastern dish is one of our favorite frugal meatless meals! It’s one of those recipes that is super basic, but so good.
I often add a few extra eggs to make it even more hearty and serve it with my Classic French Bread.
14.Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells via Fork Knife Swoon
Short on time? This easy meatless recipe takes just 15 minutes to put together and creates a meal that is filling and delicious.
15. Black Bean, Rice and Vegetable Tacos via Together as Family
These tacos are so hearty and filling that you won’t even miss the meat!
Pair with tortillas, fresh diced tomato, shredded cheese, and sour cream for a healthy dinner that you will want to make again!
16. Bean and Cheese Smothered Enchiladas via Oh Sweet Basil
Love a good bean and cheese burrito? Then you’ll love these enchiladas. They’re basically bean and cheese burritos, but better. And so super easy to make too!
To make them even healthier, I love using homemade refried beanswhen I make these.
17. Crustless Zucchini Quiche via Thrifty Frugal Mom
This simple, tasty quiche is loaded with zucchini, making it a nutritious meal!
18.Black Bean and Rice Casserole via Plain Chicken
This Mexican dish takes about 10 minutes to throw together and is so good! It also can easily be made ahead if that works better for your schedule.
19. Lentil Quesadillas via Robust Recipes
Take cheese quesadillas to a whole new level with this hearty recipe!
More Meatless Meal Ideas
20. Hungarian Red Lentil Soup via Vegan Huggs
This flavorful recipe comes together fast, thanks to red lentils and easy ingredients.
21. Easy Mexican Rice Bowlsvia Thrifty Frugal Mom
Who doesn’t love a rice bowl? And this version is ridiculously easy, super filling and crazy inexpensive too!
22. Crockpot White Bean French Onion Soup via The Busy Baker
This twist on classic French onion soup is both easy and delicious!
23.Creamy Garlic Parmesan Pasta via Together as Family
Have a busy day? This easy recipe will help you get dinner on the table in just 20 minutes, plus it’s delicious and kid approved too!
24.Mexican Tortilla Casserole via Savory Simple
Love Mexican?This casserole is just the meatless meal for you!And guess what? It works great as a make-ahead meal and freezes well too!
25.Cheesy Spinach Lasagna Rolls via Lil’ Luna
This recipe is so hearty and filling that you won’t even miss the meat! And with three kinds of cheese…what’s not to love?!
26. Easy Vegetable Lasagna with Alfredo Sauce via Mighty Mrs.
Layers of veggies, cheese and noodles combine to make this yummy meatless dish.
Make it healthier and more delicious (wink, wink) by using myEasy Homemade Alfredo Sauce.
27. Egg Drop Soup via Turnadough Alli
Who knew that egg drop soup was so easy to make? Satisfy your Chinese cravings with this comforting recipe!
28. Mexican Zucchini Burrito Boats via Making Thyme for Health
This simple meatless meal is packed with Mexican flavor and is healthy as well!
29.Easy Cream Taco Pasta via A Mindfull Mom
All the flavors of a taco in a simple pasta dish? Why not? You pretty much can’t beat this for an inexpensive meatless meal!
30.Enchilada Stuffed Sweet Potatoes via Sweet Peas and Saffron
This twist on twice-baked potatoes is not only healthy, it’s also super quick and easy to make! Plus, they are a great freezer meal too.
You might also enjoy:
- A Frugal Mom’s 25 Favorite Ways to Save Money
- 40 Foods to Freeze to Save Time and Money
- 25 Amazing Uses for Bacon Grease
- 45 No Oven Meal Ideas that Won’t Heat the Kitchen
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Emily
Thank you so much for these recipes! I agree, I can get stuck in a rut when do meatless meals. We usually do meals with meat 2-3 times a week to save money. Inflation is crazy! We use beans/lentils and eggs pretty often instead. We do hotdogs about once a month but I wouldn’t really count them as a meat source or a high protein source! 😂
Reply
Lydia Beiler
I’m glad that it could be helpful, Emily! Beans and lentils are our favorite too. I often add them to Mexican inspired recipes with meat too to add more protein for cheap. And I know what you mean about hot dogs. 😉
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Uttarakhand Guide
Thank you for sharing these easy meatless meals, I was actually looking for same. Super excited to try this one.
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Lydia Beiler
So glad it was helpful!
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Tricia M
Amazing recipes. I have already made three and loved them. I have picked two more to try this week. I can’t wait. Great recipes. Thanks.
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Lydia Beiler
I’m delighted to hear this, Tricia! So glad it’s been helpful.
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Tasha
So by meatless you mean “does in fact contain meat”, yes?
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Lydia Beiler
No, meatless is what it sounds like: no meat.
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Stephanie Parker
SO many delicious recipes! Thank you for including our Black Beans & Rice Casserole.
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Lydia Beiler
It’s a delicious one, Stephanie!
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Char Dham Yatra Package
Super excited to try these Meatless Meals , these are amazing and unique. Thank you for sharing these delicious meals with us, will love to share with others too.
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Lydia Beiler
You are welcome! Glad that it was helpful.
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